How are businesses impacted
or affected by pirate websites?
Introduction
Piracy is a form of theft.
The pirates of old boarded merchant ships and took whatever they pleased. In
modern parlance, though, piracy usually refers to theft of intellectual
property. This includes all types of digital materials, such as illegally copied
software programs, ebooks, movies and music.
The impact of piracy on
businesses can be substantial, both on the intellectual property owner who
loses income and on the distributors and users of pirated materials.
The Effects of Software Piracy:
A common view of software piracy
portrays piracy as downloading commercial programs without payment, possibly
from sketchy websites filled with viruses. In fact, illegal downloads cover
only one angle of piracy. Buying duplicated copies of a program or sharing a
program with a friend can count as piracy, as installing a program on multiple
computers simultaneously often violates the program's license agreement.
Whether performed on an individual scale or across a huge corporation, using
unlicensed or improperly licensed programs can lead to civil or criminal
punishment for copyright infringement.
Security Risks
Pirated software can carry viruses and other
types of malware that infect computers. According to the Harrison Group, 24
percent of pirated copies of Windows were either infected or they automatically
downloaded malware as soon as they connected to the Internet. Even if a piece
of pirated software isn't infected itself, it can pose a security risk through
a lack of updates: Some copies of pirated software can't update properly,
leading users to continue using old versions with security holes.
Productivity Risks
Aside from security holes, using outdated
pirated software can cause users to encounter bugs and glitches, leading to
lost work, lost time and frustration. The hacks used to run pirated software
can also interfere with software operation, such as preventing a program from
accessing online features in order to avoid detection. In addition to problems
with the software itself, pirated programs lack a warranty and access to
customer support, making it more difficult to get help when problems occur.
Legal Risks
Using pirated software carries high penalties
under copyright law for users caught in the act. In the United States,
copyright infringement can lead to up to five years in jail and a $250,000
fine. The owner of the software's copyright can also sue for damages, which can
run as high as $150,000 per copy. Although the idea of software piracy might
evoke an image of an a home computer user, piracy often occurs in businesses,
putting entire companies at legal risk. Even the U.S. Army was caught in 2013
for using over $180 million in pirated software, costing it a $50 million
settlement. If you know a company is using pirated software, you can report the
crime anonymously to an industry association, such as BSA or The Software &
Information Industry Association.
Economic Risks
Pirated software takes away sales of
legitimate software. According to BSA, piracy in 2011 was responsible for
illegally sharing $9.7 billion worth of software in the United States. Aside
from the obvious effect on software development companies, piracy also harms
businesses completely outside the software industry: A 2011 study by Keystone
Strategy found that law-abiding companies are put at a $8.2 billion
disadvantage over the course of five years, due to other companies' willingness
to pirate software to save money.
The Disadvantages of
Software Piracy
Software piracy is the unauthorized
installation or illegal copying of software. It affects everyone. Prices for
software increase, because developers need to make a living. People who work
with software also charge more to pay for the extra costs. These costs are
passed on to the public, which pays more to benefit from what the software
produces.
Crime
Software piracy is stealing. You are taking
the product of another person without acknowledgment, permission or payment.
The maximum penalties are 250,000 dollars in fines and up to five years in
prison. Ignorance is not a excuse.
Expenses Passed Along
Piracy is unfair to your neighbor. Someone
has to pay for software, and it is the honest person who pays extra for
everyone who copies software illegally. According to a study, back in 2001,
software companies lost 11 billion dollars in revenue and approximately 40
percent of business software was pirated.
Responsibility
We all have a responsibility to say no to
software piracy. Buy only legal copies of software with serial numbers. Install
the software on only one machine, unless you have multiple licenses. Educate
yourself and others.
We also need more attention from Google,
which holds a monopoly on the internet search market. Currently, Google will
flag pirate sites after thousands of downloads or complaints. But, they make no
effort to favor authorized copyright holders or trusted sources in their
algorithm. Instead, Google crawls the Pirate Bay and other known copyright
thieves every day to ensure that content can be found. Google enables this game
of whack-a-mole that places a huge, unreasonable burden on the copyright
holder. Google works with many of our members to take down pirated content, but
they can and should do more.
The same holds true for Facebook. Content
creators don’t have visibility into these platforms to see where their content
is being shared illegally. Google and Facebook collectively act as a duopoly,
sharing as much as 99% of the growth in advertising last quarter. At the same
time, the platforms are slow to adopt measures to combat fraud or even provide
more transparency to protect the content ecosystem. More can be done to ensure
that valuable content isn’t illegally streamed
