Although there are many computer ethics issues, we confine our study of. Software piracy in the muslim countries is a prevailing issue. Intentional software piracy this is the wellknown kind that prospered blank cd makers and caused countries like france to tax recordable media because it was easier than fighting the pirates. The study on software piracy will focus on the causes of software piracy in nigeria, the effect of software piracy on the economy of nigeria, the roles of ict in the growth of software piracy in nigeria and the relationship between software piracy and the social well being in nigeria. For instance, david 2010 provides an overview of the problem of peertopeer file sharing on the music industry while wikstrom 2009 gives a concise treatise on the role of technology and the internet on the music.
Because of the money lost to pirates, publishers have fewer resources to devote to research and development of new products, have less revenue to justify lowering software prices and are forced to pass. When you club ethics with software and computers in general, the first thing that one should empathize with is the constant and the ever growing efforts of software developers and their manufacturers to protect their software from piracy that simply puts all their. A platform that makes digital piracy unnecessary, funds creators, and makes ebooks, games and software affordable. Everywhere in the face of this earth, the issue of using. Software piracy is any unauthorized use andor distribution of software. It has been estimated based on bsa by 2009 that more than 90% of software in yemen is pirated, followed by libya 88%, indonesia 86%, and iraq 85%. Software piracy costs the software industry billions of dollars each year. Legally speaking, what they will be doing is a violation of. Likewise, in 2006 in southern somalia, the islamic courts union icu government put an end to piracy during its six month reign, in part to demonstrate to the world that it stood for the revival.
Most of the presently accepted western basics of ethics in research are consistent with the instructions of islam editorial, 2006. The famous you wouldnt steal a car ad is a typical example of publishers wanting to pressure digital pirates into ceasing piracy by likening piracy to the theft of cars and handbags. According to the results of the survey, 57% of global pc users pirate software in 2012. First, that of the pirate that seeks to sell their pirated software, and the second case of pirated software obtained freely. Most people do not see the distinction between lending out a book or lending out a piece of software, and public ignorance is a primary reason that software piracy continues en masse. Computer ethics for the computer professional from an. Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boatborne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable items or properties. The ethics codes that scientific institutions abide by are informed by a ruleconsequentialist logic. Nov 12, 20 for the love of physics walter lewin may 16, 2011 duration. Mar 10, 2017 while some regard this practice as criminal and unethical, 1, 2 for others, liberating research is a justified act of civil disobedience. By removing revenue from the developers, jobs are lost and there is less incentive to create new software. Abstract computer ethics is a study of ethical issues that are related mainly with computing. Implications for anti piracy programs and suggestions for future research are developed. When it comes to things like books, it can actually be the superior moral choice to get the pirated.
The decision to pirate or not may be related to an individuals attitudes toward other ethical issues. Ethics are defined as the set of principals formed from the perspective of moral rights and wrongs within a particular environment. There are two contrasting ethical views on the issue of piracy, and both have their valid points. Consequences of software piracy the losses suffered as a result of software piracy directly affect the profitability of the software industry. The purpose of this paper is to study the ethical behaviour of muslim it professionals in an attempt to stop many unethical practices such as software piracy, software intellectual property violations and general software development. Discuss this critical problem of software piracy in the light of islamic point of view on ethics and possession. Software piracy is creditied with billions of dollars loss to the software industry by the business software alliance, who studies software piracy extensively. A persons ethical and moral predispositions and the judgments that they use to make decisions may be consistent across various ethical dilemmas and may indicate their likelihood to pirate software. To better understand piracy, we propose a model of ethical decision making that is an adaptation of the fourcomponent model of morality. Information technology it ethics in the light of islam citeseerx. Most of the currently accepted western basic principles of ethics in research are consistent with the instructions of islam editorial, 2006. In 2008, the rate of software piracy in indonesia 1 percent from the previous year.
The cost of software piracy is a growing problem for companies throughout the world. Prophet mohamed calmness be after him said, i had been delivered to complete the epitomes of ethics abdelbaky, 1951. Pdf software piracy in the muslim countries is a prevailing issue. How cyber pirates anonymously torrent movies on the internet. Several agencies like the software publishers association and the business software alliance have been formed to. Russell 6 the critics of software piracy rest a good portion of their objection on the theory that without capital to reward innovation no innovation will occur. From the viewpoint of computer ethics theories university of oulu department of information processing science masters thesis bethelhem tadele oulu 20. Ill bet piracy has realistically sold way more copies of adobe cs than its prevented. Introduction islam is a religion based upon the surrender to god who is one.
Ethics of information technology in islamic theories information technology essay. Conduct from an islamic point of view through studying the relevant verses of the holy quran and prophet mohammed pbuh hadiths. Understanding software piracy in saudi arabia and the. The software pirates and those trying to protect software s approach the ethics of piracy from two different viewpoints. Software pirating and ethics santa clara university.
We discuss the prohibition of software piracy by intellectual property laws, and argue that the moral basis for the law offers the possibility of cases where software piracy may be morally justified. This definition may sound simple, but its impact and affects are anything but simple. Islam and downloading cracked software piracy the universal digital library. It seems that illegal software is available anywhere, to anyone, at any time. The ethical dilemma of software piracy in islamic societies. This is an academic essay on the ethics of digital piracy. Yes, it was the best software, but the fact everyone had it because of piracy made it insanely ubiquitous. This paper examines the impact of the level of economic development, income inequality, and five cultural variables on the rate of software piracy at the country level.
Discuss this critical issue of software piracy in the light of islamic point of view on ethics and ownership. If you profit off of software, you should pay for it. This includes anything from music, movies, and video games, to document software such as microsoft office, adobe, and imaging programs. Cracked software is software piracy in islam allowed. Software piracy from an islamic perspective information. From warez shopping malls in asia, to the unscrupulous computer systems retailers a few blocks down the street, pirated programs are sold for a pittance. Introduction the popular conception of software piracy is that it is the activity of a minority of isolated piratehobbyists, copying and tr. While the activity is generally seen as illegal, i will explore the ethical implications of software piracy and its effects in two cases. Sep 01, 20, the ethical dilemma of software piracy in islamic societies. Software piracy essay examples download free or order. As a result some readers are encouraged to use pirate websites such as scihub to access them, a practice that is. Access, ethics and piracy ownership of intellectual property rights for a large proportion of the scholarly record is held by publishers, so a majority of journal articles are behind paywalls and unavailable to most people. May 17, 2019 ethics in islam islam emphasizes on all aspects of ethics e. Jeff biron the software industry has to deal with the threat of piracy and its impact of their business.
Unfortunately, because software is so valuable, and because computers make it easy to create an exact copy of a program in seconds, software piracy is widespread. The corporate world often emphasizes that if unauthorized copies are easily available, it. Thefollowing information has been provided by the software publishersassociation in washington, d. Pirated software on the internet can be shared via bulletin boards, email, news groups, web sites, peertopeer networks, and on internet auction sites where it is misrepresented as legal software. Everywhere in the face of this earth, the issue of using pirated software is widely talked and discussed by people. Considerations in ethical decisionmaking and software piracy. Apr, 2015 many millions of people throughout the world will illegally download the fifth season of game of thrones, released today by hbo. The association for computing machinery, or acm, claims to be the worlds largest educational and scientific computing society. Software piracy is the illegal act of copying software for any reason, other than backup, without explicit per. Ethics in islam islam emphasizes on all aspects of ethics e.
Sep 24, 2010 this definition may sound simple, but its impact and affects are anything but simple. Given the diverse nature of digital piracy, there are a number of works that tackle software, music, and media piracy separately. The goal of this report is to informeducators about software piracy and help them comply with laws. Internet downloads or warez the internet has made it all too easy to steal, market, and distribute ed material. Piracy is ethical some think that there is nothing wrong with software piracy. Computer ethics for the computer professional from an islamic. Ethics, it ethics, islamic ethics, islamic computer ethics.
It has been estimated based on bsa by 2009 that more than 90% of. State islamic university sultan syarif kasim, pekanbaru 28293, indonesia. Some jurisdictions punish piracy severely, therefore the risk is entirely your own if you choose to break the law by pirating content. Software piracy creates a sig nificant drain on the revenues and retards the contin ued growth of the software publishing industry soft ware piracy report 1997. Nov 28, 2014 a animated video informing of software piracy created using powtoon free sign up at create animated videos and animated p. Any person wishing to join the society must accept a code of ethics and professional conduct, which covers the ethical issues surrounding software piracy. The islamic ethical dilemma of software piracy religion essay. A worker that not want to follow the organization rule need to give warning and if they are still refuse, they are must be punish. What are ethical theories and concepts related to software. Information technology it is penetrating every walk of life now and this has raised many ethical issues for todays it professional. Other related ethical issues are software piracy, inappropriate use computing resources, and inappropriate sharing. Theres a need to find a way to maximise the truly amazing potential of the internet, while properly rewarding creators. Ethics of information technology in islamic theories.
Software is one of the most valuable technologies of the information age, running everything from pcs to the internet. An evaluation of the benefits of this newly proposed islamic computer code of ethics is presented by surveying how it students, it professionals and software house owners would adhere to it. Software piracy a worldwide problem software piracy is defined as the illegal copying of software for commercial or personal gain. Software companies have tried many methods to prevent piracy, with varying degrees of success. Individuals are faced with the many opportunities to pirate. The study finds that software piracy is significantly correlated to gnp per capita, income inequality, and individualism. Everywhere in the face of this earth, the issue of using pirated software is. For the love of physics walter lewin may 16, 2011 duration. Cracked software in islam is often overlooked by many as being okay. Types of software piracy stanford computer science. A animated video informing of software piracy created using powtoon free sign up at create animated videos and animated p. In the early 2000s, having an internet connection was a bit of a big deal because most parents didnt want to allow it in their households.
It helped photoshop become a goddamn verb, piracy did. Software piracy, which is the unauthorized use or copying of software illegally, has become a major problem for businesses and it is widespread in many parts of the world which led to drain of economy. Discussing the critical issue of software piracy information. By placing guerrilla open access within a longer history of piracy and access to knowledge we can see that, since piracy is not. Apr 04, 2008 the purpose of this paper is to study the ethical behaviour of muslim it professionals in an attempt to stop many unethical practices such as software piracy, software intellectual property violations and general software development. Uae has the lowest rate for software piracy, which is 36%. The most common forms of software piracy are as follows. Something as innocent as installing a program on more than one computer, if the copy was intended for only one computer, can constitute. Implications for antipiracy programs and suggestions for future research are developed. Publishers of software, films, songs, ebooks and scientific papers like to maintain that piracy is theft. Sep 24, 20 software piracy in the muslim countries is a prevailing issue. The islamic ethical issue of software piracy religion essay. In this case, copies of commercial software are spread freely or sold with a ridiculously low price tag.
Information technology organizations need to enforce the organization rule that all of information personnel must apply the islamic ethics in their daily work. This paper presents a pilot study using a questionnaire administered to malaysian students of higher education. We used the acm code of conduct as a base to develop a computer islamic code of ethics to be used by it personnel and institutions. As programmers, we, of all people, should appreciate the message bill gates outlined in his original 1976 letter better than anyone else. The impact of national culture on software piracy springerlink. The case of kuwait, the electronic journal on information systems in developing countries, vol.
Economy and technology as influential factors for digital piracy. Its impact on the production of content and on general welfare continues to be hotly debated, with the two sides often taking quite extreme views. Prophet mohamed peace be upon him said, i was sent to complete the epitomes of ethics abdelbaky, 1951. This model defines four internal processes that result in external moral behavior. Many millions of people throughout the world will illegally download the fifth season of game of thrones, released today by hbo.