|
|
|
|
Computer crimes affect all facets, primarily software. Software is the most valuable and vulnerable target of computer thefts, commonly called software piracy. Weisband and Goodman (1993) define software piracy as "the direct, unauthorized copying of a program for commercial gain."
All software is proprietary in nature to its manufacturer. Software companies suggest one backup copy be made from the original media before installation. However, people think nothing of making extra copies for sharing with friends, co-workers, and others.
Besides being proprietary, software is protected by federal copyright laws. These laws stipulate "that you can't make such additional copies without the permission of the copyright holder" (Damrau, August/September 1993, p. 17). The Business Software Alliance (BSA) states that making or downloading unauthorized copies of software is breaking the law, regardless of the number of copies involved. Copyright infringement occurs whether "you are casually making a few copies for friends, loaning disks, distributing and/or downloading pirated software via the Internet, or buying a single software program and then installing it" on other computers at your company. You are opening yourself up to severe civil and criminal penalties for doing this when you are caught.