With the proliferation of new software and video games being used by all nations, an ethical conflict can arise from how different cultures view ownership of intellectual property (IP). It is necessary for the nations of the world to come to agreements in order for their to be a shared movement against the distribution of copyrighted software. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) which was founded in 1947 had created laws for the international community on intellectual property that has been taken over by the World Trade Organization (WTO) that replaced the GATT in 1995. While international IP laws exist, the relation of the WTO's agreement on IP rights to software has been heavily disputed as to whether software can be considered an invention worthy of protecting as intellectual property (Wikipedia). Despite this the WTO strives to establish "minimum levels of protection that each government has to give to the intellectual property of fellow WTO members" (WTO).
Despite the wide spread of international laws across the globe, many countries still have a very high percentage of piracy, dwarfing the amount of piracy that takes place in other parts of the world. This correlates heavily to the countries concept of ownership and their economy. While the rate of software piracy has gone down because of international laws, it is very hard to stop piracy as a whole and eliminating piracy involves reteaching everyone the value of copyrighted property and convincing people that a product is worth their money.
Deterrence
With the knowledge that sharing copyrighted software is so widespread and easy to do, people have little to deter them. Realizing this, software industries and law enforcement agencies now look to crack down on this behavior to prove a point and make an example of offenders. Companies such as Microsoft and Adobe have their own efforts in place in order to make people aware of what piracy is and the ramifications of it. They make the consumer aware that by purchasing software they do not own anything; rather they become a licensed user of the software, thus sharing software "is [sic] illegal and punishable by law" (Adobe). With many restrictions on the use, some consumers switch to using open source programs that have no licensing restrictions as an alternative.
There are many anti-piracy organizations in place to prevent and investigate those who commit piracy. Individuals can be found by tracking their activity or by being reported to groups such as the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA). The SIIA "is the principal trade association for the software and digital content industry" (SIIA). Much of their work is dedicated to protecting copyrights and spreading information about the illegality of software piracy as well as representing businesses in lawsuits against accused pirates (SIAA). Businesses also practice the use of copy protection and digital rights management (DRM) to protect their software. These methods often prove useless though as determined users will get past these restrictions.
With little legal disincentive to refrain from piracy, many people will continue to download digital content. There is relative safety in knowing that by keeping a low profile there will be no repercussions for you actions. Those that tend to see repercussions for their actions are individuals that attempt to distribute content for profit or have a high traffic of copyrighted material being downloaded to their IP address. The same can be seen with seven individuals who created copies of Rosetta Stone and sold them that were arrested by law enforcement agencies across many different states (Forbes). In regards to video games, rarely are there news stories about someone facing punishment for downloading only one game, but those that download multiple games and spread them to others and build hacked consoles that allow for piracy are usually caught. Until real legislation is made to create definite consequences for piracy and awareness of these laws is spread, many will continue to participate in this activity.
Sources:
Adobe. (n.d.). Anti-piracy initiative. Retrieved November 29, 2009,
from http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/antipiracy/piracy.html
Forbes (2009, Oct. 19). Rosetta Stone Commends Law Enforcement for Seven Piracy Arrests. Retrieved November 29, 2009, from http://www.forbes.com/feeds/businesswire/2009/10/19/businesswire130360658.html SIIA. (n.d). Software Anti-Piracy Information. Retrieved November 29, 2009, from http://siia.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=334:anti-piracy-information&catid=162:anti-piracy-articles&Itemid=371 Wikipedia. (n.d.). Software Patents. Retrieved November 29, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_patents_under_TRIPs_Agreement WTO. (n.d.). Intellectual Property: Protection and Enforcement. Retrieved November 29, 2009, from http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/agrm7_e.htm
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