Software Piracy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Software Piracy - Assignment Example hical means 4: Government Government must provide the autonomy to each stakeholder about the use of software for their interests Government must ensure that pirated software does not harm the interests of the original creator as well as other stakeholders It is the duty of government to tell the truth about software piracy The Dilemma (Software Piracy) Software consists of programs that are designed to perform specific tasks for the different classes of users. Today, software applications are widely being used by individuals, government and business organizations for a variety of purposes. The software programs’ utilities are numerous in certain areas such as hospitals, banking education and space studies. Software programs can be purchased from software vendors. Eventually, certain general purpose software programs are available on internet, as freeware and shareware. However, the freeware and shareware software do not have much capabilities that are owned by the retail softw are packages (University of West Florida, 2012). Software piracy can be defined as the illegal copying, distribution or in general the illegal use of software. In other words, software piracy can be described as copying of software programs by individuals or business organizations either with profit motive or to harm others. The advancement in technological systems and tools has not only a favorable impact on the society but has also contributed immensely towards software piracy throughout the globe. Software piracy has serious impacts both on national economy as well as on the software producing organizations. The software producing companies spend millions of Dollars on their research activities for inventing particular software. Unfortunately, a few individuals and organizations take negative advantage of the technological advancements bothering less about the nation’s economy and software producing organizations which results in the form of pirated software (Ohio Literacy Resource Centre, 2001). Consequently, such factors have attracted the interests of many researchers to choose software piracy as one of the largely debated ethical issues. Three Principles The three principles selected for the matrix include Autonomy, Non-maleficence and Veracity. Autonomy can be described as freedom of an individual to take his/her own decisions. Every individual is free to use genuine or pirated software which is solely based on the conscience of an individual to consider it as ethical or unethical. However, the decision an individual takes should not harm any other individual or group or it should be non-maleficence. At the same time, the decision should not violate the rules and the laws established by the state or federal government. The truth related to incurrence of any act in relation to software piracy should be brought into limelight so that any such occurrence of piracy in future can be prevented. It can also benefit to create awareness about software pi racy and the harm that it can create to the