| There are many ways for a thief to perform his or | | | | bootleg certainly understands the penalty for getting |
| her trade. In past decades, there were limited ways | | | | caught. However, the temptation to make a lot of |
| for thieves to steal. Most of them have perfected | | | | money for very little work proves to be too much |
| their craft with little chance of getting caught. | | | | for some to pass up. |
| However, with the ever-evolving Internet, thieves | | | | Schools throughout the country and the world use |
| have a whole new venue for them to choose from. | | | | commercial software and shareware. Most schools |
| The latest product to come under the attack of | | | | are eligible for discounts on software that allows their |
| theft is Software. With all of the software that is | | | | students to research their subjects. Freeware and |
| available and that is being developed, all a software | | | | Open Source software are also available to schools |
| pirate has to do is "choose" the software that they | | | | throughout the world, and this type of software is |
| want from the Internet. | | | | also vulnerable to software piracy. One way to |
| Software Piracy has been on the rise in recent years | | | | reduce this particular piracy risk is to use older |
| because of the cost that is associated with the | | | | versions of the software. |
| software itself; however, it is the business and | | | | Consumers have never had a high opinion of |
| programmers who suffer the most from software | | | | freeware or Open Source software. They have |
| piracy. | | | | always felt that these products were lacking in |
| All software comes with a licensing agreement that | | | | performance and were very low quality. They are so |
| the end user must agree to before they are allowed | | | | wrong. In recent years, with the upgrades that have |
| to use the software. These agreements are legal and | | | | been developed, the quality of freeware has |
| binding and are usually only meant for the person | | | | increased dramatically. The quality has increased so |
| who has purchased the software. However, even | | | | much, that the commercial software corporations |
| though the person agrees to this, they end up | | | | have begun to take notice and protest that they are |
| sharing the software with friends and family and | | | | loosing money due to the freeware that is being |
| sometimes even with their co-workers. When this | | | | developed. |
| occurs, it is considered software piracy. Although it is | | | | When you are looking for software, it is important |
| on a very small scale, it is still stealing. | | | | that you research all of your possibilities. There are |
| Perhaps you and your co-workers are not aware of | | | | literally thousands of programs both commercial and |
| the consequences of sharing software files. In recent | | | | freeware, however it is important that you read and |
| news stories, software piracy has become the focal | | | | understand the licensing agreement before you |
| point for many lawmakers. New laws have been | | | | accept it. It is a legal and binding agreement, and the |
| passed that make fines for software piracy steep | | | | consequences of breaking that agreement are also |
| and jail time is a real possibility for those who | | | | very real. It is also not necessary to commit |
| continue to pirate software. The person who gets a | | | | software piracy, rather use the freely available Open |
| hold of that software and turns around and sells it as | | | | Source products. |