software piracy

@rog0322 (2829)
Cagayan De Oro, Philippines
January 30, 2012 7:05pm CST
Hi everyone: Piracy is big thing in the Philippines. We find copies of almost anything on the streets, on the malls and on the web: movies, song files, and yes, computer software. Some see it as a boon to owning something beyond one's reach, even with the knowledge that is is not legit. What costs an arm and a leg to acquire can be had at half or below the set price with a quality that matches the original version. No wonder that even those who can afford to get the licensed, laser-marked, barcoded DVDs still opt for the ordinary copies on the stalls. It is the contents that counts, really. I, for one is guilty of using pirated materials, in one way or another. It is a blessing and a curse that the users are immune from the law in possessing them, for now. A lot has been done to solve the problem, still it persists. I say, piracy can never be solved with the present system of law enforcement. It is here to stay and the only way to mitigate the folks from patronizing them is to lower the price of the branded ones to make them more competitive with their pirated counterparts. Now is the time to lower the flags of the high and mighty prices of these commodities to let the common people enjoy them too. Tell me your views on this, please.
1 person likes this
4 responses
@victorkrish (1614)
• Malaysia
31 Jan 12
Piracy is a illegal distribution and mostly offered in internet. It is a very common on internet who wants to download a pirate software. Not only in Philippines, still most of country are using a pirates. Buying or using a pirated software has many inherent risks, , not the least of which is facing legal charges. Pirated software carries with with it no guarantee the program will function as it should, and in cases where it does not not you can expect no support, technical or otherwise.You will not be eligible for upgrades updates or security patches. Really we can run the risk of damaging our reputation, as criminal prosecution becomes public record.
@rog0322 (2829)
• Cagayan De Oro, Philippines
1 Feb 12
Right you are. We run the risk of legal sanctions, however, most of the targeted pirates are still the manufacturers and dealers and not the users themselves. That is the argument of a presidential adviser who was captured on cam while buying pirated DVDs just a while ago.
@asdomencil (4265)
• Philippines
10 Feb 12
You are right, we cannot solve piracy here in the Philippines as long as there are people who buy pirated materials. I think piracy could only stopped if original materials are sold with almost the same price as pirateds. Just to share, a place near to us, every afternoon there are lot of portable stalls selling pirated CDs/DVDs. The irony in this situation is that it is located near the Municipal Hall as well as Police Station. How can we stop such piracy if the law makers in town tolerates this.
• Philippines
11 Feb 12
Same here rog, sometimes, I still watched pirated dvds. But when i learned how to download thru torrents, I just waited to download the movies there and watch it. Is it another form of piracy? what you think?
@rog0322 (2829)
• Cagayan De Oro, Philippines
13 Feb 12
Yeps, it is still piracy, high-tech style. The www is still an unregulated, wild country. I like it that way, freedom of information and all that stuff.
@rsa101 (37952)
• Philippines
9 Jul 12
I agree with your opinion. The thing that makes pirated copies is the price vs. price of the original. I think that is the only solution since they cannot curb something that is sold at a very low prices. On the other hand, I understand the point of the artists and the entertainment industry that they also invested time, money and labor for a single music, movie they produced and they have to recover it somehow. That is why the government is protecting the rights of the artists and the music industry for their efforts and the taxes that this sector is sharing with them.
@chan2zexy (508)
• Philippines
27 May 12
Piracy can never be stopped. It's present not just in the Philippines but all over the world. I won't claim to be pure, I have committed this myself because I bought some pirated copies of movies, software, etc. With the pirated movies, there are no risk at playing this on our disk players because it's not something that could harm our PC or laptop. But with computer softwares, the pirated software makes our units vulnerable to virus attacks, crashes, etc. I'm not a techie so I don't know all the terms. Hehe! =) Still we patronize it because of the savings that we think we could gain. If maybe they are cheaper, a price that's almost as close to the pirated but with still maintaining the same quality, then maybe we will be willing to pay for the little additional cost as long as we are sure of the quality. The high price is the main reason why we patronize the pirated copies, so I think that's what can be adjusted to lessen the piracy. Plus, they could increase the price of the blank disks so the "pirates" will have to raise the price of their pirated CDs. Hehe! But I know, that'll be impossible, prices of blank disks will always be cheap.