SOFTWARE PIRACY
IFSM 304

Abstract In the various media industries there are extreme worries concerning unauthorized downloading and copying of their products known as piracy. Piracy of items has been part of commerce for centuries; counterfeiting of currency for example. With the information age the ease at which media can be pirated has caused an explosion of this phenomenon. This practice is an illegal act that is done by individuals for personal use and also for profit. The first do not seem to see the issues caused by this practice such as; the spreading of viruses and lower quality products. We will use Reynolds' Seven-Step Ethical Decision Making Approach for the breakdown of the ethical reality of software piracy.
Introduction
Software piracy is defined as illegally copying software for distribution within the organization, or to friends, clubs and other groups, or for duplication and resale (PC Mag, n.d.). Software piracy is a worldwide issue. With the increase in the access to and the speed of the Internet the availability of pirated media continues to increase in availability. The most common of types of piracy follow: Softlifting: Borrowing and installing a copy of a software application from a colleague. Client-server overuse: Installing more copies of the software than you have licenses for. Hard-disk loading: Installing and selling unauthorized copies of software on refurbished or new computers. Counterfeiting: Duplicating and selling copyrighted programs. Online piracy: Typically involves downloading illegal software from a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, Internet auction, or blog.
P2P networks seem to be the most common tool for acquiring unauthorized media; most online users are familiar with Torrent sites for downloading movies and TV. but one of the most famous and first P2P abuser of copyrighted material was Napster