Software piracy has reached epidemic proportions worldwide! In no other medium or industry is the theft of intellectual property more rampant. According to the book, A Gift Of Fire, Billions of dollars of software is copied illegally worldwide every year. Being relatively new technologies, the software and internet industries have yet to create a good foundation for the deterrence of theft. But as the courts see more and more cases involving piracy and theft of software, we are happily seeing a trend towards the judicial intolerance of such crimes. Our lawmakers are also jumping on the bandwagon, with legislation such as amendments to the copyright act and with pressure on foreign nations for stricter controls of intellectual property.Piracy: A DefinitionAccording to the Business Software Alliance (BSA), The term "software piracy" usually refers to the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of copyrighted software programs. This definition is quite narrow, as there are many more ways to violate a copyright or software license agreement.Unauthorized duplication and sale is the primary way that software is stolen today. Duplication may take the form of floppy disks or, with the advent of cd writers, a cd. In many countries where copyright laws are not enforced or non-existent, one can buy cds full of software from many different vendors for only a fraction of the cost of the originals. These duplicated disks can usually be bought through second hand computer stores or certain web sites but mostly they are now sold through online auction sites. A recent study from the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) found that more than 90 percent of the software auctions it surveyed were offering pirated products.The second way to pirate software, which is quickly overtaking the duplication of disks, is to make the software downloadable from the internet. Many of these sites have software (which they call warez) befo...
