Say No to Piracy
Making unauthorized copies of a software programme, a movie or a song is stealing.
When creators of movies, music and novels cannot make a living because of rampant piracy, the quantity, variety and quality of new movies, music and novels will be reduced.
Because technology makes the stealing intellectual property so easy and so safe and the fact that one can do it without fear of getting caught, the guilt that a normal crime could evoke is absent, and this is not right.
It is because we do not see the victim, we do not know how he or she is affected by acts of intellectual piracy, we do not care.
One reason why we do not think nor create is that there is someone out there who has done the thinking for us and all we need to do is to is to use a search engine to locate the idea and copy it. It is no wonder then that we have become more intellectually lazy and less original.
When you purchase counterfeit products the money goes directly into the pockets of the pirates. Who do you prefer to support? Pirates and crooks or legitimate businessmen? It is a fact that the pirated copy is a lot cheaper and this may be a major consideration for you but remember that you may well be getting a very inferior product for this money.
Original computer products come with guarantees of quality, support and upgrades. What do you get with pirated products?
The price of software is high partly because the producers need to ensure that the limited copies they sell will be sufficient to cover authoring, producing and distribution costs. If large companies do not have to pay the billions of dollars they are paying to ensure that copyright materials are being protected, the price of software and other products can be substantially lowered. Thus by engaging in illegal copying, you are actually keeping prices high for the buyer of legal copies.
"I am only making one illegal copy for myself. It is not like I am making thousands for sale and distribution." If millions of people think this way, then only one copy of the original will be sold.
If you love watching exciting shows like the X-Men movies then you should ensure that more movies in this series can be made by giving the actors, producers etc their due. Deprive them of their livelihood and the series will come to an abrupt end. Will this benefit you?
It's not hard to see what attracts criminals to the software racket. A drug dealer pays about $47,000 for a kilo of cocaine, and can sell it on the street for about $94,000, a 100% profit. But for the same outlay of $47,000 — and a lot less risk — an enterprising crook can buy 1,500 pirated copies of Office 2000 Professional and resell them for a profit of 900%. (Time, Nov 8 ,2002)
Why we exercise copyright, however, and we don’t put it in the public domain, we have a fairly sophisticated licensing procedure, is actually to protect the integrity and accuracy of our information….people can rely on the information they receive from us. It also enables us, if we are licensing on the Internet, to withdraw that information when it becomes out-of-date and when a new version is available. (WHO spokesman, 21-22-Feb 2002, Commission on Intellectual Property Rights)
Still, someone not having the money to buy the game is not excuse to use a hack. Now, suppose you go to a store and really want to buy a game, but don't have the money. Is the store going to let you have it for free? No! In my opinion, using a hack is almost exactly the same as stealing. So really, I don't see what's so 'honest' as some people say about hacking. It's stealing, plain and simple, at least in my opinion. (Bulletin board contributor)
I certainly do not condone software piracy. People should be paid for their work. But ethics is a dual edged sword ... You can only expect others to be ethical towards you if you yourself are ethical. We would be remiss in discussing the ethics of those who make so much money in the software business. ((Bulletin board contributor)
Discussion:
What are some arguments against the copyright laws?
Should intellectual and creative works be protected? How?
Labels: please comment (: (Kendrick's group)
