Piracy on the Net
The discussion on plagiarism and software piracy in Techno Page a couple of weeks ago received a broad response from our readers. Therefore, this week, I felt it would be appropriate to present the diverse and indeed interesting spectrum of views that were raised.

The general consensus was that plagiarism was unethical even though one reader Sidhath argued that, "The information that is published in the Internet is there to be used by anybody, so it is ok to copy that information into your documents."

Quite a few others were of the view that the copyright laws that apply to books and other such publications should also apply to all forms of digital media. It is interesting to note that there is no such thing as an International Copyright Law that will automatically protect one's writings throughout the entire world. Protection against unauthorised use of your work in a particular country depends, basically, on the laws of that country. However, most countries do offer protection to foreign works under certain conditions and these conditions have been greatly simplified by international copyright treaties and conventions. In theory, this makes it possible for someone to reproduce your work (and profit from it) in a country that does not ratify such treaties. Two such prominent treaties covering copyright issues worldwide are the Universal Copyright Convention (UCC) and the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.

The issues relating to software piracy were notably more complex and provided fertile ground for our readers to present diverse and interesting views. Apart from the debate about the 'poor' stealing (or simply 'taking' as some of you may say) from the 'rich', many questions were raised about the practical aspects of enforcing such laws in the first place. It was an opinion that was widely accepted that in a society that is already corrupted and infested with criminal activities, it was 'virtually' beyond impossible to implement such 'trivial' laws as those regarding copyrights and intellectual property.

"Sri Lanka does not have the resources or a trained police force to combat software piracy. Even if we did have those, if all such matters were brought before the courts, the caseload will bring our justice system to a standstill"

-Janith
"...Introducing legislation on information technology will only profit the enforcers of any such measure. It might be much wiser to pass on this benefit to the end user who is going to 'pirate' software regardless of whether there are laws or not..."
- Mustapha Kemal

The personnel and resources needed to battle crime in the digital world are all but within our reach. In order to enforce such laws in a country like ours, the government will have to spend a large amount of its resources on equipment and hiring IT professionals for the job. It is debatable whether the amount of digital and internet crimes in Sri Lanka is a threat to our society or not. The impact of such crimes on our economy has not yet been estimated successfully.

Those who support software piracy present two main arguments. One is that it is justified that the citizens of poor countries such as ours pirate software from the rich. They argue that; "Companies like Microsoft earn twice the amount of money than the whole of Sri Lanka in one year. So it does not harm them. If piracy of software makes those companies run at a loss or if it cuts down their profits by a very big margin, then it is bad. But they don't even feel it."

- Mahendran
The other argument is that the people in poor countries cannot afford to buy expensive software anyway. Therefore, it is alright to let them use pirated software.

"I read your article about software piracy and I do not agree with you at all."

- Utopia
The logic is that the software companies won't be able to sell their products in these countries at such high prices. For example, a person living in a third-world country earning a salary of $50 a month will not be able to buy any software product with a price tag of $200, so the company will not make any sales in those countries anyway. So it is alright to let those people have the software for free anyway, because that would not make them lose sales. On the other hand, if someone in a developed country who can afford that piece of software decides to use a pirated copy, then the software company will lose a potential sale, and thus it could be considered a loss.

Among the various other reasons presented with the aim of justifying software piracy were arguments like; "...if you don't let the poor people use computers and good software, then they will become even poorer and the rich who can afford them will use that technology to become richer. Then the Digital Divide you mentioned in your newspaper a few weeks ago will grow and become a very big social problem."

- Chamila
The fact remains that arguments could be drawn both in favour of the piracy of intellectual property and against it. But as I mentioned earlier, very few of us (if any) have ventured to spare a thought or two about how software piracy affects our own economy and the local markets. It was sad to note that the opinion of software developers remained buried in the heat of all the discussions. So if you are a programmer, or a systems analyst, if you work for a software company, please do write in and share your views as well.

For now, I will take it upon myself to make a case for the local software industry. It is true that most home PC users are not in a position to spend $200 or close to Rs. 20,000 on a piece of software that would become outdated very soon. So some resort to piracy. With or without the knowledge that they are technically stealing somebody else's work, they buy the desired software CD for Rs. 90 or less from a wayside shop, and happily use it. If the relevant laws were applicable and indeed applied in our country, the company that made the software could sue the users for up to the entire development cost of that particular piece of software; which of course could amount to billions of dollars!

Let us imagine that such laws were enforced here. Then there are two possibilities. One is that nobody (or only an elite few) would be able to afford the luxury of a computer and in this age of Information Technology and computers, we as a nation will have to swim against the tide and eventually our economy and the whole country will drown in it. The other possibility is that the local software companies will be able to produce the necessary software for the local market without the fear of having to compete with multi-national giants like Microsoft. This would boost the local industry and eventually bring them to a level where they can be competitive in the international market and generate billions of dollars in much needed foreign exchange for our country.

Of course, we are caught between two extremes and we have to find a proper balance between the two, at least for the moment.

Then again, those of you who use branded PCs such as IBM, Dell and Compaq machines and Apple Macintoshes would claim that the notion that "licensed software costs a fortune" is not entirely true either. Amidst claims that software giants like Microsoft are allowing their own products to be pirated, just to eliminate potential future competition such as Linux, we are strangled between our own ethics, basic needs and wallets. So keep those e-mails rolling in and tell us what you think.

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