The Crash Course to Become a Pirate
From Mod Mania
(A SOFTWARE PIRATE)
Contents |
INTRODUCTION:
Let me ask a simple question. How many songs on your computer have been legally downloaded? How many programs running on your computer have been registered with the same computer company? How many DVDs from your collection are not pirated from one of your friends? Scary isn’t it. Digital piracy is all around us, whether we like it or not: even something as small as copying a CD of music is a breach of the original copyright laws. Since the expansion of technology, it has become somewhat simple for the everyday user to produce a mirror image of the original, not knowing that they are full well breaking the law. Yet the question should be asked: Which is worse? You could either be that good friend and give them a copy of your latest computer game; breaking copyright, or honour the legal system (and in turn loose all of your friends for being a wimp). Particularly in the software and gaming industry the increase in the use of illegal products has grown substantially with the introduction of the internet and media burning hardware. To be perfectly honest, the computer this is produced on is running not only an illegal copy of an operating system, but also word processing programs, the music listened to whilst producing this piece… you get the picture. But it is no wonder people have turned to the alternate path of illegal use of programs, with the big wigs of the software industry constantly fishing out millions upon millions of dollars out of our wallets. So the argument is this. Which is the lesser evil?
THE BEGINNING:
For the very start of software development; as early as the 1970’s, there was no real threat to the developers in regards to the illegal reproduction of their property due to the lack of interest in software itself, let alone the technology needed to simply reproduce. The law for software copyright ownership was introduced in 1980 under the Computer Software Copyright Act, protecting the software as being ‘literary works’ prevents their illegal duplication. Although later on in 1989 began to find flaws in this law of copyrighting software, prompting questions on patenting mathematical equations and algorithms. Due to this discrepancy; to this day, there has never been a concrete way in order to protect the software under law. Then the public availability of recordable media was introduced, allowing computer users to write software onto their own media at free will. This introduced the massive influx of software piracy, concluding to become one of the common crimes in the world due to its ease of procedure in doing so, the high costs of software that is necessary to run a computer system, and the mentality that it’s ok to burn something that has a copyright to save money.
SO YOU WANT TO BE A PIRATE:
We are all aware of the basic types of software piracy; aka burning a CD-R for a friend, but there are various other means in which software can be illegally distributed and obtained. According to the Business Software Alliance these include the following:
• CD-R infringement- the illegal copying of software using CD-R recording technology.
• Commercial Use of Non-commercial Software- using educational or other commercial-use-restricted software in violation of the software license is a form of copyright infringement.
• Counterfeiting- the duplication and sale of unauthorized copies of software in such a manner as to try to pass off the illegal copy as if it were a legitimate copy produced or authorized by the legal publisher. This is also often a violation of trade mark laws.
• Hard-disk loading- when an individual or company sells computers preloaded with illegal copies of software.
• Internet infringement- the illegal uploading of software on to the Internet for anyone to copy.
• OEM infringement/unbundled- known as OEM (original equipment manufacturer) software, is only legally sold with specified hardware. Whether misappropriating OEM software constitutes copyright infringement is subject to interpretation - a software publisher would have a difficult time prosecuting a person who has successfully purchased a genuine OEM copy but who, according to the license agreement, would have been supposed to purchase a retail copy. This is because a court must also consider laws relating to the commercial sales of goods such as the Uniform Commercial Code in the United States, which are more established in law and which can be interpreted to prohibit or nullify licensing terms that negate the established nature of a common sale transaction.
• ‘Soft-lifting’- is a neologism invented by anti-copyright infringement advocates, and is a term used to describe when a person purchases a single licensed copy of a software program and loads it on several machines, in violation of the terms of the license agreement.
• Unrestricted client access infringement- when a copy of a software program is copied onto an organization's servers and the organization's network "clients" are allowed to freely access the software in violation of the terms of the license agreement.
There have been various levels of piracy designated to the volume or outcome in which each aims to achieve. Again, from the same source of the BSA these include:
• Industrial piracy- an individual or group attempts duplication and distribution on a large scale for profit.
• Corporate piracy- unprotected contents are shared through net¬works such as peer-to-peer, LAN and Internet.
• Reseller piracy- involves computer hardware companies selling ma¬chines with illegal copies of software preloaded on their hard drive.
• Home piracy- includes everything from trading disks with friends to running a not-for-profit bulletin board for the purpose of illegal software distribution. So those who have already felt the requirement to produce a copy of a program for a mate thinking was an innocent act, think again.
THE CAPTAINS OF THE PIRACY SEAS:
You may think that software producers have strong control over the reproduction of their property; however the reality is that it is more common than any other piracy around. This is alarming considering that this form of piracy has only just started to become an everyday incidence for the majority of us. In the US alone, 40% of the total software used in the country has been copied and pirated to use at will. It’s not only them inflicting damage on the software industry; a whopping 75% of all software in both Japan and Germany has also been illegally reproduced. Even in profitable industries, we constantly see people scraping the bottom of the barrel only to find themselves too illegally using software for their own profit: this isn’t only illegal, its morally wrong. But let’s not forget those who feel it necessary not only to distribute illegal copies of software to people, but also charge a fee in doing so. Even the public feels sorry for the software big-wigs having their hard work put into the development of their product and have the money fished right out of their own wallets. It’s somehow ironic for that to occur due to the fact that because people are doing such acts of piracy, software manufacturers feel obliged to jack-up the prices, providing an even further disadvantage to the good citizens honoring the copyright laws. So, theoretically, the pirates are taking the money from the purchaser, not the owner of the copyright.
MORALS AND THE LESSER EVIL:
It’s not so much the actual piracy that we should be worried about; it’s the lack of discrepancy between the two morals behind our motivation to copy software. Should I go out and spend my grocery money on software that will help with my work, or get a copy from someone and be able to eat for the week? This grey area distracts our ideals from the laws that have been placed to prevent this type of action occurring and, in turn, causes the inflation of piracy. Students aren’t in the position to spend $3000 on a piece of software that they can gain for free: it’ common sense. The choice becomes this simple for some: survive or be the good citizen. It’s this incentive that has cause an uprising in the number of freeware versions of the types of software on offer that; although not as good as the original supplied, free and legal to be obtained for free. A prime example of software is the Linux GUI system: allowing users to edit the software scripts to suit what desires they have. Sure sounds like a viable option for the basic functions of a computer, but due to the dominance in the industry of existing software (yes, Microsoft), there is lack of support from alternate programs to run on such operating systems: so; although a possible option, not a very accountable one.
THE PRICE HIKE:
When it comes down to it, the software industry; like any other, is in it for the money. What happened to the joy of creation; the joy of development; the joy of exploration? That went out the window with a simple wave of money in front of the developers. Now it has become a cut-throat business: the survival of the fittest and popular. This, in turn, would theoretically make software purchases cheaper than ever: unfortunately not. From the factory to the retailer, the software goes from something that costs very little to manufacture, to something worth more than the machine that runs it. For example, price comparisons for a computer game Call of Duty 4 (2007) is found to be under $70 online though various suppliers, including Amazon; yet the very same product can be found in retail stores for a lazy $99.95. An even better option is to download or copy the software for a remarkable price of the media it was copied on to. Go figure. Hence, the question arises yet again, what is the lesser evil?
THE EVIL VESSEL- BROADBAND:
God bless the introduction to high-speed broadband internet; allowing us to access information on the internet at speeds never seen before. And yes; allowing us to download unforseen amounts of software right onto our desktops in the comfort of our own home. Here are the very people enforcing these copyright laws on software upon us giving us a get-out-of-jail-free card to obtain software with the very thing that they also promote: fast internet for all: another blow to the software-producers’ shins. It has simply become too simple for someone to access a program that, 5 years ago, would have had to have been illegally copied from media to media, to something that can be downloaded and obtained within half the time and effort. The irony of the introduction of another program to download programs makes this sector of software piracy even more entertaining as the program producers can literally do nothing to completely prevent the distribution of their product. A system that every software company relies on is also their worst enemy. Even with the introduction of software that tracks the I.P (internet protocol) address of those illegally downloading; they are fighting a lost battle: for the immense number of downloads available embarrassingly outnumbers the good Samaritans trying to prevent the distribution of the files.
SOFTWARE COMPANY V. THE PUBLIC:
The software companies have been snookered into a tennis match game between themselves and the very users for the prevention of the illegal distribution of their products. The introduction of regular updates; sometimes restricting features of the program, allows producers to control the way their products are used and restricts the number of users for each copy. Processes reflecting these characteristics of restriction also include serial or CD keys, online activation, and registration: process deterring but not preventing their illegal distribution. Once these measures have been taken, it isn’t long before the very people the companies call the ‘consumer’, has managed to by-pass these security features to allow an illegal copy of the program to function as per normal. They even go as far as to distribute these processes on the internet, give the whole world access to the loop-hole in the program. It could be described as a hobby for them; cracking the software and sending the proof right back to the company. Then another update is released and it begins once again. This vicious cycle will never end whilst the company continues to be in business. On the positive side, it does allow the legal customers to obtain the very best potential out of the software due to the regular updates.
CONCLUSION:
We are all aware of the huge problem that software manufacturers face every day with the production of software; yet there has been little action to the prevention of such actions. What happened to the recognition of morals? We should focus upon the building of technology and not work against it, because; if this course continues, we will find ourselves with no more software to crack. On a brighter note, with this crash-course guide you too can contribute to the global phenomenon that is software piracy: just kidding. But seriously, don’t take the producer’s hypocrisy seriously and consider the consequences of software piracy so; for when you get caught, there is no one else to blame but yourself.
N.HOLLINS
