The Sad Truth of Piracy

Software today is like apples were in three hundred years ago; so easy to steal. Although so many copyright laws and regulations exist, it is and will always be a problem that is hard to get past. Any software is copyable, because of how computers work. Until there is a way to fight this, users can simply copy software to their friend's computer, and share it without paying for it.

To combat this, software and game developers added safety features like unique cd keys, hardware snapshots and ultimately online activation. Companies like Blizzard use an online interface which allows you to copy their games, but not play it without a online-stored and registered key.
Despite all this, hackers still manage to bypass most of it, and release software and games for free on the internet to download with the quickly escalating download speeds.

Today I read about Virgin Media's ISP blocking ThePirateBay on their network. This marks the first real act against the legal loop-hole torrent website. This is a start to combat piracy of software (and other media of course), but does little to stop direct-download sites, peer-to-peer networks and friend sharing. People grab onto the illegal joy ride of not paying for the software that is so painstakingly created by developers and released at a fair price.

Now, I have to confess, at some points I am disappointed in how high some software packages and games are priced, and this does not inspire confidence in buying a product. When you browse the online software stores and cringe at the high prices they request for the simplest things, one can understand why some people fall back to illegal download sites.

But, even with the shockingly high increase in game and software product prices, there is always legal and very promising options in the free market online. OpenOffice has shown us that office is not the only way to go. Microsoft has been a culprit of expensive software, with the latest releases of Vista and Windows 7. Windows 8 will not go unnoticed. But if you feel forking out a bunch of money for Office after paying so much for Windows is too much, then go for the other options. This way you are supporting the Opensource community, and not damaging the integrity of the commercial developers by stealing their software.

To be frank, I can't say I've never pirated anything. But, recently I've come to realize how much effort is put into designing and programming a software program or game, and paying them what they are owed is not a bad thing to do in the long run.

I leave you with a quote said by free software developer Miguel de Icaza :
"Every piece of software written today is likely going to infringe on someone else's patent."


Reference : Virgin Media Becomes First ISP to block ThePirateBay