Sunday, November 7, 2010
New York Times - Chasing Pirates: Inside Microsoft's War Room
Microsoft, one of the huge software giants, makes its money from selling software, much like selling an apple: You give me money, and I give you something back. But one of the key differences between selling an apple and selling software is that I cannot copy an apple, but I can copy a program. Therefore, if someone buys one copy of a program, they can get as many more copies as they want by copying the one copy that they have. There is nothing to stop people from taking a program and putting it up for distribution on the internet. If people did this, Microsoft couldn't get any money, because instead of buying software from Microsoft, they would simply get a copy for free somewhere else.
Microsoft seems to have taken prevention of this to the extreme, as they are now raiding suspected "piracy" sites like the one in the article.
Some questions to consider:
* Is piracy a significant issue?
* Should people have the right to copy software?
* Is Microsoft being too extreme in its prevention methods?
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Piracy doesn't affect me personally, however, I do believe that it is a significant issue. I've never purchased anything threw an illegal website, but I do understand why piracy causes many problems within Microsoft. This issue costs the company million of dollars every year. Counterfeit companies make $51.4 billion yearly. Piracy is a significant issue because many people who can’t afford Microsoft's software’s purchase cheaper or free copies of CDs that perform the exact same services. It is an extremely hard choice for the lower class around the world to take the bribe of the illegal way out to save money. Overall, piracy not only affects Microsoft's profits, it will eventually affect the economy because more and more people will fall into the counterfeiting business if this issue isn't solved.
ReplyDeleteI believe that people should not have the right to copy software. Copying software is already illegal so they should know not to do so. However, I do fully understand why people do go into the business of counterfeiting and there should be alternative options for those who cant afford Microsoft’s software. The company could possibly lower their prices to insure to make the illegal piracy companies to go out of business and to have more yearly profits.
Microsoft is not being too extreme in its prevention methods because it has no other alternative than to pursue the performed avenues. Microsoft conducts raids, spends many long periods of time searching CDs to see if they are copied, positions messages in the security thread that goes into the authenticity stickers, tinkers with lettering on its boxes and carves a holographic film into the surface on the CDs. All of these methods are essential in order to eliminate the problem of piracy and to gain more profit back.
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ReplyDeletePrivacy is a huge issue. Now with the fairly new indroduction of the internet it makes it all the more easier for theives to "hack" into your personal information (credit card in particular). This puts stress on some families when buys good online. People should be able to purchase good online without the fear of losing their information through some scammy website.
ReplyDeletePeople should NOT have the right to copy right any software. When i think of copywritten software i think of the music industry. Limewire is a open source music free music library. A music lovers dream, instead or paying for a song on iTunes they can download it for free via limewire. This also rises the problem of money circulation. The music business (iTunes, Rhap Sody etc) draws a lot of money from everyday comsumers. With around half of the consumers this draws a lot of money away from these componies. It's the same thing with Microsoft, people are saying in their heads "why buy it when i can get it for free, it will work the same". These are the people who can not afford the software and or are too lazy to go out and buy it. A fix for the problem could be to lower the prices or to make deals with major computer componies like Apple, HP, IBM.... to include/ cut a deal on Microsoft software like office when buying a new computer.
Microsoft is not taking too extreme measures. People do not have the rights do go on "fake" sites and download a copy of Microsofts software. When we comsumers want something from the local CVS we do not go a foony site and pirating it. Microsoft need to develope a way to 1 CD do 1 download. A good way to fix their crisis would be to sell there software online so the lazy consumers can purchase Microsofts software from the confort of their couch.
Very intriguing article, Van-never heard about the news before!
ReplyDeleteI believe piracy is a significant issue but is not made a serious enough matter to the public. Piracy is illegal and should be prevented. It causes much disruption for many companies, like Microsoft. Economical problems appear and massive money can be lost. Piracy should not be tolerated and more care should be considered with hindering it.
I believe people should have the right to copy software. Copying a software is useful if a computer abruptly "dies" and can be restored with the copied software. But, having the ability to copy softwares can lead to piracy problems. As mentioned in the article, many cannot afford the expensive Microsoft softwares, so the company should reconsider prices. But, Microsoft claims there is no relation between the price of products and the rate of piracy. Microsoft should perhaps conduct more research as to what causes people to participate in piracy to evaluate what the company should do.
Microsoft is merely trying to protect the company, and its prevention methods are not too extreme. In an effort to separate genuines from fakes, the company created a "certificate of authenticity" sticker for software and computer boxes, but even these were reproduced and copies were found in 2007. Microsoft also uses numerous devices to track down counterfeits. The software company has been forced to create various letterings on boxes, holographic film onto CDs and much more. Microsoft has worked hard to keep the company running, and is willing to sacrifice everything to prevent loss of revenue.
I do not know how common piracy is, but I imagine that it would be a big problem for companies such as Microsoft. Software companies would quickly go bankrupt if piracy got out of hand. The other problem with piracy, however, is that it is hard to prevent. What Microsoft is doing may be one of the less extreme ways to reduce piracy. Either way, it certainly makes it much harder to pirate software and it is their right to try to insure that they are not essentially stolen from.
ReplyDeletePiracy is a big problem today and with the newer software and internet resources it is getting easier and easier. It is getting easier for people to copy any type of software which makes Microsoft loose millions in profits every year, therefore, it is a significant problem today. If more and more people just copy software downloads then eventually Microsoft and other computer software companies could go loose large amounts of profit and eventually have to stop making these softwares.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe people should have the right to copy software. Although it may be cheaper and more convenient, it makes large companies loose money. One or two illegal downloads would not make a difference but with piracy growing, more and more people will start to copy softwares instead of buying them. This could make companies loose so much money that they can not make new software.
I do not think that Microsoft is going to far because they are only trying to protect the company and its overall profits. People don't have the right to copy softwares. It is just like people don't have the right to steal form a store only it is online. Microsoft however has the right to protect their property.
I believe that piracy is a huge issue in more than 1 industy. Piracy is very big problem all over the world and in different types of industries such as, music, electronics, and even books. It's a big issue because people illegally copy other people's work, and then the artist (or creator) gets no credit for it at all, and it also causes people to make less money. Piracy should be watched even more than it is now because people are basically stealing money that rightfully belongs to the creator.
ReplyDeletePeople should not have the right to copy software because it belongs to the company. And if someone else is illegally selling the software, then Microsoft isn't making as much money, which could possibly lead to bankruptcy if it progresses.
Microsoft is not being too extreme in preventing piracy, because they are just trying to protect their company and prevent any further piracy. If Microsoft didn't take any measures to eliminate piracy, then the piracy would get out of hand and make Microsoft lose a lot of money. So Microsoft overall is doing the right thing by trying to resolve the problem.
I think Piracy is a serious issue because it can cheat many people/companies out of money and products that they put effort and money into. To not seriously penalize piracy would be incredibly unfair to those who make it and they would go out of business. It is a very significant issue because it will and has become a larger problem as the technology advances, this problem needs a very strong solution to discourage others to illegally copy and sell programs.
ReplyDeletePeople should not be allowed to copy software because they should not be allowed to sell something that is not theirs or that they do not have permission from the company to sell. Piracy Cheats companies out of their money and allowing coping to be legal would cause many company to drastically lose profits.
Microsoft it not being to extreme in its prevention methods because they need to set a strong example to discourage others from illegally copying THIER material. If their methods are effective for preventing piracy then they should continue regardless if others think it is too extreme.
Not to be redundant or unoriginal, but piracy is a significant issue that poses a large problem to western for profit enterprises like microsoft as they progress into foreign, and judicially very different markets. As the article points out, intellectual property laws are a pillar of how we in the United States, as well as much of the western word (Europe, etc) do business. Through institutions such as the patent office and through the use of copyright laws, we maintain a creators right to his ideas, and is ability to utilize them, through sale or other types of commercialization, to reap a profit. Thus is the basis for intellectual property. An interesting quesion is that, although a product like a book, or a piece of computer code, is a manifestation of its original creators mind, 1. Whether once it is transferred into a tangible item meant to represent it, it remains a piece of personal property like the thougts within the confines of one's own mind, and 2. If all original thoughts are property, then how does a society deal with the reality that much, if not all of modern thought is recycled and adapted by thinkers consciously and subconsciosly from other previous thoughts. Where is the line between simple replication and modification or development of an idea, and in the areas of modification and developmen, what rights do people possess to take the ideas of another and through varying degrees of re-interpretation or integration into a different context or idea and re-package them for their own commercial use.
ReplyDeleteClearly in the instance of computer code, the above questions are less prevalent, but the root issue of replicating another's work for profit remains.
Since microsoft isthe institution at risk in this scenario, it is, of course, in their interest to disrupt software reproduction to certain extent. However, the article does point out that, due to microsofts pricing, many people do not have acces to their products, and that microsoft tolerates a certain amount of seemingly inevitable piracy in order to preserve brand dominance/prevalence in a setting where if there was not cheap pirated microsoft products, consumers could easily commit money to more reasonably priced competitors. Therefore, in a situation where few are likely to buy microsoft's own products from them, but are likely to buy cheaper software from, say, apple, is it not in google's benefits for them to pay for piratted microsoft products? While they do not provide any revenue, they increase brand prevalence and prevent a competitor from gaining a foothold in the market.
As to whether anyon has the right to copy software, rights are a tricky thing in that, as primarily social constructs, they vary from region to region and, resultingly, market to market. In some settings it may be a social norm, an acceptable behavior, to copy software. Elsewhere it may not be. By western economic standards, it amounts to theft, but interpretations vary. As there is no omnipotent moral authority to protect mankind's unified interests, it of course falls to microsoft to protect their own bottom lines and be proactive, as the article illustrates they are, in discouraging more than an "acceptable" medium of piracy. Microsoft is justified in its respose,as it is the only entity protecting its interests, and it must do so to continue to turn a profit. Microsoft pursues their targets with the aid and blessing of local law enforcement forces, in compliance with their rules, and therefore, within those confines, has necessary motive to protect itself from economic liability.
good questions, intellectual property in regards to programming is diffent from the usual you hear about in reference to books, music, and film.
Piracy is an issue that is over taking the modern internet economy. Microsoft is not the only victim of this crime, many other companies and even millions of people are victims of fraud of every day. Websites such as lime wire make it as easy as clicking a button to illegally download a song which would cost you $1.29 other wise. There is no difference between going to a store and stealing a CD then there is by illegally downloading one, however many people illegally down load CD's but not many of those people would actually steal a CD from the store.
ReplyDeleteMicrosoft is not taking things to far. Microsoft deserves the money for each software that they make, they spent the time, money, and work it took for them to create the software. There is no excuse for stealing the software, people simply believe that by downloading something they are not doing anything wrong but they are doing a criminal offense that is taking away jobs and costing many companies millions of dollars in yearly revenue.
There is no excuse for stealing software or anything else via the internet. People would not like it if someone stole something from them so they should learn not to steal from someone else. If the world has come to a point where people are stealing like there is no tomorrow than Microsoft defiantly has the rights to do what they can to stop people who are stealing their money. Individuals would do every thing they could to protect their money and Microsoft deserves the same rights.
Piracy is a significant issue in todays modern society. Multiple computer software producing companies, such as Microsoft, are victims of what internet piracy. Their software, such as Office, is one if not the most commonly computer softwares throughout America. However, the price of this program is very high. Some people need this program, but they can’t afford it; this makes people turn to internet pirates. Not only do these pirates take away profit from companies such as Microsoft, but this will eventually effect the economy, because more people will continue to fall into this trap of piracy much like the domino effect.
ReplyDeleteI believe that people should have the right to copy software, as long as they do this legally. This would involve paying the company for each software created by whoever duplicates it. If this were to happen, then the people producing the duplicates would not be violating copyright laws (which plays a key role in stopping piracy and causing piracy), but would not money off of their pirated softwares. Having said this, I do not believe, however, that people should have the right to copy software illegally. One reason for this is that the program belongs to the company. If someone did not pay the full respected price for the software, then this is equivalent to steeling- it is robbing the company of its money. Also, once this form of piracy becomes more common throughout the internet, this will also spread to other industries that use computers and the internet.
Microsoft’s measures to fix this problem of internet piracy is not extreme. Just as in the article above, the author affiliates the groups of people who sell these programs with drug cartels. These cartels are identical to each other, with the only exception being what the produce. The products that they sell are much cheaper than the real products, meaning that each cartel makes about twice what the software is worth per single program. Microsoft has the right to take back to take back or destroy any program with the words “Microsoft” on them if they did not make it. These people are very similar to those in drug cartels, because their basis for their existence is based on the same principles. Therefore, Microsoft is not extreme in their methods to stop this internet “piracy.”
Piracy is a significant issue in today's world, not just with Microsoft, but possibly with everything "downloadable." Just like the word explains, these pirates never create something novel of their own, but only copy others respectable works. The real owners of these software deserve to be paid for their work. It is also a significant issue because we could be the victims of piracy one day. For example, the article mentions that pirate workers distribute their illegally copied software to software resellers. Isn't this where we buy all our softwares? As technology advances, so does piracy. As companies try to find more ways to prevent counterfeiting, the pirates will also find more ways to bypass the new systems. However, one of the biggest issue is that some people even think that pirating from the internet isn't as bad as stealing software from stores. It is exactly the same thing, and these acts of piracy must be put to an end.
ReplyDeletePeople should not have rights to copy software because there basically would be no mean of creating software, since they won't be paid for their work. I perfectly understand that a majority of people are under circumstances that they can't afford or maybe aren't allowed to get certain songs, movies, games or software. This is why nonprofit organizations can help them. These nonprofit organizations always create an alternative for popular software for free of charge. But illegally downloading software from the internet is stealing whatsoever, whether it is $200 or just $10.
I don't believe Microsoft is being extreme in their prevention methods at all. They deserve to be paid: Their software are used everyday in our lives, and are very useful. They can do whatever they please to prevent their works from being stolen. If Microsoft doesn't start to be more extreme and serious about their prevention methods, the piracy problem will get worse, and someday, the piracy companies will be making more profit than the actual companies who own the software.
Piracy is a very big issue and does not include companies that sell applications like Apple and Microsoft, but also includes music and movies. Every company that sells software should have anti-counterfeit system to protect copyrighted applications.
ReplyDeletePeople who have bought the software reserve the right to do whatever they want to do with it but they shouldn't edit the code and create another program which would be ripping off the company that created the original program. However, if people posted the purchased software on piracy sites as torrents, the people would be ripping off the companies as well. The programs are copyrighted and should not be copied by the consumer for redistribution.
Microsoft is not going to the extreme in protecting their software. Their software was created out of their hard work and diligence. Microsoft reserves the right to do whatever they want to do with their product and nothing is going to the extreme when they are protecting their works.
I believe that piracy is quite a large issue. Should people continue to do this, Microsoft and other companies like it will go out of business and there will no longer be companies to make new software. If this happens, the entire industry will halt. People should definitely not have the right to copy software if they would have paid for it otherwise. However, should the company give up its copyright on the software and send it into the public domain, that is a different issue entirely. Piracy is extremely easy to do and there are tons of free file sharing websites out there. Websites should never be allowed to provide any illegal services, and if they are, they should be shut down. Hiding behind a computer screen isn't really hiding and anything you do on the internet can always be traced back to you. I do not believe that Microsoft is taking it too far when raiding piracy websites, it is just like any other law enforcement.
ReplyDeletePiracy is a legitimate issue in the software industry and should be treated as such. This is true for a few reasons, two of which being that it's immoral and prevents software companies from profiting. Software piracy is a serious offense and any measures that can be taken to prevent and avoid it should be taken by software companies.
ReplyDeleteStealing is a illegal. Software piracy is a form of stealing and should be considered so. There is no question that people should not have the right to copy software, just as they are not allowed to steal property from any other business.
Preventative should be taken to avoid this piracy from occurring, but whether or not Microsoft is taking this prevention too far is a only a matter of opinion. Where the distinction is made really depends on how one looks at the situation. In my mind, Microsofts actions are completely reasonable and justifiable.