Policy Memo

Policy Memo - Software Piracy

INTRODUCTION

Software piracy involves the act of copying and using of computer software without buying a license for the product. Software companies and government agencies lose a significant amount of money due to piracy. Software companies invest large sums of money in developing state of the art information system but crackers exploit the vulnerabilities and freely distribute the software. The government as well as the software industry has taken bold steps to reduce piracy but the losses remained more than $58.8 billion worldwide in 2010 (BSA 2011, p3-4). In order to control software piracy, it is important to establish stringent international laws that can reduce the large number of sources that distribute this pirated software from countries like China.

SUPPORT

The United States suffers from major losses in economic value due to software piracy. The International Data Group (IDG) predicted that if the United States alone was able to reduce software piracy by 10% over the course of four years, there would be an addition of $41 billion to the economic growth of US. As much as $6.7 billion would be added into the Federal Reserve in tax collection. The computer industry as a whole would become stronger and result in offering 32,000 new jobs for the United States. The computer industry in partnership with the regulatory bodies has stepped up on controlling software piracy with the introduction of the Stop Online Piracy Act, which is under review of the Congress. However, these laws cannot deliver due to a lack of collaboration between the international stakeholders. These laws tend to block access to the websites that distribute pirated software but these laws lose their effect because once blocked, the owners of these websites begin operating from countries like China. These laws should be enforced irrespective of national boundaries. ...