Software Privacy:
Cheaper Price, Expensive Cost
Thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in tax revenues is lost to software piracy every year. Most of the well-known programs are illegally copied every year and sold to many people who don't know they are buying pirated software.
In a recent study of online auction sales of software, 60% were found to be pirated. The online auction venue allows scammers to fence software to unsuspecting buyers who think that they are buying licensed software at a low price. While the cost of pirated software is less expensive than buying licensed software, the disadvantages outweigh the short-term benefits of lower price.
Why is pirated software a problem to buyers?
- Pirated software might be infected with viruses.
- Pirated software might not work.
- Pirated software will not get technical or upgrade support. This is important especially as it relates to the Y2k bug.
- Owners of pirated software will not be notified by vendors of any bugs or fixes since the software has not be licensed and the vendors have no idea that the owner of pirated software owns the software.
How can you tell that software being auctioned is pirated?
- Tremendous price differences between the recommended retail price of a product and its auction price
- Statements such as "CD-R Copy," "Backup Copy" or "Compilation CD" describe the software.
- Sellers at online auctions of such software sometimes demand only money orders or personal cheques for payment. This is also a sign that the seller may be a scammer who will fail to deliver auctioned goods after payment is made.
Keep a watchful eye when buying software online. If the price is too good to be true, it probably means that the software is pirated.
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