Property scenario #1
Jerry borrows Ben’s game disks for Monster Truck Rally II and installs them on his home computer. He says he will erase the game if he does not like it, or will buy the game for himself if he likes it.
Questions
Comments
Students need to know that computer software is protected by copyright law. It is unlawful, as well as unethical, to make copies of computer programs without permission or payment of the producer of those programs. It also needs to be understood that when purchasing software, one is usually only purchasing the right to use the software. The ownership of the code that comprises the program stays with the producer. This means that one cannot alter the program or resell it. The vast majority of software licenses require that one copy of a program be purchased for each computer on which it is to be run. And no, the inability to pay for software is not a justification for illegal copying anymore than the inability to pay for a book is any justification for shoplifting it from a bookstore.
Quote of note
As children have access to computers earlier and earlier in their educational careers, experts in piracy, hacking, and other forms of Internet mischief say that any effort to tackle the illicit trade in digital good - including video games, computer software, music and even movies - should be looking at a younger crowd.
“By the time we get them, they already believe it’s right,” said David J. Farber, a professor of computer science at the University of Pennsylvania ·
The New York Times, Tuesday, December 25, 2001 .