Software Piracy

Ethics
PRATEEK SARASWAT(15BM600)
NOOR MOHAMED (15BM60072)
MILIN RAMANI(15BM60078)
Software Piracy Issue

1.
1.Main
Mainscenario
scenarioand
andstakeholders
stakeholders

2.
2.Social
Socialand/or
and/orethical
ethicalissues
issues

3.
3.Main
Mainproblem
problemwith
withissue
issue

4.
4.Possible
Possible solution
solutionto
toproblem
problem
Selling pirated copies

A California man, Nathan Peterson, has been

sentenced to more than seven years in prison
and ordered to pay $5.4 million in restitution for
selling pirated software online.

1. Pleaded guilty
2. Sold pirated software through
his website.
3. Two charges of criminal
copyright infringement.
 Companies affected

Nathan Peterson was copying and selling software from:

As a result of his
conviction,
Adobe Peterson will also be
Macromedia
forced to forfeit any
property obtained as a
Symantec result of the money made
Autodesk from the operation,
including multiple cars,
homes and a boat.
Estimated losses to the software companies range from:
$7million to $20 million
 Buyers

Peterson has said that most of the software was sold to:

individual consumers
some companies
one school district
Copyright Infringement

Copyright Infringement

Technology Markets Laws Ethics

Ethical and Social Issues

There are many things we cannot afford; not being able to afford a
software is not an excuse for copying it.
The size and success of a company do not justify taking from it.
Programmers, writers and performing artists lose income when
copying is common.
Surely we have the liberty to make a copy for a friend, but is
copying a software an act of generosity on our part or an act that
compels involuntary generosity from the programmer?
Even though large-scale commercial piracy is worse, individual
copying is still not ethical.
The number of people copying software does not determine if it is
right or not.
 Ethical and Social Issues

People buy pirated software without realizing what they're

doing
Consumers are used to buying products, such a books and
CDs that can be shared with friends and family.
But if you buy Windows, it doesn't belong to you, it's
Microsoft's. They're just letting you use it.
There are many ways consumers can be fooled.
Pricing that is far below the manufacturer's price can be a
tip-off, but many people think they are getting a bargain, not
a pirated program.
Social and Ethical Issues

Patent
Law Copyright
Laws

Industry
Software
piracy Contract
Law

Intellectual
property
Social and Ethical Issues:
Laws
Patent
Patent Copyright
Copyright Contract
Contract

Protected Protected Protected

mechanical literary trade

inventions expressions secrets

Main problems with Issue

Prison sentences like Nathan Petersons might not affect

pirates, because there's so much money to be made and
so little prosecution, but it could make consumers more
aware. And if nobody's buying the stuff, pirates will be
impacted by that.
The sentence, handed down by U.S. District Court Judge
T.S. Ellis III, is the longest ever handed down for software
piracy.
Officials have called iBackups.net one of the largest
software piracy sites based out of the United States,
according to news reports.
Problems

Peterson had started selling the programs in 2003, and

according to federal authorities, had made more than $5.4
million from the sales. The retail value of the software was
close to $20 million, authorities noted.
Software companies deal with extremely high losses due
to software piracy.
Pirates gain a lot of money from their software piracy.
People are not aware that what they are doing is a crime.
Ensure that people who work in production, marketing,
and management are paid for the time and effort they put
in to create the intangible intellectual property we enjoy.
 Solutions

Ensure the protection of entertainment industry, publishers

and software companies investments expected, or hoped-for
revenues.
Apply existing laws, rules, and/or guidelines or develop new
ones, to protect copyright owners, but also to protect fair
use, reasonable public access, and the opportunity to use
new technologies to the fullest to provide new services.
Technical, managerial and legal solutions include
technologies to prevent or deter copying, marketing and
contractual changes that reduce the incentive to copy
illegally, education about the reasons for copyright protection
and enforcement and revision of copyright law.
Solutions

Social Market
Ethical Legal

Apply laws Education Detection

Protection
Bibliography

http://www.betanews.com
Computer Confluence by G. Beekman and M.J.
Quinn
http://www.sci-tech-today.com
THANK YOU