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JasmineVeasley
ProfessorXu
BUSA345
11April2016
Chapter10:SecuringInformationSystems
Fromreadingchapterten,Ilearnedaboutkeepingyourinformationsecureandto
beawareofdifferentthreatsandcrimesthatcouldoccur.Outofallofthetopics,Ifound
thatsoftwarepiracywasthemostinterestingtome,soIdecidedtofocusonthetopicof
softwarepiracy.Softwarepiracyisdefinedasatypeofcomputercrimewhereindividuals
makeillegalcopiesofsoftwarethatisprotectedbycopyrightlaws(Schneider,p.373).
Somecommontypesofsoftwarepiracyincludecounterfeitsoftware,OEMunbundling,
softlifting,harddiskloading,corporatesoftwarepiracy,andinternetsoftwarepiracy.
Insomeinstances,someretailprogramsarelicensedforuseofcopyingsoftware
fromonlyonecomputersiteorbyonlyoneuser.Whenyoubuythesoftware,you
automaticallybecomealicenseduserratherthananowner.Yourebasicallyallowedto
makecopiesoftheprogramundercertaincircumstancessuchasforbackuppurposes,but
itsagainstthelawtogivethoseextracopiestoanyoneelsei.e.,yourfriendsorfamily.
Withsoftwarepiracy,bothpatentandcopyrightlawscanapplytosoftware,which
isaformofintellectualpropertycreationsthatcomefromthemind.Someofthesethings
includemusic,software,inventions,names,images,designs,andotherworks.Patentsand
copyrightsarerecognizedandareenforcedbymostcountries.Thisgivesthecreatorofthe
productexclusiverightstobenefitfromthecreationforalimitedamountoftime.Patents
refertoagovernmentauthorityorlicenseconferringarightortitleforasetperiodoftime
especiallythesolerighttoexcludeothersfrommaking,using,orsellinganinvention.For
example,Amazonsoneclickbuyingprocessisprotectedbypatentlaw,andApplehas
patenteditsmultitouchtechnologyusedintheiPhoneandiPad(usingthepinchfor
shrinkingandexpandingitems).Copyrightsrefertoanexclusivelegalright,giventoan
originatororanassigneetoprint,publish,perform,film,orrecordliterary,artistic,or
musicalmaterial,andtoauthorizeotherstodothesame.

Whenyoubuycommercialsoftware,itsusuallyillegalforyoumakeabackupcopy
foryourownuse(althoughthesoftwarevendorcanmakeitverydifficulttocopythe
software).Itsalsolegaltooffersharewareorpublicdomainsoftwareforfreeonawebsite.
Warezpeddlingiswhenyoureofferingstolenproprietarysoftwareforfreeoverthe
internetisacrime.Warezisashortertermforstolensoftware(Schneider,p.374).
Softwarepiracyhasbecomeaproblembecauseitssowidespread,castingthecommercial
softwareindustryandtheentireeconomybillionsofdollarsayear.
A2013studythatwasconductedbyTheBusinessSoftwareAllianceorBSA,
suggestedthatreducingsoftwarepiracybyonly1%globallywouldinjectus$73billion
dollarsintotheworldseconomy,whichwouldresultinproducinghundredsofthousands
ofnewjobsandalsobillionsofdollarsintaxrevenue.Manysoftwarevendorsaretryingto
limitsoftwarepiracybyrequiringtheuserstoenterlicensekeysorverifyingthekeybefore
allowingthecustomertoregisterorupdatethesoftware.Piracyofsoftwareandother
technologiesiswidespreadinternationally.TheBSApointstocountrieslikeGeorgia,91%;
Zimbabwe,92%;andBangladesh,90%;whichcontainthehighestpercentagesofillegal
software.CountriesthathavethelowestpiracyratesincludetheUnitedStates,19%;Japan,
21%;Luxembourg,20%;andNewZealand,22%(Schneider,p.374).Sincetechnology
usagevariessignificantlybyeachregion,averagepiracylevelsanddollarlossesaregreatly
differedacrosstheregions.EventhoughtheUnitedStateshasthelowestpiracyrate,its
alsothecountrythatfacesthegreatestlostbecauseofthehighestlevelofcomputerusage.
Oneoftheentirelydifferentapproachtosoftwarepiracyiscalledshareware.It
acknowledgestheuselessnessoftryingtostoppeoplefromcopyingsoftwareandrelieson
peopleshonesty.Sharewarepublishersencourageuserstogivecopiesofprogramsto
friendsandfamilybutaskeveryonewhoisusingaprogramregularlytopayaregistration
feetotheprogramsauthordirectly(Webopedia).

References

Webopedia."SoftwarePiracy."
WhatIsSoftwarePiracy?WebopediaDefinition
.Quinstreet
Enterprise,2015.Web.11Apr.2016.

Schneider,Christoph,andJosephValacich.
InformationSystemsToday:Managinginthe
DigitalWorld
.Seventhed.UpperSaddleRiver,NJ:PearsonPrenticeHall,2008.Print.