Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Software piracy'

Software piracy has been an ongoing issue for decades and it has a tremendous economic impact on software business. Software piracy seems to be especially common among young people, who often are technologically oriented and happen to be students. The purpose of this study was to map out what kind of a role software piracy plays among the students of the University of Oulu. The goal was also to find out how common software piracy is and how the software piracy rates differ among different subpopulations as well as finding out the reasons for software piracy. The study was of quantitative nature and a survey was conducted in order to gather data. In addition, a conceptual model was proposed and its purpose was to map out which factors influence the attitudes and intentions regarding pirating software, and the questions of the survey were partly based on the conceptual model. The aforementioned survey was distributed to the students of the University of Oulu as an online link via email. This study examined and compared the demographic factors as well as the reasons and purposes behind software piracy. The results of this study indicate that age and gender have statistical significance with software piracy. When it came to reasons, expensiveness was the most significant reason, which was in line with previous literature. The study also investigated the views of university students regarding software piracy. The connections in the conceptual model were explored as well: the factors presented in the conceptual model were found to be correlated although the strength of the correlation varied greatly. In addition, all of the connections in the model had statistical significance.

There are various forms of piracy in software business, and many prevention techniques have been developed against them. Forms of software piracy are, for example, cracks and serials, softlifting and hard disk loading, internet piracy and software counterfeiting, mischanneling, reverse engineering, and tampering. There are various prevention methods that target these types of piracy, although all of these methods have been broken. The piracy prevention measures can be divided into ethical, legal, and technical measures. Technical measures include measures like obfuscation and tamper-proofing, for example. However, relying on a single method does not provide complete protection from attacks against intellectual property, so companies wishing to protect their product should consider combining multiple methods of piracy prevention.

Prior to the general availability of high speed Internet, the spread of piratedsoftware required the transfer of a physical copy like a disk, which limited therate at which illegal software could be distributed. The low transfer raterestricted software piracy to levels which producers found acceptable becausethe associated losses could be absorbed. Large scale cases of piracy were rareand when they did occur the legal system provided suitable retribution. However,recent advances in computer technology have made the need for a physical copyobsolete. Piracy is now a widespread, decentralized problem in which millions ofindividuals take part. Without technical means of identifying pirated software,the protection afforded by the legal system is no longer easy to enforce or costeffective.The research in this dissertation addresses the threat of software piracythrough the exploration of two techniques: software watermarking and softwarebirthmarking. Neither of these techniques can be used to prevent software theftentirely. Instead, they are used to detect occurrences of theft after the fact.One of the limiting factors of the protection provided by the legal system isthat it cannot be used to identify an incidence of piracy. Softwarewatermarking and birthmarking fill this gap, thus providing complimentaryprotection to the established legal protection. In this research, we analyze thestate of the art in both software watermarking and birthmarking and we propose anovel scheme in each of the areas which make significant improvements overexisting techniques.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 2009.
"Department of Management." Keywords: Ethical ideology, Low self control, Public self consciousness, Religiosity, Software piracy, Theory of reasoned action. Includes bibliographical references (p. 146-170). Also available online.

Software piracy, the illegal and unauthorized duplication, sale, or distribution of software, is a widespread and costly phenomenon. According to the Business Software Alliance, more than one third of the PC software packages installed worldwide in 2006 were unauthorized copies. This behavior costs the software industry billions of lost dollars in revenue annually. Software piracy behavior has been investigated for more than thirty years. However, there are two voids in the literature: lack of studies in Non-Western countries and scarcity of process studies. As such, this study contributes to the literature by developing a software piracy model to understand the decision making process that underlies this illegal behavior among Jordanian university students. Based on a literature review in various disciplines, including social psychology, psychology, and criminology, several important variables have been incorporated into the proposed model. The model was tested using data collected from a sample of 323 undergraduate business students. The resulting data was analyzed by two main statistical techniques, structural equation modeling (SEM) and hierarchical multiple regression. The results indicated that the model was useful in predicting students' intention to pirate software. Seven out of eight hypotheses were supported. Consistent with The Theory of Reasoned Action, attitudes toward software piracy and subjective norms were significant predictors of intention to pirate software. However, our findings are inconsistent with previous studies with regard to the relative importance of attitude and subjective norms; subjective norms had a stronger effect. Also, the results suggested that ethical ideology, public self-consciousness, and low self-control moderated the effect of these variables on intention to pirate software. Lastly, the results indicated that the effect of subjective norms on afintention to pirate software was both direct and indirect through attitudes. The results have important practical implications for the software industry and governments to curtail software piracy. Limitations of the study and recommendations for future studies are discussed as well.

Researchers have found that software piracy worldwide over the years has significantly contributed to billions of dollars in lost revenue for many software firms. Software developers have found it difficult to create software that is not easily copied, thus, creating a software protection problem. Software piracy remains a global problem despite the significant effort to combat its prevalence. Over the years, significant research has attempted to determine the factors that contribute to individuals' propensity to commit software piracy. Most of the research on software piracy has been limited to larger societies, with recommendations by researchers to extend similar studies to smaller ones. The literature indicating the need for additional research on this topic in different populations and cultures is significant. Given that, the key contributions of this study were to assess empirically factors such as personal moral obligation (PMO), cultural dimensions, ethical computer self-efficacy (ECSE) and the effect it has on individuals' propensity -- in cultures that support it -- to commit software piracy in smaller geographical locations. Therefore, this research empirically assessed the contribution that PMO, Hofstede's cultural dimension of individualism/collectivism (I/C), and ECSE have made on individuals' propensity to commit software piracy. The study extended the current body of knowledge by finding answers to three specific questions. First, this study sought to determine whether the PMO component contributed to individuals' propensity to commit software piracy in The Bahamas. Secondly, this study sought to determine the level of contribution of Hofstede's cultural dimension of I/C to individuals' propensity to commit software piracy in The Bahamas. Finally, this study sought to determine the contribution of ECSE to individuals' propensity to commit software piracy in The Bahamas. A total of 321 usable responses were collected over a one-month period from students from the school of business at a small Bahamian college, to determine their level of PMO, I/C, and ECSE contribution to individuals' propensity to commit software piracy. This represents, approximately, a 64% response rate. The results showed the overall significance of the models of the three factors in predicting individuals' propensity to commit software piracy. Furthermore, the results indicated that PMO and ECSE subscale PMO and ECSE_DB were significant, however, I/C, and ECSE (as a whole) were not.

This essay analyzes the market for entertainment software by identifying and explain the products typical properties, in addition i clarifies the behavior of consumers and producers. One of the most important property related to software is the ease with which it can be reproduced. When such reproduction is done illicit it´s called piracy. The software industry often claims that piracy leads to big losses for the companies as well as in welfare, the essay clarifies that this doesn´t has to be the case. On the contrary the possibility to cheap production and distribution may lead to an increased welfare. The paper questions todays copyright law and suggests that a different legislation would lead to an increase in welfare.

The thesis focuses on software piracy mainly in the context of cloud computing. Its goals are to analyze contemporary software piracy with the focus on its forms, reasons leading to it and on antipiracy techniques. Second part of the thesis defines cloud computing and focuses on two basic interdependencies with software piracy: cloud as a pirates' tool and cloud as means to fight the piracy. Based on the findings of previous parts, concluding part of the thesis suggests set of recommendations for involved parties (especially software providers, cloud service providers and cloud service users).

Digital piracy is a problem that may never disappear from society. Through readily available resources such as those found in a university, students will always have access to illegal goods. While piracy is a global phenomenon, an institution s resources combined with the typical college student s lack of funds makes it more lucrative. Students use a number of methods to justify their actions ranging from previewing media to bringing justice to a corrupt company. While trying to understand the mindset of pirates is one route to deal with piracy, corporations attempted to alleviate the situation using added software encoding. These messages are not always effective, and in some cases caused further damage to consumer morale. Furthermore, students such as Joel Tenenbaum, who continued to pirate music despite warnings from his parents and the recording industry, exemplify the type of person that is unfazed by legal threats, leading to a question of ethics. Students may not feel that downloading is stealing despite numerous warnings from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and other major media organizations. The predominant solution used by universities involves monitoring the students network connection to detect Peer-to-Peer (P2P) connections or other connections that involve the transferring of copyrighted goods. Unfortunately, the current tools contain flaws that a crafty student may easily circumvent, undermining any attempts a university s IT department may use to deter piracy. This study explored the nature of piracy prevention tools used by IT departments in the Florida State University System in order to determine their relative effectiveness. The study also looked into the opinions of the Information Security Officer in terms of alternative piracy prevention techniques that do not involve legal action and monitoring. It was found that most institutions do not use a formal piece of software that monitors for infringing data. They also stated that while their current techniques can do its required task, it was not perfected to a point where it could run autonomously. Furthermore, institutions agreed that students lack proper ethics and concern over the matter of copyright, but were not fully convinced that other preventions methods would be effective. The study ultimately considered monitoring techniques a short-term solution and that more research should be put into finding long-term solutions. It also implied that IT departments should be better funded in order to keep up with the technological gap.
Ed.D.
Department of Educational Research, Technology and Leadership
Education
Educational Leadership EdD

The software industry’s largest and most severe problem is software piracy. Most attempts to stop illegal copying of software have failed. Alternative ways to remove software piracy must therefore be discovered and some are already being used. These ways include alternative methods of financing software products instead of trying to stop illegal copying. The alternative methods use the low cost of software duplication as an advantage to increase sales instead of seeing it as a problem. This requires a change in the business model to focus on other revenue sources than per-copy fees. Many different alternative financing methods exist. These are suitable under different conditions and there is no universal solution. The methods all have one thing in common. The user can legally copy and use the software product without purchasing a license. All have different positive and negative effects on the user and this can create the opportunity to use several business models to cater different market segments.
Mjukvaruindustrins största och allvarligaste problem är piratkopiering. De flesta försökt att få bukt med piratkopieringsproblemet har misslyckats. Alternativa metoder för att försöka lösa piratkopieringsproblemet måste därför hittas. Ett alternativt sätt att lösa piratkopieringsproblemet på är med hjälp av alternativa finansieringsmetoder för programvara. De alternativa finansieringsmetoderna använder sig av mjukvaras speciella egenarter som extremt låg reproduktionskostnad och enkelheten att enkelt göra perfekta kopior. Dessa alternativa finansieringsmetoder försöker hitta andra källor för inkomst än försäljningen av licenser. Många alternativa finansieringsmetoder finns. Dessa är tillämpbara och lämpliga i olika situationer och ingen universell lösning finns. Det dessa metoder har gemensamt är att programvarans användare fritt kan kopiera programvaran och använda den utan att behöva köpa en licens. Då de alternativa finansieringsmetoderna har olika positiva och negative påverkningar på sina användare ges tillfälle att kunna kombinera modeller.

Les analyses des marchés des logiciels ont longtemps été limitées à l'unique confrontation libre-propriétaire ou propriétaire-piratage. Cette thèse fournit à l'opposé une vision originale d'une confrontation articulée entre propriétaire-libre-piratage. L'analyse du marché des logiciels est réalisée premièrement à travers un descriptif économique et technique du produit "logiciel". Cette description est nécessaire pour saisir le comment et le pourquoi de la déclinaison du produit "logiciel" sous trois formes : propriétaire, libre et piraté. L'aspect technique est particulièrement substantiel puisqu'il permet de comprendre parfois l'impossibilité technique de délimiter le piratage informatique. Cette analyse est appuyée ensuite par un descriptif historique de la construction du marché et l'introduction des droits de propriété qui ont été un facteur déterminant pour la transformation des échanges. On identifie par la suite, les principaux acteurs (producteurs et diffuseurs) de ses trois déclinaisons du bien logiciel et leurs modes organisationnels. En parallèle aux entreprises éditrices de logiciel propriétaire et des communautés de logiciel libre (Hackers), une nouvelle catégorie d'acteurs développant du "matériel informatique libre" est identifiée (open hardware). L'accent est mis sur l'enchevêtrement des frontières entre les communautés libres et le groupe des pirates dont la distinction est complexe, puisque certaines pratiques de piratage sont de fait tolérées par le marché. Les pirates sont aussi considérés dans le cadre de cette thèse, selon leurs compétences techniques. Une typologie des pirates est donc proposée, distinguant les "utilisateurs" des "producteurs" de logiciels piratés (pirates passifs et pirates actifs). Notre analyse se poursuit ensuite avec des modélisations mathématiques et économétriques pour défendre la thèse que les trois déclinaisons du bien logiciel s'inter-influencent et que la concurrence sur le marché des logiciels est ternaire. Cette approche est originale en ce qui concerne les logiciels libres, car vu la récente nouveauté du phénomène, peu d'études de quantification ont été réalisé. Un théorème mathématique, largement utilisé en contrôle optimale, est sollicité pour analyser la façon dont les acteurs des logiciels propriétaires tiennent compte à la fois de la présence concurrentielle des logiciels piratés et celle des logiciels libres. Il est montré qu'une stratégie de tolérance du piratage peut servir favorablement le logiciel propriétaire sur le marché pour réduire "l'effet réseau" des logiciels libres et de renforcer l'effet de "lock-in" du propriétaire. Le modèle économétrique soutient également la thèse que la diffusion des logiciels libres impacte celle des logiciels piratés. La construction d'une base de données de pays à différents niveaux de développement, montre que les politiques gouvernementales en faveur des logiciels libres et l'intérêt de population locale pour linux, peuvent réduire les pratiques du piratage. Ce constat varie selon les catégories de pays étudiés (pays développés, émergents, en voie de développement et pauvres). Les résultats du modèle économétrique appuient ceux de la modélisation
Publishers of proprietary software are confronted both by the onset of piracy practices and free/open software. So far, the obstacles faced by proprietary software have been presented in the literature by means of two distinct approaches :(i) the piracy/proprietary software (illicit competition), or (ii) the open source/proprietary software (licit competition) standpoints. In this thesis we propose an alternative approach of the software market, which focuses on the coexistence of competitive forces piracy practices and open software. The three forces are supported by di_erent actors, to which we add the new one of open hardware that consolidated the position of free software on the market. The new approach distinguishes also between sophisticated active pirates producers and casual passive pirate users. We emphasized that it is di_cult to distinguish between hackers and pirates, as piracy practices are sometimes tolerated by the market. Using an econometric and mathematics model we show the impacts that one in_icts over the other. The mathematical model investigates how changes in the _rm's anti-piracy policya_ect the number of pirates users, given that the free software network size increases if pirates become free software users. The proposed econometric model shows that government policies in favour of open source software and adoption of Linux by individuals tends to decrease software piracy. A majorempirical result concerns the emerging and developing countries where policies in favour of free software can in some speci_c cases reduce piracy

Diploma thesis characterises the most important kinds of computer crime, economically evaluates incurred harms, presents factual examples and a prognosis of the possible way of developement of this kind of crime in the future. Thesis includes legislation regarding the computer crime and possible ways of defending against it. In the end, in the form of a questionary, the thesis monitors the knowledge of students of the Faculty of management in Jindřichův Hradec about the field of computer crime and interprets these results using graphs.

This work concerns with possibilities of licensing. There are mentioned advantages and disadvantages of particular models. Further on, the prediction of future situation in the IT market, new techniques, trends and reasons of these changes are introduced. Work addresses to both types of software -- proprietary software and Open Source software. Next part of work deals with software piracy and problems, which are connected with it. In second part of the work are theoretical knowledge converted into practice. There is examined license politics of Microsoft and possibilities which are offered to different customers. The final part concerns with two firms which operate on Czech market. There is a view to licenses, which are owned by firms, followed by recommendation of optimization.

The main objective of this work is to critically evaluate a sufficient portion of the circuit problem of software piracy and to propose solutions of sub-problems, to use the interpretation of all relevant laws and all other available resources and create a comprehensive picture of the case. The practical part should be primarily a manual for ordinary computer users, which should help them. At the same time I present a preview of the methods of the executive law enforcement authority - Police of the Czech Republic, which deals with the investigation of software piracy. Range of the methods used in my work is not wide, which is partly due to reluctance of companies to cooperate because it is a relatively sensitive information, but it fully covers the needs of work and make it possible to have a final vision of the subject.

Taikomųjų programų piratavimas – procesas, kurio metu nelegaliai atkuriama ir neturint tam teisės platinama taikomoji programa. Ši problema nėra nauja, tačiau efektyvių apsaugos priemonių nuo jos šiandien dar nesukurta. Dėl šios priežasties 2011 m. nelegalios programinės įrangos buvo parsisiųsta už daugiau nei 60 mlrd. JAV dolerių ir ši suma kasmet auga. Atlikus taikomųjų programų grėsminių analizę išsiaiškinome, kad didžiausia problema – atvirkštinė inžinerija. Šią problemą padedančias išspręsti apsaugos priemones suskirstėme į programines ir aparatūrines. Atlikus programinių apsaugos priemonių analizę išsiaiškinome, kad geriausiai nuo atvirkštinės inžinerijos padeda apsisaugoti kodo šifravimas arba glaudinimas. Atlikus aparatūrinių apsaugos priemonių analizę išsiaiškinome, kad apsaugai nuo piratavimo dažniausiai naudojami apsaugos raktai. Išanalizavus programinių ir aparatūrinių apsaugos priemonių privalumus ir trūkumus sukūrėme kompleksinį apsaugos metodą. Šis metodas remiasi kritinių (vertingiausių) programos modulių šifravimu ir vykdymu saugiame įrenginyje. Šiame darbe kaip saugų įrenginį naudojame lustines korteles. Šie įrenginiai buvo pasirinkti dėl jų nedidelės kainos ir teikiamo didelio saugumo lygio. Atlikę sumodeliuoto metodo programinę realizaciją jį ištyrėme greitaveikos aspektu ir nustatėme, kad modulio užimančio 6KB iššifravimas lustinėje kortelėje trunka tik 2% viso programos vykdymo laiko, todėl didelės įtakos programos vykdymo laiko išaugimui neturi... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]
Software piracy is copying and distributing of software illegally and without permission. This problem is not new but effective protective measures against it until today are not developed. Therefore, in 2011 illegal software has been downloaded for more than 60 billion USA dollars and that amount is growing every year. After software threats’ analysis we found out that the biggest problem is reverse engineering. Measures which can help to solve this problem we divided into software-based and hardware-based protection. After software-based protection analysis we found out that one of best measures against reverse engineering is code encryption or packaging and one of the best hardware-based protection tools is using of dongle keys. After analysis of advantages and disadvantages of software-based and hardware-based protection we developed method against software piracy. This method relies on the encryption of critical (most valuable) program modules and its safe execution in a safe device. In this paper, as a safe device we will use smart cards. These devices were chosen for their low cost and high level of safety. After implementation of simulated method we found out that decryption of module, which size is ~6KB, in smart card takes only 2% of the total program execution time, so this task does not have significant impact on program execution time. The biggest impact on increasing of protected program execution time have the module performance (59,37% of the total time)... [to full text]

In this project I deal with basic description of source code obfuscation and size reduction techniques of programming languages. The project is primary aimed on scripting language named JavaScript and involved analysis of free obfuscation tools for this language. In the final stage I have created an application is based on theoretical scope of this project and able to obfuscate JavaScript source codes on different levels.

Com a análise histórica da chamada propriedade intelectual, em especial das patentes, copyright e direitos autorais, esta tese trata da crise do capitalismo contemporâneo, e analisa a tendência dissimulada de ascensão de Estados, que com o uso da tecnologia informática e o recrudescimento das legislações, se tornam cada vez mais autoritários e avançam sobre direitos e liberdades civis. Para isso é reconstituída a história dos computadores, da Internet, do Movimento do Software Livre, dos Partidos Piratas, do movimento do Software Livre no Brasil, das legislações de propriedade intelectual no mundo ocidental e da globalização do comércio e das finanças
Through the historical analysis of the \"intellectual property\", in particular patents, copyright and authors rights, this thesis deals with the crisis of contemporary capitalism, and analyzes the covert increasing trend of states, that with the use of computer technology and the intensification of laws, become increasingly authoritarian, eroding civil rights and liberties secured by populations long ago. To reach this objective the history of computers, the Internet, the Free Software Movement, the Pirate Parties, the Free Software movement in Brazil, the intellectual property laws in the Western world and the globalization of trade and finance are reconstituted

In this study we investigate how the attitude and behaviour concerning illegal file shar-ing have changed among the young population in Sweden. The study will analyze the impact of the IPRED law that was introduced in April 2008 and new digital media ser-vices that have emerged in the last couple of years. It is also evaluated which of these have had the most impact on the attitude and behaviour of the selected population.

The main part of our research consists of a quantitative survey handed out to a sample population among high school students (ages 16-20) in Jönköping, Sweden. This pri-mary data is later compared to secondary data from a similar study that was done on the same demographics two years prior to this research in order to measure the change in behaviour and attitude. The previous study was conducted prior to the IPRED law im-plementation by one of the authors. We also used prior research within this subject and related fields to further understand and interpret our data.

What we have discovered through our research is that there has been a decrease in ille-gal file sharing, especially when considering music, however this decrease is much more an effect of the adopting of new media services then it can be attributed to the IPRED law. Furthermore, the attitudes towards file sharing have remained unchanged and a large number of young adults do not feel that file sharing should be illegal.

It is also concluded that good legal alternatives to file sharing have a large market po-tential if these services can fulfil consumers demand on availability and price. Addition-ally we have found that good legal alternatives are important if the public is to refrain from returning to their old file sharing habits once the initial scare from new legislation has worn off.

The aim of this thesis is to statistically determine the dependence rate of software piracy in the cultural foundation of the country and other factors. Data obtained from internet were the resources of my work. They were from the results of different surveys and case studies. The data contain values of individual indicators, each for a maximum number of countries. The nature of the collected data leads to the analysis of quantitative variables such were selected correct statistical methods. Dependence of the quantitative variables was measured by simple linear regression. The rate of this dependence determines the correlation analysis. In my case Spearman's correlation coefficient was used. Any dependence was investigated with a pair of indicators. In each of pairs was as the dependent variable rate of software piracy. For better understanding I have used the graphs. From my thesis, I expect evaluate past and current situation about software piracy in the Czech Republic and in the world, and that shows influences the amount of computer crime.

Analisi in chiave economica e sociale dell'evoluzione di Internet, delle tecnologie legate al Web 2.0, dei fenomeni della pirateria, del software libero ed open source, del copyleft, dei contenuti aperti e della produzione tra pari. Introduzione dei concetti di economia del gratis ("freeconomics") e di coda lunga. Consigli manageriali pratici per i nuovi mercati digitali e per la competizione nella rete Internet.

La presente investigación puede servir para: en primer lugar, adquirir mayor conocimiento acerca del comportamiento del consumidor de software pirata; en segundo lugar, conocer sus percepciones de moralidad asociadas al consumo de software pirata; en tercer lugar, profundizar el trabajo empírico de la intensidad moral percibida, constructo relativamente nuevo y en cuarto lugar, fabricar un instrumento valido y confiable para la medición del mismo.
Tesis

Les technologies issues du numérique ont donné naissance à des contrats qui nécessitent une approche particulière et qui posent parfois des difficultés de mise en oeuvre, d’application, d’interprétation, et même de qualification, tant leur existence ne peut désormais plus être ignorée dans le paysage juridique. A cela, s’ajoute le fait qu’ils répondent à un réel besoin, à la fois de la part des praticiens du droit et des acteurs de ces contrats. C’est sans compter qu’ils se démarquent des conventions issues du monde analogique en de nombreux points, sachant que néanmoins, ils s’inscrivent dans le cadre d’une évolution logique et naturelle du droit. C’est ainsi que depuis quelques années, le droit voit se profiler des contrats imposant au législateur d’élaborer de nouveaux textes, en raison des lacunes juridiques encore grandes en la matière. La question qui se pose d’emblée est alors de savoir quelle est leur place dans la vie juridique, et surtout, comment ils sont perçus et analysés par rapport à ceux plus « classiques » issus du monde analogique. Dès lors, d’autres interrogations s’enchaînent : dans quel type d’environnement évoluent-ils ? Quels sont les critères qui caractérisent le mieux les contrats liés aux technologies issues du numérique ? Et surtout, qu’est-ce qui les rend si spécifiques et si inédits par rapport aux autres contrats, et qu’est-ce qui fait leur essence même ? On en vient alors à se demander si la dématérialisation de leur objet et leur orientation tournée vers les technologies influencent leur mode de formation et leur exécution. Autrement dit, quel est leur impact sur l’équilibre contractuel et quelles sont leurs implications juridiques concrètes ? Une chose est sûre : si ces contrats font appel à un vocabulaire technique propre au monde numérique et que leur objet peut sembler de prime abord inédit et complexe, en réalité, il en est autrement, les prestations auxquelles ils renvoient étant au final, très proches de celles qui nous entourent depuis toujours
Over the last decades, the fast-evolving technologies and the information and communication technologies (I.C.T) have been widespread in the current analogical world. They are engendered agreements which need a particular approach and which can’t be ignored today, because of their difficulties of application, interpretation, and even of qualification. The analogical world failed to offer a legal framework to that innovative and dynamic digital world creating tremendous legal uncertainty. Consequently, the emerging lack of appropriate agreements forced policymakers, regulators and legislators to elaborate new governance, new regulation and new acts to respond to those needs and expectations issued of the Information Society. The purpose is also to answer to the real needs of the lawyers and the professors of Law. These agreements are very different of the agreements of the analogical world in numerous points, but are inscribed in a logical and natural evolution of the Right of contracts. That’s why, it’s necessary to know what is their place in the legal life, and above all, how they are perceived and analyzed regarding the more "classical" contracts of the analogical world. Furthermore, other questions may be asked : in which kind of environment they evolve? What is characterizing the contracts linked to the information and communication technologies? What makes them so specific and so particular compared with the other agreements? The dematerialization of technology centered object can influence their way of formation, their execution and the balance of the agreements? What are their legal implications? If these agreements make reference to an specific and technical terminology of I.C.T., to the digital world, and if their object may be complex, in reality, the services generated by the Information Society are surrounding us in our daily life and are not different of the services we know since ever

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Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES
This study is focused on the ethical behavior of consumers in a broad perspective and under the expression Consumer Social Responsibility. This perspective, in the point of view of the marketing exchange system, has been neglected in academic research, since most such studies are dedicated to understand the offerer of the ex-change. The research is justified to the extent that the consumer is considered as one of the major agents of exchange system, with a potential of triggering unethical behavior that may disrupt the exchange system. It was developed a literature review addressing initially the subject ethics, from a macro point of view (as the general grounds of ethics) until issues in a micro sphere (emphasizing ethics applied in the context of marketing, the focus of our study). In addition, a theoretical construct about the Social Responsibility of the Consumer was conducted in order to understand how it was designed and operated by several authors over time. This process culminated in a reinterpretation of the construct through the integration of four dimensions de-fined (altruistic behavior, environmentally sustainable behavior, activist behavior and honest/ethical behavior). To enable the measurement of this construct, knowledge of the theory of scale development and of statistical procedures were applied to pro-pose the Consumer Social Responsibility Scale (ConSR Scale). The development of this scale of measurement required two data collections, the first with 202 students and just for the purpose of purifying the scale pool of items, and the second with 286 general consumers, with part of the data collected in two different Brazilian states, and part in the online version). The second sample had confirmatory purposes and allowed the consolidation of ConSR Scale in terms of reliability and validity. Addition-ally, the subject software piracy was studied and used as the empirical context for the first test of ConSR Scale, what required its inclusion as a topic in the literature re-view. Overall, the results indicated that the consumer social responsibility has very little influence, both in intention and practice of software piracy, and being honest be-havior dimension was the only one that presented statistically significantly influence. The theoretical and practical implications of research results were presented at and of the study, as well as limitations and recommendations for further research involv-ing the subjects here analyzed.
Esta dissertação tem como tema central o comportamento ético do consumidor em sua perspectiva ampliada, tratada sob o termo Responsabilidade Social do Consu-midor. Esta perspectiva, do ponto de vista do sistema de troca em marketing, tem sido negligenciada nas pesquisas acadêmicas, uma vez que em sua maioria tais estudos se dedicam ao lado do ofertante. A pesquisa se justifica na medida em que considera o consumidor, enquanto um dos agentes principais do sistema de troca, como um potencial desencadeador de comportamentos antiéticos que pode desequi-librar o sistema de trocas. O objetivo foi analisar as formas de descrição, mensura-ção e avaliação do comportamento ético do consumidor quanto à sua responsabili-dade no consumo de software pirata. Foi desenvolvida uma revisão de literatura abordando inicialmente o tema ética, tanto de um ponto de vista macro (como fun-damentos gerais da ética) até questões em uma esfera micro (enfatizando a ética aplicada no contexto de marketing, foco do nosso estudo); além disso, um aprofun-damento teórico a respeito do construto Responsabilidade Social do Consumidor foi realizado, a fim de entender como foi concebido e operacionalizado pelos diversos autores ao longo do tempo. Este processo culminou em uma proposta de reinterpre-tação do fenômeno a partir da integração das quatro dimensões delimitadas (com-portamento altruísta, comportamento ambientalmente sustentável, comportamento ativista ou engajado e comportamento ético ou honesto). Para viabilizar a mensura-ção deste construto, foram aplicados conhecimentos da teoria de construção de es-calas e procedimentos estatísticos apropriados na elaboração da Escala de Respon-sabilidade Social do Consumidor (RSCons). O desenvolvimento da escala de men-suração exigiu duas coletas de dados, sendo a primeira para fins exploratórios de limpeza da escala realizada com 202 estudantes universitários, e a segunda amostra composta por 286 consumidores, com aplicação em dois estados brasileiros e pela internet. A segunda amostragem teve fins confirmatórios e permitiu a consolidação a escala de RSCons em termos de validade e confiabilidade. Em complemento, foi abordado o tema pirataria de software para efeito de análise da escala de RSCOns, o que exigiu sua inclusão como um tópico na revisão de literatura. De maneira geral, os resultados indicam que a responsabilidade social do consumidor influencia muito pouco o comportamento de pirataria, tanto na intenção quanto na prática, sendo comportamento ético ou honesto do consumidor a única dimensão que influencia de forma estatisticamente significativa. As implicações teóricas e práticas dos resulta-dos pesquisa são apresentadas ao final do estudo, bem como limitações e reco-mendações para outras pesquisas envolvendo os temas em questão.

碩士
真理大學
管理科學研究所
90
Software piracy by users has been identified as the worst problem facing the software industry today. And the pervasiveness of software piracy throughout the world is having a profound effect on software publishing industry and the development of digital intellectual properties and technology. Because of this software shadow diffusion, a software firm loses potential profits. However, shadow diffusion may influence the legal diffusion of the software. Software pirates may influence potential software users to adopt the software, and some of these adopters may become buyers. A diffusion modeling approach is suggested to track shadow diffusion and the legal diffusion of a software over time. The approach enables management to estimate the pirated adoptions over time and the percentage of legal adoptions due to the influence of pirates. The modeling approach is applied to study the diffusion of types of software in United Kingdom. The results suggest the diffusion that although six of every seven software users utilized pirated copies, these pirates were responsible for generation more than 75% of new software buyers significantly influencing the legal diffusion of the software. Although software piracy would decrease the profit of software firms, the protection of software is not always a good idea. Owing to network effect, sometimes the software firms should choose not to protect their software.

Tese de doutoramento em Economia, apresentada à Faculdade de Economia da Universidade de Coimbra
Chapter 2 summary As the devices that used software became more available to the masses the problem of software piracy increases. Recent theoretical works have attempted to model the phenomenon of software piracy; others tried to describe empirically the determinants that may explain this phenomenon. The empirical literature in the latter case is still in its infancy. This chapter reviews the theoretical literature focusing on three major models: those dealing with diffusion models, with network externalities and with game theory. It also presents the empirical literature where we identify eight stylized results that reflect the main macroeconomic variables in five dimensions that explain software piracy: the Economic, Cultural, Educational, Technological and Legal and dimensions. Chapter 3 summary This chapter studies the determinants of software piracy losses along five major macroeconomic dimensions: Technological, Educational, Institutional, Access to Information and Labor force. The study was conducted based on a large dataset available from 1994 to 2010 and comprising 81 countries. As for the Technological dimension, more patents by residents increases piracy losses while the effect of R&D is opposite (decreases piracy losses). In terms of the Educational dimension the results obtained show that more spending on education increase the piracy losses but, at the same time, more schooling years have the opposite effect. In the Institutional dimension, more corrupt free nations have low piracy levels. Regarding the Access to Information, it seems that access to Internet diminishes the losses while the share of Internet broadband subscriptions has no effect. The results show that, regarding the Labor dimension, employment in services has a deterrent effect while labor force with higher education and youth unemployment increases piracy losses. Chapter 4 summary This chapter explores the relation between the levels of taxation among different types of households and the levels of software piracy from 1996 to 2010, in the European Union (EU). It extends previous work by introducing large sets of panel data for the EU and its various regions. We estimate our model using the fixed effect, comparing results from the Euro Area and the Countries that joined EU in 2004 and 2007. Results show that levels of taxation increase the levels of software piracy losses; moreover these results depend on marital status and number of children. The weight of taxation on GDP (e.g. the taxes on consumption) increases piracy losses while the impact of inflation is negative and marginal. Additional to this we also found that the relative importance of these taxes in relation to total taxation can affect this phenomenon. An increase in the weight of capital taxation would decrease software piracy while this effect was opposite when considering the relative importance of consumption taxes. Chapter 5 summary In this chapter we construct a panel data set from 2000 to 2011 for the EU 28, studying the impact of education on the levels of software piracy in a country. When an aggregated analysis is made, e.g. considering all ISCED (International Standard Classification of Education) levels, expenditure on public educational institutions as well as public spending on education have a deterrent effect on piracy, being significant. However, the effect of financial aid to students is positive. When the analysis is made taking into account the ISCED 1997 disaggregation, expenditure on ISCED 5-6 has a negative and significant effect. Taking into account the type of educational institutions, more expenditure on ISCED 1 to 4 will lower piracy. We also found that more financial help to students on higher levels of education, e.g. ISCED 5-6, have a positive and significant effect. Finally, more years of schooling of both primary and secondary education will have a deterrent effect on software piracy. Chapter 6 summary This chapter analyses the interactions between software piracy and economic growth using a simultaneous equation approach to a panel of countries for which information on software piracy is available for 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2010. This allows us to establish the interactions between these variables, but also to measure the direct and indirect effects of other variables that have shown relevancy for both economic growth and software piracy. Results indicate that there exist a concave nonlinear relationship between software piracy and economic growth.
Resumo do Capítulo 2 Há medida que os computadores que usam software se disseminaram, o problema da pirataria informática surgiu. Estudos teóricos recentes modelaram o fenómeno da pirataria; outros tentaram explicar empiricamente os determinantes que podem explicar este fenómeno. A literatura empírica ainda está em sua infância. Este capítulo analisa a literatura teórica com foco em três grandes modelos: aqueles que lidam com modelos de difusão, as externalidades de rede e com a teoria dos jogos. Apresenta, também, a literatura empírica em que identificamos oito resultados estilizados que refletem as principais variáveis em cinco dimensões macroeconómicas que explicam a pirataria de software: económicas, culturais, educacionais, tecnológicas e dimensões legais. Resumo do Capítulo 3 Este capítulo estuda os determinantes das perdas resultantes da pirataria de software ao longo de cinco dimensões macroeconômicas principais: tecnológica, dimensões educacionais, aspectos institucionais, força de trabalho e acesso à informação utilizando um conjunto grande de dados disponíveis de 1994-2010, composto por 81 países. Quanto à dimensão tecnológica, mais patentes por residentes aumenta as perdas de pirataria enquanto o efeito do I&D é oposta (diminui as perdas de pirataria). Em termos da dimensão educacional, os resultados obtidos mostram que mais gastos em educação aumentam as perdas de pirataria, mas, ao mesmo tempo, mais anos de escolaridade têm o efeito oposto. Na dimensão institucional, as nações livres de corrupção, têm baixos níveis de pirataria. Em relação ao acesso à informação, parece que o acesso à Internet diminui as perdas, enquanto a quota de assinaturas de banda larga à Internet não tem efeito. Os resultados mostram que, em relação à Força de Trabalho, o emprego nos serviços tem um efeito dissuasor, enquanto força de trabalho com o ensino superior e o desemprego dos jovens aumenta as perdas de pirataria. Resumo do Capítulo 4 Este capítulo explora a relação entre níveis de tributação entre os diferentes tipos de famílias na União Europeia e os níveis de pirataria de software entre 1996-2010. Melhora estudos anteriores na medida em que introduz dados em painel, estudando a União Europeia e as diferentes regiões. Nós estimamos o nosso modelo utilizando o efeito fixo (FE), comparando os resultados a partir da zona do euro e os países que aderiram à UE em 2004 e 2007. Os resultados mostram que os níveis de tributação aumentam os níveis de pirataria de software. Além disso, estes resultados dependem do estado civil das famílias e do número de filhos. O peso da tributação sobre um PIB na Economia (Produto Interno Bruto), ou seja, os impostos sobre o consumo têm um efeito positivo sobre os prejuízos da pirataria, enquanto o impacto da inflação é negativa e marginal sobre a pirataria de software. Alem disto, a importância relativa desses impostos em relação ao peso total de impostos pode afetar este fenômeno. Um aumento no peso da tributação do capital diminuiria a pirataria de software, enquanto este efeito foi oposto ao considerar a importância relativa dos impostos sobre o consumo. Resumo do Capítulo 5 Neste capítulo vamos construir um painel de dados entre 2000-2011 para a UE 28, estudando o impacto da educação sobre os níveis de pirataria de software. Quando uma análise de agregados é feita, e.g. considerando todos os níveis de ISCED (Classificação Internacional Tipo da Educação), gastos com instituições educacionais públicas, bem como os gastos públicos com a educação tem um efeito dissuasor sobre a pirataria, sendo significativo. No entanto, o efeito de ajuda financeira aos estudantes é positivo. Quando a análise é feita tendo em conta a desagregação ISCED 1997, as despesas com ISCED 5-6 tem um efeito negativo e significativo. Tendo em conta o tipo de instituições de ensino, mais despesas com ISCED 1-4 irá reduzir a pirataria. Também encontramos que mais ajuda financeira aos estudantes nos níveis mais elevados do ensino, por exemplo, ISCED 5-6, tem um efeito positivo e significativo. Por fim, mais anos de escolaridade do ensino primário e secundário terá um efeito dissuasor sobre a pirataria de software. Resumo do Capítulo 6 Este capítulo analisa as interações entre a pirataria de software e o crescimento económico através de uma abordagem de equações simultâneas, utilizando um painel de países para os quais informações sobre a pirataria está disponível para 1995, 2000, 2005 e 2010. O que nos permite estabelecer as interações entre essas variáveis, mas também para medir os efeitos diretos e indiretos de outras variáveis que mostraram relevância para o crescimento económico e a pirataria de software. Os resultados indicam que existe uma relação não linear côncava entre a pirataria de software e crescimento económico.

This study is to explore how Chinese software users perceive the issues of software copyright and piracy. Tianya Community, the largest online public forum in China, was selected as a site to study users' online communication about software copyright and piracy. Data were collected over five discussion boards in which software copyright and piracy were discussed extensively to retrieve 561 posting threads with 6,150 messages ranging from March 1, 1999 to June 30, 2007. Lindlof and Taylor's (2002) qualitative communication research methods were used to locate and analyze the recurring dominant themes within the online discussion by Chinese Internet users. The study revealed two opposing discourses existing in software users? perceptions, which represent globalization and anti-globalization processes surrounding software copyright and piracy. Mittleman and Chin's (2005) theoretical framework was adopted to interpret material and spiritual tensions between human/material factors, such as software owners, software users, China, and foreign developed countries. Meanwhile, the actor-network theory was applied to map out the roles of non-human/non-material factors, such as new technology, patriotism, and Chinese culture, which function to moderate the existing confrontations between globalization and anti-globalization by preventing software users from totally falling down into either direction of supporting or opposing software piracy. As a result, both forces of conformity and resistance were found to coexist within software users' perceptions and fragment their identities. To deal with fragmented identities, Chinese software users generally adopted a flexible, discriminative position composed by a series of distinctions, between offline purchasing of pirated discs and software download, between enterprise users and individual users, between foreign and local software companies, between freeware/open-source software and copyright/pirated software, between software companies and independent software developers, and between conceptual recognition and behavioral practice. Meanwhile, traditional resistance movements of Polanyi's (1957) counter-movements and Gramsci's (1971) counter-hegemony were reduced from collective contestations with openly declared call for resistance to Scott's (1990) notion of infra-politics that was communicated among software users and expressed in their everyday practice of piracy use but not in public and government discourse.

碩士
淡江大學
亞洲研究所碩士班
101
The purpose of this thesis is to analyses three questions in game industry where exists network externality. One, when consumers place a high value for the variety of game software, what variation will occurs in hardware competition? Two, in game industry, hardware is incompatible with another hardware. In this case, consumers what will encourage consumers to change their hardware? Three, should software gain their profits by installing device to protect their software, or choose not to protect thesoftware but gain the value of software by internet externality? This thesis used the economies model by Oz Shy(2001) to analyse. In chapter 3, we discovered that when consumers place a high value for the variety of game software, the hardware’s price and profits will decrease. Same in the Chapter 3, we found three reason that will attract consumers to change their hardware. First, when the hardware’s price is lower than another hardware which the consumer used. Second, when the variety of software for the hardware is more than the hardware that consumer used. Third, when the differentiation between hardware decrease. In chapter 4, we defined that there are two types of software users. The users who gain an extra utility form services by software firms(Type O), and the users who does not mind the service form software firms(Type I). In the analysis, we found that when the Type O users place a high value for the service form software firms, no copy protection yields a higher profit than copy protection. Because in the case of no copy protection, the number of users will increase and the value of software wil increase.

碩士
國立屏東商業技術學院
資訊管理系
96
The advancing technology of peer-to-peer file sharing has increased the availability of information-based products on the world market, especially computer software, music, and videos. The same advancement, however, has also reduced the costs and increased the availability throughout the world of the technology applied to pirate these products. Downloading and sharing the pirated products is a problem for the software, music and movie industry. Investigating the piracy has long been attracting the interest of academics. Most previous research in this field has focused on investigating why people wants to spend time cracking copyrighted software and downloading the pirated software. Relatively little research has investigated the determinants of sharing pirated software. The behavior of sharing pirated software would cause serious damage to the copyright owner since it could boost the diffusion of pirated software. This study, therefore, deals with the issue relating to why people want to put effort into sharing pirated software. This study extends information technology (IT) behavior research by proposing a behavioral model of pirated software sharing that includes behavioral intention, attitude, perceived behavioral control and situational factors. The proposed model integrates elements from the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and social influence as well as behavioral decision-making models. A three-phase procedure was employed to establish the behavioral decision-making model of determining to share pirated software. First, the impact of perceived behavioral control on the attitude towards sharing pirated software was investigated in order to analyze the behavior shaped by individual attributes. Second, the impact of social influence on the attitude towards sharing pirated software was investigated in order to analyze the behavior shaped by normative attributes. Finally, a behavior impact model integrating individual and normative impacts was proposed and verified, in order to clearly understand the causal relations of the behavior shaping of pirated software sharing.

Tsang, Hing Chung.
Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-92).
Abstracts in English and Chinese.
Abstract --- p.i
Acknowledgement --- p.iv
Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1
Chapter 1.1 --- Motivation --- p.1
Chapter 1.2 --- Software Cracking --- p.2
Chapter 1.3 --- Objectives --- p.4
Chapter 1.4 --- Contributions --- p.5
Chapter 1.5 --- Thesis Outline --- p.6
Chapter 2 --- Related Work --- p.8
Chapter 2.1 --- Hardware-based Protection --- p.8
Chapter 2.2 --- Network-based Protection --- p.9
Chapter 2.3 --- Software-based Protection --- p.11
Chapter 2.3.1 --- Obfuscation --- p.11
Chapter 2.3.2 --- Code Encryption --- p.13
Chapter 2.3.3 --- Virtual Machine --- p.15
Chapter 2.3.4 --- Self-checksumming --- p.16
Chapter 2.3.5 --- Watermarking --- p.20
Chapter 2.3.6 --- Self-modifying Code --- p.22
Chapter 2.3.7 --- Software Aging --- p.23
Chapter 3 --- Proposed Protection Scheme --- p.24
Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.24
Chapter 3.2 --- Protector --- p.27
Chapter 3.2.1 --- A Traditional Protector Structure --- p.28
Chapter 3.2.2 --- Protector Construction --- p.31
Chapter "3,2.3" --- Protector Implementation - Version 1 --- p.32
Chapter 3.2.4 --- Protector Implementation - Version 2 --- p.35
Chapter 3.2.5 --- Tamper Responses --- p.37
Chapter 3.3 --- Protection Tree --- p.39
Chapter 3.4 --- Non-deterministic Execution of Functions --- p.43
Chapter 3.4.1 --- Introduction to n-version Functions --- p.44
Chapter 3.4.2 --- Probability Distributions --- p.45
Chapter 3.4.3 --- Implementation Issues --- p.47
Chapter 3.5 --- Desired Properties --- p.49
Chapter 4 --- Cracking Complexity and Security Analysis --- p.52
Chapter 4.1 --- Cracking Complexity --- p.52
Chapter 4.2 --- Security Analysis --- p.55
Chapter 4.2.1 --- Automation Attacks --- p.55
Chapter 4.2.2 --- Control Flow Graph Analysis --- p.55
Chapter 4.2.3 --- Cloning Attack --- p.56
Chapter 4.2.4 --- Dynamic Tracing --- p.56
Chapter 5 --- Experiments --- p.58
Chapter 5.1 --- Execution Time Overhead --- p.59
Chapter 5.2 --- Tamper Responses --- p.67
Chapter 6 --- Conclusion and Future Work --- p.73
Chapter 6.1 --- Conclusion --- p.73
Chapter 6.2 --- Comparison --- p.75
Chapter 6.3 --- Future Work --- p.77
Bibliography --- p.79

碩士
國立交通大學
管理學院高階主管管理碩士學程
97
In this knowledge-based economy, information technology is an asset vital to industry and economic development. Governments in many jurisdictions actively promote awareness of intellectual property rights, take measures to combat infringement including software piracy and implement policies to encourage technology innovations. Despite all these initiatives, software piracy cases contribute to increase. The two main attributing factors are (i) the high prices of genuine software programs which may not be affordable by users and (ii) the lack of respect for intellectual property rights among certain corporate users or consumers. In addition to the new technology P2P, which makes its easy to download illegal software from the Internet, the different levels of intellectual property protection afforded in various jurisdictions further increase the difficulty in stamping out such infringement against software that are in markets worldwide. This study attempts to identify a mechanism for the protection of intellectual property rights to software from the perspectives of software industries, information technology and relevant technology laws, and adopts several case studies of software piracy in the Greater China. The Study serves as a reference for software business operators and end-users in protecting their legal rights and interests with respect to the use of software.

博士
國立中正大學
資訊管理學系暨研究所
103
Software piracy is a on going exacerbative phenomenon in the world. Therefore, it attracts many scholars are drawn to put their efforts into this topic. Many important factors are exploited and discussed from various perspectives. In these studies, the individual’s attitude is viewed as an important predictor of his piracy intention and later piracy behavior though it has not been discussed systematically. Therefore, this study borrows the work of Eagly and Chaiken (1993), and tries to understand the formation of an individual’s attitude in a systematic way. According to their proposition, three constructs are discussed, that is, cognitive beliefs, affective beliefs and behavioral beliefs. Two cognitive beliefs, that is, perceived likelihood of punishment and perceived benefit are introduced; related affective beliefs, that is, shame, happiness and excitement are examined; and behavior belief, past piracy behavior is also included in the research. The results showed that affective beliefs and behavioral belief have a significant impact on an individual’s attitude and intention respectively. Finally, implications and recommendations are also discussed.

碩士
輔仁大學
資訊管理學系
98
The major purpose of this study was to examine factors affecting college student’s software pirating behavioral intention and behavior. A questionnaire survey was conducted to 318 college students to collect data. Results of the survey showed that subject’s moral intensity and the convenience for software pirating had significant impact on subject’s attitude toward piracy. The peer’s influence, subject’s price perception of the software, and law awareness had no significant effects on the attitudes. For subject’s behavioral intentions of software piracy, moral intensity, convenience for software pirating, peer’s influence, and law awareness were all found to be significant factors while no such effect was found from price perception of the software. Results of this study also revealed that the convenience for software pirating and peer’s influence did significantly affect subject’s software pirating behavior. Price perception of the software, moral intensity, and law awareness did not have significant impacts on the pirating behavior. Results of this study confirmed Theory of the Planned Behavior that subject’s attitude toward software piracy affects his/her behavioral intentions and the behavioral intention affects the actual behavior.

碩士
國立成功大學
企業管理學系碩博士班
98
Extensive use of Internet builds up the digital age which makes information transfers quicker. Problems of software piracy become more and more serious in these years. “How to lower the piracy rates effectively from the overall standpoints” becomes such an important problem around the world. Based on the previous researches regarding the piracy rates, this study uses the standpoints of “country-level” to discuss the problems of piracy rates around the world. The socio-economic conditions are used as the research indicators, including: (1) economic, (2) demography, (3) technology, (4) culture and education. There are 29 variables in research indicators from the year of 2004 to 2008. In this study, we use principal component analysis (PCA) method to merge 29 variables into four indicators in order to reduce the difficulties of analysis. Then, we develop models from multiple regression analysis to discuss the factors of national piracy rates. In addition, we also use the IMD (Lausanne Institute of Management) data of the Global Competitiveness Report and extend discussion of piracy rates and relationships between national competitiveness. The research results of multiple regression models reveal that economy, culture, education, and technology have significant influence on piracy rates. Improving economy, education and technology or creating culture would significantly lower the piracy rates. Nevertheless, education and technology have greater impact on piracy rates than the economy; On the other hand, the demography has no significant influence on piracy rates.

This dissertation aims to answer the question “Has the change in the distribution and sale of software provided not only an accurate answer against software piracy but also an increase in consumer-value?” and it supports its argument not only on the current literature available on the software industry and on software piracy but also on the personal research carried out through an extensive survey of different people in different age groups and from different countries. To aid the analysis, strategic frameworks such as PEST and Five Forces of Porter were used, giving the reader a special landscape view of the industry’s characteristics to better understand how the changes in software distribution will impact consumer demand and satisfaction. It is important to note also that, during the literature review stage, it was understood that authors disagree on several important issues regarding software such as its classification, its origin and whether or not it constitutes patentable subject matter. This particular path led me to question the actions of software companies and whether there was a need or not to patent software. Through this road, I was led to the issue of piracy and to the action that companies have taken with changing the way software was produced and sold to better fit the current landscape of the industry.

Owing to the ever increasing prevalence of software piracy and the alarming rise in costs to global economies, this research evaluated the Theory of Planned Behaviour and looked to determine if there are any relationships between the constructs under the model and intentions to carry out a specific behaviour, namely the copying of unauthorised computer software. The theory suggests that should attitudes and social norms favour the pirating of software and should the individual have the necessary perceived behavioural control and selfefficacy then they will be more likely to have intention to commit a certain act. A quantitative study looking at 225 individuals from organisations in the fields of manufacturing, finance and information technology was carried out to evaluate the theory’s claims. Correlations and linear regressions were run to analyse the data and it emerged that attitudes were the major predictor of intentions to pirate software accounting for up to 55% of the variance. Despite the perceived behavioural control variable there was significant support for the predictive value of the different constructs under the Theory of Planned Behaviour as well as the construct of self-efficacy.

This quantitative study is designed to examine possible cross-national differences between a Zambian and a South Africa student sample on specific aspects of Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory in relation to software piracy. Software piracy is when people make copies of the computer software without permission or they load software onto more machines than the licensed agreement says they can. A questionnaire composed of previously developed scales measuring attitudes, social norms, piracy intentions, incentives, deterrents, self-efficacy and moral disengagement within the context of software piracy was collated. During economics classes in a major University in Zambia and one in South Africa 150 copies of the questionnaire were handed out. The South African sample consisted of 37 males and 34 females all aged between 18-28, 44 were in 2nd year and 27 were in 3rd year. The Zambian sample consisted of 57 males and 12 females, 53 were between 18-28, 12 between 29-38 and 4 between 39-49, 27 were in their 3rd years of study and 42 in 4th year. The scales had adequate reliabilities (.60 to .89). There was sufficient evidence to suggest that there is a statistical difference between the two countries on attitudes and social norms. The South African sample had more positive attitudes and more favourable social norms than Zambia. South Africa reported higher extrinsic motivators (monetary, reinforcement and reciprocal exchange, and self-evaluative and reciprocal exchange) and Zambia reported higher intrinsic motivators and being deterred by the threat of harsh punishments. There was also sufficient evidence to suggest that attitudes, social norms and self-efficacy predict (in order of best predictors) piracy intention in both samples. Moral disengagement did not act as a moderator or mediator between attitudes, social norms and self-efficacy and piracy intention in either sample. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

by Tam Kam-Mau.
Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1990.
Bibliography: leaf 50 (2nd group).
TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.ii
PREFACE --- p.iii
Chapter
Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1
The Need for Copyright of Software --- p.1
Software Piracy and Illicit Copying --- p.2
Protective Measures of Software --- p.2
The Copyright (Computer Software) Amendment Act --- p.3
The Problem --- p.4
The Research Problem Defined --- p.8
Chapter II. --- METHODOLOGY --- p.9
Chapter III. --- THE PROCESS OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT --- p.12
Chapter IV. --- ANALYSIS OF DATA --- p.14
Analysis of Individual Question --- p.14
Analysis of Answer between Questions --- p.20
Chapter V. --- RESEARCH FINDINGS --- p.29
Chapter VI. --- CONCLUSION --- p.35
Some Recommendation --- p.37
Chapter VII. --- A FINAL WORD AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT --- p.40
Appendex
Chapter I. --- Copyright (Computer Software) Amendment Act 1985 --- p.41
Chapter II. --- Sample Software License Agreement --- p.45
Chapter III. --- Bibliography --- p.50
Chapter III. --- Questionnaire --- p.51
Chapter IV. --- SPSS Reports --- p.55

碩士
國立中央大學
產業經濟研究所
104
This paper examines the impact of the level of the openness, innovation, GDP, the Internet, high-technology exports, education, and income inequality on the rate of business software piracy at the country level. The study finds that GDP per capita, Internet, and innovation as measured by Scientific and technical journal articles have negative effects on business software piracy rates. A country’s degree of high-technology exports and education do not significantly affect the piracy of software. Using data from BSA and WDI for 87 countries from 2003 to 2011, the findings also show that the degree of openness and income inequality affect differently to piracy rate in OECD countries and non OECD countries.

碩士
國立成功大學
國際管理碩士在職專班
94
This study looks at the influence of consumer moral intensity, perceived risks and moral judgment on the use of pirated software in Taiwan. Moral intensity includes magnitude of consequences, social consensus, probability of effect, temporal immediacy and proximity. Perceived risk is based on financial, performance, social and prosecution risks. Moral Judgment is related to cognitive moral development and reasoning. Seven hypotheses are developed and tested with data from scenario-based questionnaires. One-way ANOVA is applied to assess the differences of respondents’ intentions to consider using pirated software and to actually use pirated or legally acquired software. This will allow us to focus on the variables that form the hypotheses and also the influence of the demographic data that could have an influence on the outcome intention. To find out the relationships among moral intensity, perceived risks and moral judgment as they relate to the ethical decision making outcome, structure equation modeling is employed to test the interrelationships of all the variables in the entire model. In particular, how moral intensity and perceived risks relate to moral judgment. The results indicate that moral intensity, perceived risks and moral judgment are related to ethical decision making regarding the use of pirated software. Past use of pirated software was also an indicator. However, demographic variables like age, income and gender were not predictors in the way they had been hypothesized.

碩士
國立高雄大學
經濟管理研究所
94
With the prevalence of Internet and the rapid changes in information technology, software piracy has become a significant challenge around the world. According to Business Software Alliance (BSA) statistics in 2004, the software piracy of point-to-point (P2P) has increased materially by 770%. Also, in an April 2003 economic impact study, the International Data Corporation (IDC) concludes that a 10 point reduction in the global piracy rate could deliver both direct and indirect benefits. In this study, a situational prevention theory is proposed and applied into the piracy issue, which comprises five different prevention categories: (1) increase the effort, (2) increase the risks, (3) reduce the rewards, (4) reduce provocations, and (5) remove excuses. Further, we have extended the Theory of Planned Behavior by adding a new variable – habit, to explore the individual’s decision making in software piracy under conditions of volitional and non-volitional control among Taiwan’s undergraduate student A totally 707 returned survey are used for analysis using structural equation modeling (SEM) as performed in LISREL. The results show the individual’s pirate intention is positively influenced by attitude and subjective norm; the perceived moral obligation and self-regulatory efficacy are negatively impact on one’s pirate intention; as for the mediating variables, the piracy intention and habit both positively influence on one’s pirate behavior. While this study has considered a non-volitional control variable – habit into the existing TPB model, this variable has explained a significant proportion of the variance in one’s pirate behavior. Based on the research findings, conclusions and implications are discussed.

Software piracy In this thesis I explore the current state of software piracy in the Czech Republic, which proves to be quite demanding due to its illegal nature and the lack of statistical data. I also take a look at the current legal protection which is awarded to the authors of computer software. Even with new trends in software piracy I conclude, that the current protection is satisfactory. I also explain how international treaties and european legislation influence czech laws.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Johannesburg, South Africa, 2018
The global adoption of mobile phones has fundamentally changed life as we know it. This study hopes to understand if mobile- and/or smartphones have changed the way in which work and home domains are constructed and what the consequences are on the individual’s workfamily balance. More importantly, are individuals able to self-regulate the flow of communication from the work into the home domain via a mobile- and/or smartphone in order to maintain the intricate work-family balance. To determine the plausibility/feasibility of this hypothesis, the study builds on Clark's (2000) Border theory with respect to work-life balance and border violations, bearing recent technological advances in mind, through the incorporation of Bandura’s (1986) self-regulation mechanism to explain the border management mechanism. To determine the validity of this hypothesis, a mixed-methods study was conducted which utilised a managerial participant sample recruited from South Africa in three phases; a pilot study (N = 30); a primary sample of a further 227 managers; and in-depth follow-up interviews with 27 managers and their partners. To determine the relationship between self-regulation and mobile phone usage for after-hours work in the home domain, Pearson’s correlation coefficients were used. The relationship between self-regulation and work-family balance was further explored through moderated multiple linear regressions, using a model from Baron and Kenny (1986), which created further explorative points which were investigated in the 27 interviews. The interviews were conducted to determine if individuals understand their afterhours mobile phone usage for work purposes and this was analysed via thematic content analysis (TCA). There was evidence for relationships between self-regulation and the time spent on organisational work within the work day and at home (after hours), which results in an impact on the development of work-family conflict. The relationship between the mobile phone use for work can be attributed to self-regulation, which implies that self-regulation is an intermediary mechanism. Moderated multilinear regression, unexpectedly, showed that individuals with low (deficient) self-regulatory ability, facilitated work ubiquitously with their mobile phones while simultaneously increasing their own self-esteem, as it supported their own work-family balance. The interviews uncovered three different border-keeper groups (borderexpanders, border-adapters, and border-enforcers). The outcomes of this research indicates that mobile- and/or smartphones have the ability to alter the border construction between the work and home domains as well as the intricate balance between them. Keywords: Work-family balance, Border theory, Mobile phones, Smartphones, Self-regulation, Self-esteem, South African managers
GR2019

The objective of the present thesis is to clarify the term of software piracy and to determine responsibility of individual entities as to actual realization of software piracy. First, the thesis focuses on a computer programme, causes, realization and pitfalls of its inclusion under copyright protection. Subsequently, it observes methods of legal usage of a computer programme. This is the point of departure for the following attempt to define software piracy, accompanied with methods of actual realization of piracy, mainly by creation and distribution of piracy software. Moreover, the thesis aims to delve into recent events exerting impact on software piracy, and it intends to consider the future development of intellectual property rights. The thesis is divided into twelve chapters. The introduction engages in the phenomenon of piracy of intellectual assets and the history of software piracy. The second chapter comprises definitions of basic terms largely of a non- legal nature, the interpretation of which terms is important to appreciate the thesis contents. A substantial part of the chapter defines a computer programme. The following part of the thesis analyses a computer programme as a copyright work. It describes reasons for inclusion of a computer programme under the regime of copyright protection,...