International Software Piracy Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Essays

supranational Software PiracyDisclaimerThe ideas and arguments presented in this paper are provided completely for purposes of academic discussion. The author wishes to make it clear that he neither condones nor promotes software package plagiarization in any form, and that he encourages all software practitioners to familiarise themselves with the relevant intellectual property laws of their respective countries and to adhere to the highest level of ethical motive in the conduct of their professional duties. I. BackgroundSoftware piracy has been al some since the beginnings of personal computing. The first paper tape of a BASIC compiler passed from one hobbyist to another was essentially pirated software, although, at the time, it may not get hold of been recognized as such, and in fact, may not even gull been illegal7. The extension of copyright protection to software coincided with an explosive proliferation of low-cost computers and an expanding grocery for software pack ages that went beyond the hobbyist and into the commercial and mass consumer segments. As the software grocery matured and software vendors became multi-billion dollar enterprises, concern about piracy and the terminus lost revenue increased. The proliferation of Information Technology (IT), fostered in part by the Internet, have made piracy a global issue, with one visualise placing the loss to business world-wide in a single year at over $13 billion 1. Though illegal in most countries, the rate of piracy world-wide remains high, even in developed countries with launch traditions of protecting intellectual property (IP). For example, the United States has one of the lowest piracy rates in the world, and yet its piracy rate remains at 23%. Countries with the highest p... ...lthttp//www.theregister.co.uk/2000/02/14/pirate_plays_third_world_card/. Salon, Profits from piracy, 2002, www.salon.com, 4-May-2004, . ZDNet, Microsoft slashes Windows XP price to fend off Linux, 2003, 11-Ma y-2004, . ground forces Today, Software piracy takes toll on global scale,2001, 20-May-2004, . Computer scientific discipline and Telecommunications Board of the National Academics, The Digital Dilemma Intellectual Property in the Information Age, (Washington, D.C. National Academy Press, 2000) 55. Nader, Ralph, Consumer Harm in the Microsoft Case wield to The Bazaar - An Open Source Software Event, 1999, 3-Jun-04, .