WAYS TO HELP PREVENT SOFTWARE PIRACY

*please forgive the formatting, it does not transfer to the post well*




WAYS TO HELP PREVENT SOFTWARE PIRACY


Presented to
 
Course Instructor (names removed)



Prepared by

Student (names removed)

 



MEMORANDUM

DATE:  

TO: Instructor

FROM: Student

SUBJECT: WAYS TO HELP PREVENT SOFTWARE PIRACY


This is the formal report that you assigned to be completed and turned in by May 7. I have conducted a search on the topic of software piracy. The subject is very broad and affects many companies negatively.  

Many software companies are affected by software piracy. The internet is a great place to promote and sells software. The negative side is that hackers can access the software on the internet and pirate the software to many others.

I have conducted heavy research on the topic and hope to answer the question of why it is hard to prevent software piracy. I believe a solution would be very hard to implement. If you require further detail please inform me and I will gladly search further on the matter.  





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TABLE OF CONTENTS


TRANSMITAL MEMORANDUM……………………………………………………. II

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY…………………………………………………………….. IV

INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………... 1

 Understanding Software Piracy………………………………………………... 1

RESULTS OF THE STUDY…………………………………………………………... 2

 Why Software Piracy Is Hard To Stop…………………………………………. 2
 What is Being Done…………………………………………………………….. 3

CONCLUSIONS………………………………………………………………………... 4

RECOMMENDATIONS……………………………………………………………….. 5

WORKS CITED………………………………………………………………………… 6








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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY


Purpose of the Report

The purpose of this report is to understand why it is hard to prevent software piracy. 


Preventing Software Piracy

After searching deeply into the topic of software piracy I found that it is a common problem for many software companies. Software piracy is common among expensive software bundles that are available for download over the internet.  

Software piracy affects many companies online. These companies already enforce actions to prevent piracy of their software.


Recommendations for Preventing Software Piracy

After researching software piracy and learning about the different kinds of anti piracy tactics that software companies use, I have decided that there is no “do this” answer for preventing software piracy. Software piracy is a broad subject, and basically can not be stopped completely, only minimized.





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WAYS TO HELP PREVENT SOFTWARE PIRACY


INTRODUCTION

Software piracy affects many companies. Software can be pirated and shared over the internet to others. Piracy can cost software companies to lose money in sales. Software piracy is illegal but hard to stop.  

The problem with preventing software piracy is there are many problems to face when preventing software piracy. One problem faced when preventing software piracy is hackers. Also finding the people who use pirated software is a problem. Another problem with preventing software piracy is stopping people from sharing pirated software.  


Understanding Software Piracy

Software Piracy refers to several practices which involve the unauthorized copying of computer software (“Copyright infringement”). Software can be pirated and distributed to many other people over P2P (peer 2 peer) network programs. P2P networks were created to share information between users over the internet. The P2P networks are being used as a means of distrabution for pirated software. Many companies use certain anti piracy techniques to defer users from pirating their software. Hackers break these aint piracy securities and make the hacked software available to others. When hackers crack the security used by software companies and distribute the software to others the software companies lose money. 

Hackers are not the only people who can pirate software. Any person using a computer can make copies of software and make them available to others. The major cases of software piracy are more serious. People make copies of the original software and sell it for profit as the real program. These cases are getting more and more popular.  

Estimated losses from software piracy climbed, however, from $29 billion to $33 billion, as both the legal and unauthorized software markets grew from 2003 to 2004. IDC estimated that $90 billion worth of software was installed in 2004, compared to $80 billion in 2003, with sales of legal software growing 6 percent (Gross).  



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RESULTS OF THE STUDY

The study shows that stopping software piracy is not an easy task.


Why Software Piracy Is Hard To Stop
“The software industry seems helpless against piracy. "There's no way for us to control if someone is using pirated copies of our software," said Matthias Gilke, spokesman for software maker Quark. "The only way to stop it is to prevent the sale of illegal software." Copy protection is of little help, because it only prevents the typical consumer from making copies. But since it is an easy barrier for hackers, it doesn't make sense to invest too much in the technology, Gilke said. "We have copy protection on our software, but we prefer not to concentrate too much on it. It's impossible to stop illegal copies and more important to concentrate on the satisfaction of the clients that are willing to pay. We don't want the high level of copy protection to interfere with the work flow of these legal clients," he said. There is almost no way to find illegal users. The police in the Czech Republic are well-educated about the problem Hlavac said, but they can still check a computer only when there is a well-founded suspicion that it is running illegal software. "We need evidence, no matter from whom. The common way is that someone reports to the police or to us that illegal software is used in a certain company. Usually former employees do so to take revenge. In that case the police will check the computers in this company and we have an angle to sue it," he said. Even when caught in the act, prosecution is difficult because often the informants are unwilling to testify in court.” (Zoeller)
Software companies are already losing money because their software is being pirated. The intelligent decision would be not investing in piracy protection. Piracy protection will never be completely secure. Hackers can bypass any piracy protection to date. “Microsoft's new Windows Vista, which was to be more secure than the older Windows XP, was cracked by Russian hackers a few days after coming on to the market. It was quickly available on the black market in Russia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Croatia, according to the website www.markenpost.de. Microsoft invested $6 billion in Vista's development.” (Zoeller)
Some countries are aware that the piracy rates are high, but seem to care little about stopping it. “Even Microsoft founder Bill Gates appeared to have an interest in the market when he visited Romania in February. President Traian Basescu took the opportunity to thank Gates, joking that pirated Microsoft software had helped Romania build a vibrant technology industry. About 70 percent of software used in Romania is said to be pirated, but the country may be exceptional because its president actually acknowledges the practice. "Mr. Basescu's remark is really annoying, but the problem is an international one," said Jan Hlavac, spokesman for the Czech office of the Business 
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Software Alliance (BSA), which supports software companies in their fight against copyright infringement. "Some countries have more bootlegs and some less, but all countries everywhere in the world have users of illegal software." “(Zoeller)
What Is Being Done
One type of piracy that has been targeted is the selling of illegal copies on internet auction sites. “SIIA's program takes a hard line against the eBay sellers who are most actively ripping off software makers and defrauding consumers. SIIA's team of investigators targets flagrant auction-site pirates, as determined by long-term repeat activity or by short-term high volume. They work to identify offenders and then conduct investigations by making test purchases to verify the product is pirated, handling the evidence in a proper chain-of-custody procedure, and providing a complete investigative roper on the pirate. SIIA works closely with its members to distinguish illegal software from legal software, and members are able to provide additional intelligence or handle piracy verification themselves. After approval is granted by the affected member(s), SIIA authorizes its outside legal counsel to file a complaint against the person conducting the illegal auction. Often, no notice and takedown letter or other correspondence is sent to the seller prior to filing the complaint. In its most recent action, SIIA settled claims for infringement of Symantec's copyrighted software in the case of Symantec, et al. v. Chan et el. On behalf of member company Symantec, SIIA accused the defendant of infringing Symantec's copyrights and trademarks in Norton PartitionMagic, Norton AntiVirus, pcAnywhere, Norton SystemWorks, and other software by reselling OEM (original equipment manufacturer), unbundled, counterfeit, and other copies of that software not authorized for resale.” (Kupferschmid)
Prosecuting offenders for committing piracy acts is Malaysia’s step for stopping software piracy. “Another important development has been the establishment of Malaysia's first specially designated IP court. July 17 definitely marked a historical moment for the nation when it officially came into operation. To further improve the administration of IP-related disputes, 15 session courts in every state were designated to handle these matters, with six high courts sitting as special designated courts in states with the most number of IP infringements. The IP Court caught the public's attention on September 4 when Aussino (M) Sdn Bhd, located in Kuala Lumpur, earned the dubious distinction of being the first local company to be found guilty in the Court for possessing copies of pirated software. In passing sentence and imposing a fine of RM80,000 ($23,000) or, in default, 12 months' jail, the Court commented that under the Copyright Act 1987, a company/its officers was liable to imprisonment for up to five years. The Court further added that in imposing the sentence, it took into consideration the fact that copyright infringement was a serious offence, hence the government had set up the IP Court to show it was serious about addressing the problem. The setting up of the IP Court definitely symbolizes Malaysia's commitment to combating IP infringement. Once placed 
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on the US Priority Watch list as a haven for pirates and for high levels of IP infringement, Malaysia hopes to be removed altogether from the list with the setting up of this IP mechanism. The Star Online recently quoted Malaysia's Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shafie Apdal as saying that "the establishment of the IP Court was real and tangible evidence of Malaysia's commitment to protect IP rights".“ (Mirandah)
Most companies can not stop software piracy, but they punish those they find guilty of pirating their software. “Symantec’s decision to file lawsuits against eight companies it accuses of selling pirated software was the latest move in the industry’s continuing struggle against counterfeit products. That it was a top-tier security software provider also highlights the dangers to users who install pirated security products onto their systems. The eight separate lawsuits, filed over the past several months in U.S. District Court in California and announced May 16, seek more than $55 million in damages from the companies, which include several in California, as well as others in New York, Texas, Florida and Canada. Scott Minden, Symantec’s director of legal affairs, told eWeek that the lawsuits were the result of the efforts of Symantec’s Brand Protection Task Force, which reviewed defective disks submitted by customers of the accused businesses.” (Vaas)

CONCLUSIONS

After researching the affects of software piracy and the steps taken to prevent it I have decided that there is no certain way to stop software piracy. Companies can invest money into researching ways to make piracy protection software better. The downside to investing in better piracy protection software is that hackers will always be able to break the piracy protection. The bottom line to piracy protection software is that the hackers know the programming languages that are used to create the software and they can “undo” the protection. Therefore the companies are already losing money in sales to pirated software sharing and then investing more money into piracy protection software that doesn’t keep their software safe from piracy.  

The best process for stopping software piracy seems to be prosecuting the offenders that have been caught in the act. This seems to be the best way, but again it has it down sides. First the software companies have to use software in their programs to send information to servers that verify the serial numbers, etc that are used by the companies to secure their software so that it does not install without the serial number, etc. If the validation fails then the IP address can be recorded and steps can be taken to handle the matter. The second problem is that the software used to verify the product must have internet access to work. Other than the verification software, users who accept updates to the products they have pirated can be caught. The program that updates the software checks the serial number, etc against registered serial numbers, etc on the company’s database. If the verification process shows the serial number, etc is pirated the offender can be caught. The hardest part of this process is finding the offenders. Simply said, there is no way to 

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eliminate software piracy. There is only hope that prosecuting offenders who are caught will deter others from pirating software. 


RECOMMENDATIONS

I recommend that companies who are affected by software piracy do not invest in better piracy protection for their software. Hackers will always hack the piracy protection and create ways to work around it if they can’t. The piracy protections already in use are sufficient against non savvy computer users who are not hackers. The non savvy users are unaware of how to bypass the securities and are unable to copy the software. I believe that software companies affected by piracy should focus more on catching offenders. If offenders are caught and prosecuted, the company can return loses in sales from court settlements. By searching and prosecuting criminals, companies will set images forward to software pirates that piracy is not tolerated.  

I also believe that the software piracy should be government responsibility. The companies have rights to the security of the software they are producing. The government should be enforcing laws that prevent cases of software piracy.



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Works Cited

"Copyright infringement of software." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 22 Apr 2008, 13:14 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 1 May 2008 .

Gross, Grant. "Software Piracy Remains Widespread." About.com. IDG News Service. 22 Apr 2008 .

Zoeller, Renate. "Nest of Pirates." Academic Search Premier 8/27/2004 p5. 22 apr 2008 .

Kupferschmid, Keith. "SIIA Gets Tough on Software Piracy." Academic Search Premier 24aug 2007 1-54. 23 apr 2008 .

Mirandah, Patrick. "IP Court is a step forward." Academic Search Premier 173oct 2007 92-93. 23 apr 2008 .


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