Introduction
Software piracy is one of the crucial issues that Canada is facing in recent times. The issue has been crucial not only in Canada but is also one of the major global issues. The term software piracy is a combination of illegal and unlicensed usage, reproduction, or trade of software. This issue affects not only the company or trader who deals in the software but also the economy of the country. Software piracy is copying the software for using it in multiple systems.
This act is similar to that of copying a copyrighted material and is an act that falls under civil and criminal offense. It harms the profitability of a business as the company loses a large customer base due to this. The profits that are to be received by the software companies are being washed away by this act. Even though software piracy is being less cared for by the people it is punishable under the law as it is illegal.
Software piracy is in different forms. When people purchase software, they gain the right to use that software only on one computer. It becomes illegal if he uses it on any other computer or if he supplies it to his friends for copying. It is also illegal when it is distributed on the internet or is used in a network. The growing rate of software piracy has necessitated prompt actions on the part of the Canadian Government. Even though many measures were adopted, software piracy is still prevalent in the country and so one can conclude that RCMP is not busting software pirates.
Main body
It is found that the majority of the statistical data that are given out by RCMP regarding piracy is wrong. The major problem with the data published by RCMP is that there is no reliable source to support their argument. They published that the loss for the Canadian economy from piracy and counterfeiting accounted for $10 billion to $30 billion. It is found that the figures that were given by the RCMP are based on a search from the internet. They did not conduct any survey or study regarding this. While careful examination it was found that the $10 and 30 billion dollars were from the report telecasted in CTV and from a presentation by the Chief Economist for the Canadian Manufacturing and Exporters, Jayson Myers. Therefore, it can be concluded that the data being published by them is unreliable.
The software piracy rate is higher in Canada. The software piracy rate has affected not only the companies but also the country’s economy. It is found that the software piracy rate in the country has increased over years. A 1 percentage increase in the piracy rate has been reported from the year 2005 – 2006. It is also found that the piracy rate in Canada is higher than that of the US. Microsoft has made many attempts like regular campaigning and educating the people regarding the consequences of software piracy. Still, the rate remains around 35% in the country. Therefore, it can be said that the software piracy rate is higher in Canada and the rate is increasing over years despite the education campaigns.
Conclusion
Thus, it is evident from the discussion of the above-mentioned facts that RCMP is not busting software pirates. Software is creating big consequences for the software companies as well as the economy of the country. When the majority of the people depend on the software that is received illegally the loss for the software companies is higher. This in turn affects the economy when the country has more software companies. As such this is a very serious issue. Therefore, even though RCMP is still not serious about the issue more actions have to be taken in the future to avoid great losses for the industry and economy. RCMP should attempt to collaborate with software companies to design technology that could be used to detect usage of pirated software’s.
References
90% of Statistics Are Wrong, discourse.net, 2007. Web.
Microsoft legal action continues to combat software piracy, Microsoft 2008. Web.
Economic consequences of software piracy, Harry G, echeat.com, 1999 – 2007. Web.