Potential of Ethics as a Control for Software Piracy

Abstract

Abstract-The growth in the computer industry in the last two decades has been accompanied by a tremendous increase in software piracy. Software developers and governments incur heavy due to piracy as it affects their revenue and reduces the incentive to develop new products and technologies. A wide range of strategies have been adopted by the software industry and governments to manage piracy, however, they have not been able to control the vice. This paper examines the potential of ethics as a control for software piracy. It highlights why users resort to piracy and examines the strategies to control it. The paper then examines the link between ethics, and behaviour. A case is made that software users who are well rooted in ethics are unlikely to engage in acts of piracy.