Software Piracy

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worldwide due to software piracy.
Software piracy costs the industry:

$482 every second
$28,900 every minute
$1.7 million every hour
$41.6 million every day
$291.5 million every week

To understand software piracy, one must get inside the mind of the
pirate. People, who wouldn't think of sneaking merchandise out of a store or
robbing a house, regularly obtain copies of computer programs which they haven't
paid for. The pirate has a set of excuses for his actions: prices are too high;
the company doesn't provide decent support; he's only going to use the program
once in a while. Although, what really makes software piracy seem less bad than
other kinds of theft is that nothing is physically taken. There is no immediate
effect on the inventory or productive capacity of the creator of a piece of
software if ...

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most
cases, people can openly talk about their acts of piracy without suffering
criticism. However, there is a more basic deterrent to theft than the risk of
getting caught. A person can fake what he is to others, but not to himself. He
knows that he is depending on other people's ignorance or willingness to pretend
they haven't noticed. He may not feel guilty because of this, but he will always
feel helpless and out of control. If he attempts to rationalize his actions, he
becomes dependent on his own self-ignorance as well.
Thieves who abandon honesty often fall back on the idea of being smart.
They think it's stupid to buy something when they can just take it. They know
that their own ...

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