Softlifting Music and Other Software Essay Example for Free

Softlifting Music and Other Softw atomic number 18 EssayEthics are moral standards that arise form the freedom to choose between right and wrong. study features of ethics are responsibility, accountability and liability. (Laudon and Laudon 2008) Being a free moral agent Allison faces an ethical dilemma duplicate her background music at trifling cost for use in her other restaurant or buying the same music again from the music ships company at full cost. The encounter is occasioned by copyright law on one side and the temptation to just copy due to the ease to copy brought about by technology. write this proprietary piece of software will violate the legal rights of the owner.This is the nature of property rights-it is individualistic, exclusionary and selfish. The general direction pointed by Article 1 Section 8, of the US Constitution, with regard to copyright matters, implies that the composer of the background music owns exclusive rights to it and Allison cannot reproduc e the music or lyrics, distribute the music or lyrics either for free, for no profit, or for profit, run the music or lyrics in public play a recording of the music or lyrics in public-even if she owns the CD, or make a derivative run low or arrangement for public use in any form.If Allison goes ahead and uses the recorded music in her second joint, she will have committed buccaneering, which Bidgoli defines as any copying of software in contravention of its license. (pg. 297) or the illegal act of copying software for any reason, other than backup, without explicit consent from and compensation to the copyright holder. (Gopal and Sanders 1998) If law enforcement officers come calling, the recorded music would be destroyed and Allison would be penalized according to the law. Socially, softlifting is regarded as a lesser crime.Especially after(prenominal) considering the inconveniences and costs incurred by users when software companies decide to control how they software is t o be used. Someone opined that knowledge is not knowledge until it is shared. With piracy on the rise musicians are looking at the internet as their gateway to a wider market. The only ethical option would be for Allison to buy a fresh copy or pay a royalty to the composer for permission to play the music in her restaurant. Alternatively she can schedule days in a way that from each one of her joints can play the music.The ethical no free lunch rule encourages people to assume that virtually all tangible objects are owned by some one else unless there is a specific declaration otherwise. (Laudon and Laudon 2008) Scenario 2 Allison is still concerned about the costs of operating her business. She currently uses a data processor based point of sales system to process orders and billing (when a customer places an order, the system prints the bill like a cash register, but overly displays the orderand recipe if appropriateon a monitor in the prep expanse).The system has proven extre mely helpful over the years, especially for new employees. Allison wants to continue using the same system in her new location. Rather than paying the company to lay the system in the new location, Allison has hired a local IS student. This student, Bill, has agreed to install the hardware and copy the software and data from the current location for her. It is clear in this case that there are no ownership or license issues. Once Allison bought the software, it became hers and she can use it as she pleases.Such a program would fall under the free software stratum which as described by Madey, Freeh, and Tynan, users have access to the source code and is distributed at no cost. (Par. 2) The issue here has to do with paying the company to install the system in the new location. Having separated copyright issues from installation services it is now easy to identify her ethical dilemma choose between the company and the local IS student. Assuming that they have no service contract, th e company has no legal grounds to sue her if she decides not to use their services.Like any rational business person, high operation costs would constrain her to using the cheaper services of the local IS student. In any case, if the company, due to one reason or other was not in a position to offer installation services who would service her program? She would of course look for other knowledgeable sources to service the program. real those advocating for free software as opposed to proprietary software advance the point that it is possible to make money out of free software by services such as installing, upgrading, modifying and teaching about the software.If the program was still owned by the company, to install the hardware and copy the software and data from the original location to the new location would make Bill a hacker. This mild form of hacking is described as to roughly force a program to work, mostly inelegantly. (Forester and Morison pr 77) Hacking is a crime. How ever for open source software Bill is free to even modify the programs features to add advertize functionality. This is the future trend.To solve this ethical dilemma, Allison needs to assure her conscience that is not obligated to the company that first sold the software to her. If she has doubts she whitethorn seek for pro forma communication from the software company freeing her to do whatever she wants with her software. In any case technological advancement has created a legal grey area where the existing property law has been overtaken by events and can not clearly tell whether it is wrong to listen to music from an IPod.It has been the trend for companies in the IS industry to condone petty issues especially at the individual level because the costs of litigation would be phenomenal not forgetting that in the technology world, what is illegal today may become legal tomorrow. Works Cited Bidgoli, H. , The Internet Encyclopedia Volume 3, New Jersey John Wiley Sons, Inc. USA 2004. Forester, T and Morrison P. , Computer Ethics Cautionary Tales and respectable Dilemmas in computing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. 2001 Gopal, R. D., and Sanders, G. L. , International Software Piracy Analysis on Key Issues and Impacts, nurture Systems Research Vol. 9, No. 2, December 1998. Laudon, K. C. and Laudon, J. P. Management Information Systems Managing the Digital Firm, Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, USA, 2008. Maday, G. , Freeh, V. , Tynnan, R. , The Open Source Software Development Phenomenon An Analysis Based on Social Network Theory, Eighth Americas group discussion on Information Systems, University of Notre Dame (2002) 1807