Can Online Piracy Be Stopped?
The BSA (Business Software Alliance) established in 1988, is made up of several of the world's largest software makers. Its primary objective is to stop software copyright infringement of its member’s products.
The BSA (Business Software Alliance) established in 1988, is made up of several of the world's largest software makers. Its primary objective is to stop software copyright infringement of its member’s products.
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| http://www.compuchannel.net/2010/04/20/la-bsa-nombra-representante-en-el-salvador/ |
Two of the campaigns they have used are "Play it Cyber Safe" and "Bust your Boss".
The "Play it Cyber Safe" campaigned is directed at students. They are trying to educate students to what copyright laws are and why they should be using legal software instead of pirated software. This approach is trying to teach students that integrity and honesty is essential in all areas of life.
This campaigned can enlighten the students to how piracy affects not only the individual, but also the companies personnel that produce and manufacture the products. If people don't buy the product because they can get it from friends, then this has an economic effect on the companies that produce and manufacture the products as well as the people who are employed by these companies and their families.
The "Bust your Boss" campaign is directed at current and former employees that have knowledge of their organizations using pirated software. They are trying to show business owners the importance of not using pirated software.
This campaign is a little more tricky, since a disgruntle worker could cause a current or former employee a headache with the BSA by accusing them of using Pirated software, which would spurn an investigation and disrupt their services even if they were not using pirated software. On the flip side this would catch some of the companies that are getting away with using pirated software in order to lower their IT overhead.
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| http://www.plixer.com/blog/netflow/nail-your-boss-with-netflow/ |
This campaign is a little more tricky, since a disgruntle worker could cause a current or former employee a headache with the BSA by accusing them of using Pirated software, which would spurn an investigation and disrupt their services even if they were not using pirated software. On the flip side this would catch some of the companies that are getting away with using pirated software in order to lower their IT overhead.
Does a small company have the right to use the same licensed program on 3-6 computers? Or should they also be held to the same scrutiny as the large companies?
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Kris Mukai |
STOPPING online piracy is like playing the world’s largest game of Whack-A-Mole. Hit one, countless others appear. Quickly. And the mallet is heavy and slow. In the arcade version of Whack-A-Mole, the game eventually ends — often when the player loses. In the piracy arms-race version, there doesn’t seem to be a conclusion. Sooner or later, the people who still believe they can hit the moles with their slow mallets might realize that their time would be better spent playing an entirely different game.
- Nick Bilton(The New York Times)
I think the "Play it Cyber Safe" is a really neat and important campaign. I don't do it much anymore, but in high school I downloaded free music all the time; thousands and thousands of songs. I had no idea the potential danger I was putting myself in. I did not realize just how much trouble I could have gotten myself into by doing that and I still don't fully understand the rules and the consequences. That is why the campaign is so important and such a great idea. People need to be aware of the laws and just how much trouble they could be in if they get caught.
ReplyDeleteThe second campaign mentioned, "Nail your Boss," is one that I don't agree with as much. I don't like that it's promoting office disloyalty. I think that people need to be aware of this issue and the awareness aspect of this particular campaign is a good one, however, I think that workplaces should have a since of community, pride and loyalty. They should encourage the employee to approach the boss personally and if that doesn't work, then go to the next superior. I just personally don't like the connotation of the slogan, "Nail your Boss." I feel like it promotes the idea that the boss is the bad guy, and as a business major, I value the importance of good bosses and employees respecting their bosses.
I also agree with you Becky. I also downloaded plenty of music myself and was unaware of the consequences. This campaigns main purpose is to educate people and hopefully reduce piracy.
DeleteThe second campaign is controversial for this reason which has made it less productive.
Educating people about piracy and copyrights is a good idea. I have two issue with their "Nail Your Boss" campaign. First, disgruntled employees could easily use this to get even with their manager or the company owner. Causing the BSA to waste its resources investigating false claims. I doubt many people, with jobs being in short supply, would file a complaint unless they were trying to be malicious. Second, I think this is really underhanded and could have been done in a better way instead of a get even with your boss sort of way.
ReplyDeleteThe reasons you mentioned are exactly why this unscrupulous campaign that the BSA has not be successful and has lost respect.
DeleteThe "Play it Cyber Safe" sounds like a great campaign and idea all around. Our generation and the ones under us use software and the internet so much in our lives everyone can always use more education on what is right to do. This campaign is geared toward the people that would be most likely do go against copyright laws and piracy along with the mass amount of people that use these products the most. People do not realized enough how much their individual actions affect people as a whole and hurt companies. Also that is a great analogy with the Whack-A-Mole being compared to companies/people that commit online piracy and so true.
ReplyDeleteThe old saying "Education is power" is very true. When people do get educated about the right and wrong things to do them usually choose to do the right thing such as paying attention to copyright laws.
DeleteI agree that these campaigns may not be the best strategy for ending online pirating but it does seem like a useful tool for educating the masses about the negative effects from it. People would possibly be less likely to use pirated software if they knew what repurcussions they may face. Online pirating seems like a tough problem to tackle and this seems like a baby step in the right direction.
ReplyDeletePiracy is a tough animal to tackle and it relies on the good nature of people to and the education of them by companies as to what should and shouldn't be done.
DeleteI remember reading some time ago that movie production companies were creating fake torrents to prevent some of this activity. When the wolverine movie came out there was a rumor that it had been put out with the wrong ending as a torrent, and that there was a version downloading that was missing the last twenty minutes, forcing pirates to waste time and bandwidth.
ReplyDelete-Tom Cornell
I hadn't heard of this, but it does seem like one way to help prevent piracy. This could help to detour people from waiting their time trying to obtain pirated movies.
DeleteI loved the statement you put here on your blog, the whack a mole one. It is a perfect example of what it is. Sharing is inevitable, and they will keep finding ways around everything to download anything. I really don't know how they are going to control it. I mean, telling on your boss?? really?? haha i think that's kind of desperate. Either way, they have to find another way, or just give up?
ReplyDelete-Priscilla
It is an accurate analogy. No matter what they try and do to prevent piracy, the pirates continue to find ways around it. I also felt the telling on your boss was kind of low but would you want to work for a boss who actually does this?
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