Combating software and hardware piracy (Research Proposal Sample)

Combating software and hardware piracy Name Institution Date CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION The advancement in of the information technology, human lifestyle, social and economic structure has been redefined entirely, which in turn has increased our dependence on information and communication technology. According to prior reports, there has been an increase in cases of piracy in the information technology sector. The BSA was formed by software manufacturers, to safeguard their interests. From the BSA study, the volume of pirated software has increased considerably in the last decade as compared to the turn of the century, while among the most of the software used by most of the global enterprises, is a staggering 37% were counterfeits (Lu-Ping & Wen-Chang, 2003). This research also endeavors to prove that the piracy problems have caused a net loss of around 4 billion (Lu-Ping & Wen-Chang, 2003) by software and computer hardware companies in the Asian Pacific region and the rest of the world (group, 2001).This loss turned out as the highest in the world. From the data provided, it is clear that the extensiveness of software piracy has caused massive financial losses. Failure to address the problem, both the software developers, the software companies, software vendors and the information technology IP development program will be majorly affected. So as to eliminate this unethical conduct of piracy, there is need to understand how the behavior can be combated and controlled PROBLEM STATEMENT The pursuance of this research becomes relevant as piracy is a vice that causes loss of significant resources to the software and hardware industries, this makes it hard for manufacturers and publishers to recover their investment. Software and hardware piracy causes loss of jobs and their related fringe benefits like revenue to major economies both locally and internationally (Athey, Stern, & national bureau of economic research, 2013). The economic impact of piracy cannot be ignored as most enterprises do not know that they are largely under-licensed. With decentralized management and other administrative functions including the system to support the large networks, it becomes relatively difficult to establish the use of pirated software by their employees. The ripple effect that results from the use of pirated software has affected almost everyone in the current age in one way or another. For continued research and development, the efforts in creating better software will cause the transfer of liability to the distributors and vendors which are ultimately passed to the end-user. To reduce these economic implications of piracy, there is need to curb this practice completely PURPOSE OF THE STUDY This study aims at combating the vice of software and hardware piracy in the computing scene that has currently been on the upward trend. RESEARCH QUESTION The research endeavors to solve the following question in combating the menace that is software and hardware piracy 1 Is there a way the BSA can effectively deal with this incessant case of software and hardware piracy? SUBSIDIARY QUESTIONS 1 What is the main technological advancement so far achieved in combating software and hardware piracy? 2 Is there a way consumers can prevent themselves from the piracy menace? 3 What are the new methods developed by the software and hardware publishers and manufacturers to combat piracy? 4 What is the main contribution of the internet to the fight against software and hardware piracy in this new age of computing? DEFINITION OF TERMS Piracy: Piracy is the unlawful obtaining, duplication, distribution and use of any licensed materials like software and computer hardware when it comes to computing. BSA (Business Software Alliance): an organization in conjunction with governments to advance the software industry. Enterprise software: this is robust software aimed at serving big corporations and businesses Intellectual Property (IP): is the creations of ideas, inventions, innovations, artistic and literary works Copyright: is a legal right created under the law of a given country that will always allow the makers of an original work the exclusive rights to its sale and use. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY This study majorly aims at exploring the adverse effects of piracy on the industry that is enterprise software and hardware. The enterprise software and hardware has complimented businesses for years now. In some case, the industry has become the mainstay of some industry creating a horde of employment. The enterprise software and hardware industry have been majorly infringed by unscrupulous businesses that do not want to pay for the software and hardware they are using. The software and hardware industry has always depended heavily on copyrights and other Intellectual Property (IP) to drive inventions and innovation while ensuring a return on investment in R&D. Theft of these valuable IPs is significant and growing problem – this undermines the sector's ability to innovate, consequently, limiting growth economically in the respective countries' economies, hence threatening the safety of consumers information. Software piracy is simply put as the unauthorized copying or distribution of copyrighted (licensed) software. The software has different avenues to come to the market; there are a few of routes for piracy. Some of these forms of software and hardware piracy raise challenges especially to the enterprise software and hardware manufacturers that are unique among the licensed industries and require particular enforcement solutions. The above piracy problems bedeviling the software and hardware industry justify the exploration of enterprise software as a point of interest. CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Software piracy is the unlawful duplication of a given venture's developed software and hardware to avoid fees (Straub & RW, 1990). Software and hardware piracy behavior and practices has been largely studied from different angles such as a the use of planned behavior theory, reasoned an equity theory perspective and action theory perspective (AG, 1997), and expected utility theory perspective. Research has also initiated on finding whether given diverse software and hardware piracy practices are unethical. There has been a paradigm shift in piracy due to the advancements in the research done in the software and hardware piracy. There different methods and practices of piracy. The different methods of piracy are as stated: Corporate user piracy The software and hardware (enterprise) sectors are crippled by the form of piracy involving ultimate end users copying of software without authorization. This practice can include employees using a copyrighted copy to install and use on the different workstation hence leading to the usage of software on multiple stations on the same network while others copy disks for local use and distribution. This practice also allows taking advantage of updates and other fringe benefits without possessing the legal master copy of the version requiring an upgrade or the hardware requirement, or the movement of disks in or outside the organizations designated premises. Over-use of a master copy of a certain program within an organization's distributed network is another matter of major concern. While these forms of piracy do not majorly involve resale or commercial gains from the sale or distribution, they nonetheless reduce the revenues due to the manufacturers and provide gains to the final users as they can save by not paying for legitimate software licenses. Organizations end‐user piracy is a significantly different form of piracy problem that is treated in varied ways, from the other practices like counterfeiting. In this case, legal action is taken against the end user rather than a publisher or reseller. Hence, the software and hardware industry depends solely on civil remedies to be able to take action against respectable companies. Leveling suits against such corporate become a colossal problem. Hard‐disk loading The other piracy problem that bedevils the software and hardware industry is when makers of PCs ("original equipment manufacturers" or "OEMs") or vendors of computers and servers install illegal duplicates of software on these devices to increase the sale of the equipment. This practice would ultimately increase the proceeds obtained from the devices without any added costs to the resellers while failing to remit loyalty to the software hence this a major form of exploitation. Preventing this form of piracy comes with different challenges. To establish that software has been duplicated relies on a test purchase of a PC, or in cases where there is a raid on a computer warehouse. These surprise attacks are an essential tool if well implemented. But proving a particular number of illegally obtained copies or hardware can be difficult, especially in cases where the software is copied when a customer buys a computer or in case of poor record keeping by the reseller. Like other rights holders, the software and hardware industry also suffers substantial harm from piracy over the internet and from fake copies of the software. Internet Piracy. The most people and businesses usually make use computer systems and the internet for very legitimate personal, commercial and educational reasons. As the web increases opportunities to communicate, do business and learn it also provides new opportunities to duplicate and counterfeit software and hardware components. Software was the first computer technology that is copyrighted to be digitized, and this fact has contributed to the fight against internet piracy in the software industry to be...