Software Piracy at CWU - Research Paper Example

?TABLE OF CONTENTS ization Letter ........................................................................................................ii Letter of Transmittal .......................................................................................................iii Executive Summary .......................................................................................................iv Software Piracy at CWU .............................................................................................. ..3 a. Introduction .....................................................................................................3 b. Problem Statement .........................................................................................3 c. Purpose Statement .........................................................................................4 d. Research Questions .......................................................................................5 e. Methodology Statement ................................................................................. 5 f. Discussion of Findings .....................................................................................5 g. 2 Graphs / Figures ...........................................................................................6 g.1. Survey and Analysis of Survey Results g.2. Other Sources h. Conclusions and Recommendations ............................................................... 9 i. References j. Appendices Sender Name Sender Title/Position Sender Organization Sender Address City, State, Zip Code November 15, 2011 Recipient Name Recipient Title/Position Recipient Organization Recipient Address City, State, Zip Code Dear (Recipient Name), Enclosed is a copy of the analytical report covering “Student Software Piracy Problems at CWU”. This report is a summary of the survey that I conducted over the past month covering 100 students and their knowledge of the laws and school policies governing software piracy. The main purpose of this report is to bring the software piracy problem on campus to the attention of the proper school authorities in order to prevent the further spread of pirated software among the students and prevent the use of school equipment in the downloading and copying of copyrighted software. The proposal includes suggestions on how to tackle this growing problem and the possible preventive actions that the school authorities can undertake in order to discourage software piracy. The report also includes recommendations pertaining to countermeasures that can be taken without making it seem like the school officials are trying to curtail the use of computers by the students. Please feel free to contact me at (indicate phone number) if you have any questions or comments regarding the content and interpretation of this report. Thank you for taking the problem of software piracy on campus seriously. Sincerely, ______________________________ (Name) Enclosure: Student Software Piracy Problems at CWU Executive Summary This report provides an analysis and evaluation of of the current senior college point of view, sentiments, and attitude with regards to software piracy. Methods used include question and answer surveys pertaining to the current knowledge of the senior class members about software piracy. The first category of questions were answerable by true or false with the results showing that 84 % of students answered true when asked if they knew that purchased software allowed for only one back up copy for the user. 16 of the students answered false to the same question. 94 students answered true when asked if they knew that making copies of copyrighted software is a federal crime, only 6 students answered false. 82 students knew that making a copy of a software program owned by my company for use at home, unless expressly allowed, is a violation of copyright law, 18 students answered false to the same question. 92 students also answered true when asked if they knew that software piracy is punishable by fine and imprisonment. In the second category of the survey questions, each student was posed with a specific situation from which they were expected to give honest answers. When asked if they would make a copy of “Visual Communicator” from a copyrighted CD at their office for use in their personal PC, 38 students chose to make a copy of the disk for use at home and buy a manual from Walden Books. 50 students chose to make a copy of the disk and photocopy the manual for home use. 12 students would wait until they could afford to purchase a personal copy. When asked if they had a chance to purchase a legal copy of the software, 100 students opted to buy it now or if money is short, come back later to buy. None of the students chose to shoplift the software though. However, if a friend asks for a copy of their personal copyrighted CD of Visual Communicator, 58 students woulc give the friend a copy of the program. Another 22 students chose to trade a copy of "Visual Communicator" for a copy of "Adobe Photoshop.", On the other hand, 6 students chose "Sell your friend a copy for $25." and only 14 students chose "Tell your friend that he/she must purchase a copy." It is recommended that incoming freshmen be educated about the university policies covering the use of licensed software. It is of the utmost importance that the university also line up random software checks on PC's and notebooks bought at the university bookstore throughout the school term in order to insure that no pirated software is installed by the students and any pirated software detected must be deleted and the student in question be made to own up and face the consequences of his actions. A first time offender might perhaps be asked to join in a seminar covering computer ethics and the laws governing it. While a repeat offender may be suspended for a week for the second offense, 3 months for the 3rd offense, and expulsion after the 4th offense. It may also help the problem if the university installs open source software into all computers sold by the university to the students in order to totally avoid copyright problems. Student Software Piracy Problems at CWU Introduction Software piracy is a problem that has plagued software manufacturers since the first personal computer was developed. Although the problem is fast becoming a society based problem, the reality is that college students comprise the largest segment of software pirates. College students do not seemed to recognize software piracy as a breach of ethics and find the practice to be socially acceptable and legal to a certain degree. My analytical report hopes to present the problem of software piracy in relation to the senior college students at CWU. I plan to show evidence in support of the need to make changes regarding the use of software policy on school issued computers and and make recommendations that will help to further curb the growing software piracy situation at the university. Problem Statement Although CWU students have never been caught for software piracy and our school administration insures that all software installed on campus computers are properly licensed, that does not mean to say that software piracy does not exist on campus. Software piracy is a real problem onour campus and the university administrators seem powerless to stop it. At CWU, our Information technology department is trying to do their very best to resolve the software piracy issue among the student body but it seems that there are still certain instances when the piracy falls through the cracks and goes unnoticed. In fact, there are certain times when the student even uses the campus lab computers in order to access and download pirated software. Although most students know about the legal restrictions and obey the laws, there are still those students who push the envelope and try to see just how far they can take their piracy skills without getting caught. Purpose Statement The purpose of this analytical report is to open the eyes of those in charge of the CWU Information Technology Department to the problem of software piracy on campus, the sentiments of the students about the problem. The problems are posed to the students in the form of a question and answer format which can be used to identify and solve the software piracy problems on campus. Research Questions In an effort to help assess the over all student body attitude towards software piracy, I did a survey of 100 college seniors in order to determine their percentage of awareness of and attitude towards software piracy. All the factual questions posed before them in the first part of the survey were answerable by true or false. The questions asked were as follows: 1. Purchased software is covered by copyright law and generally allows for only a back up copy to be made by the purchaser. 2. Making copies of copyrighted software for distribution to others (software piracy) is a federal crime. 3. Making a copy of a software program owned by my company for user at home, unless expressly allowed, is a violation of copyright law. 4. Software piracy is punishable by both fine and imprisonment. The second part of the survey asked the same students to consider certain scenarios within which they would have to choose between pirating software or purchasing the software. Situations presented include: 1. Your employer has purchased "Visual Communicator" for use on your computer at work. You have a computer at home and would like to have a copy of the program for you and your family's personal use. What would you do? 2. You visit a local computer software store and see "Visual Communicator" with a price of $149. Would you buy or shoplift it? 3. You obtain a copy of "Visual Communicator." A friend asks you for a copy of it. Would you make a copy? The students in the survey were asked to reflect their answers as honestly as possible. Methodology Statement The questionnaire used was designed to illicit honest answers from the senior level students without making them feel guilty in case they were one of those who practiced piracy. They were assured that their identities would be protected and no one from the school administration would ever find out who the participants of the survey were. Although the honesty of the students could be seen with their answers to the true or false questions, the scenarios presented before them in the second part of the survey seemed to throw them off-guard with some students offering answers that contradicted their true or false answers. These were respondents who were asked to answer questions about privacy, use of copyrighted software, and illegal distribution of copyrighted software. The students were not asked for any identifying information that could represent them by age, gender, or race. The anonymous stance of the survey allowed the students to let down their guard and answer the questions as honestly as they could. Discussion of Findings The first category of questions dealt with the knowledge of CWU students pertaining to software piracy. The correct answer to each of these questions is "true." Their responses are shown in Table 1. The survey clearly showed that CWU senior students are quite aware of the specifics of the software copyright law. Table 1 Student Consciousness of Software Copyright Laws Purchased software is covered by copyright law and generally allows for only a backup copy to be made by the purchaser. TOTAL STUDENTS TRUE FALSE 84 16 Since the students are aware of the copyright laws, it stands to follow that they also know of the penalties and and charges involved once one is caught pirating software. Their answers to those questions are shown in Tables 2, 3 and 4. Table 2 concentrates on the student knowledge of software piracy as a federal offense. Table 2 Student Perception of Copyright Laws Coverage Making copies of copyrighted software for distribution to others (software piracy) is a federal crime. TOTAL STUDENTS TRUE FALSE 94 6 Meanwhile, Table 3 delves into their knowledge and understanding of the single and multiple computer use law governing software owned by private companies. Table 3 Student Understanding of Copyright Laws For Licensed Software Used in Companies Making a copy of a software program owned by my company for use at home, unless expressly allowed, is a violation of copyright law TOTAL STUDENTS TRUE FALSE 82 18 While Table 4 asks the students to reveal their knowledge of understanding of software piracy as a criminal offense. Table 4 Student Understanding of Software Piracy as a Federal Offense Software piracy is punishable by both fine and imprisonment. TOTAL STUDENTS TRUE FALSE 92 8 The second category posed a fictional scenario before the student. The scenario begs the question, “When is it right to pirate software?”. The answers were sometimes in contradiction of their answers in the true or false portion of the survey. Table 1 shows that if given a chance, the students would definitely pirate software owned by the company they work for for personal use in total disregard for the single or multiple software copyright laws. Table 1 Purchased Software Allows for Only One Back-Up Copy Your employer has purchased "Visual Communicator" for use on your computer at work. You have a computer at home and would like to have a copy of the program for you and your family's personal use. You would: TOTAL STUDENTS "Make a copy of the disk for use at home and buy a manual from Walden Books. “ "Make a copy of the disk and photocopy the manual for home use." "Wait until you could afford to purchase a copy yourself." 38 50 12 Table 2 shows how the students perceive software piracy in relation to high priced programs that they need but cannot afford to buy. The software in question is the same software that is being used by their employer. Table 2 Would You Buy High Priced Software If You Need It In School? You visit a local computer software store and see "Visual Communicator" with a price of $149. You would: TOTAL STUDENTS "Buy it now or if money is short, come back later to buy." "Shoplift the software." 100 0 On the other hand, if a student owns a copy of “Visual Communicator” and a friend asks for a copy of it, it appears that most students would not hesitate to make copies when asked. This is shown in Table 3. Table 3 Will You Make Software Copies for Friends? You obtain a copy of "Visual Communicator." A friend asks you for a copy of it. You would : TOTAL STUDENTS "Give your friend a copy of the program." "Trade your friend a copy of "Visual Communicator" for a copy of "Adobe Photoshop." "Tell your friend that he/she must purchase a copy." "Sell your friend a copy for $25." 58 22 14 6 The answers that were collated for the results in this survey show that in order for software piracy to occur, there must be an existing intention on the part of the student to undertake such an act. In their research Cronan and Al-Raffe (2008) explain that the intention to do something directly affects the behavior of the person. Other Sources It was Siegfried (n.d.) who quoted Husted (2000) as having said that there are several factors that may help determine if a student will engage in software piracy. These factors are: “(1.) level of economic development, (2.) income equity, (3.) cultural sense of individualism.” It is perhaps because of these factors that certain software developers recognized that software piracy cannot be stopped but instead, can be curbed in occurrence. Hence the current trend among software developers to publish beta (free) versions of their software which are fully functional but without the other program enhancements the full version possesses. Cronan and Al-Raffe on the other hand believe in the results of the studies by of Ajzen (1991) which explains that: “The subjective norm is the individual’s perception of social pressure to perform or not perform the behavior. These are de?ned as a person’s perception that most people who are important to him/her think he/she should or should not perform the behavior (Ajzen, 1991). Conclusions and Recommendations The study of 100 students in the senior year at CWU has shown that although students are aware of copyright laws and their accompanying penalties, the high cost of software and peer pressure could lead them stray into the territory of software piracy. It is therefore the task of everyone around them to insure that all temptations and equipment that could be used for piracy be kept away from the students. This will not be an easy task but it must be done in order to insure that copyright violations are limited or prevented by the school authorities as anyone caught in the act of piracy using CWU equipment could endanger the university itself. I would recommend that Software Piracy Training be implemented across all student levels as a mandatory course to be taken at the start of every semester in order to keep the rules and laws governing software piracy constantly fresh in every student's mind. Other methods by which this training can be implemented is by providing students with free versions or open source programs such as OpenOffice. org and software that do not require software copyrights. These free versions have the functionality of the full versions but are limited in certain aspects which do not remove from the proper use of the software. Finally, the use of computer lab equipment should also be strictly monitored and logged in order to discourage the use of campus property for the downloading or copying of copyrighted software. References Cronan, Timothy Paul & Al-Rafee, Sulaiman. (2007). Factors that influence the intention to pirate software and media. Journal of Business Ethics (2008) 78:527–545 # DOI 10.1007/s10551- 007-9366-8 Segfried, Robert M. (n.d.) Student attitudes on software piracy and related issues of computer ethics. Retrieved from http://home.adelphi.edu/~siegfried/ETIN2004.pdf Appendix The overall question that this report tried to answer is : Does CWU need to implement software piracy Training? To answer this question, I conducted an investigative survey covering the following questions: (1) What is the current knowledge of CWU students regarding software piracy? (2) Are CWU students following software piracy laws pertaining to specific situations on the survey? (3) Does CWU need to implement software piracy Training. (4) What do experts outside the CWU community say about software piracy? Read More