Microsoft launches aggressive pursuit of pirates

This article dealt with Microsoft’s struggle and recent crack-down on intellectual property theft. On October 14, 2008, in what Microsoft claimed was “Global Anti-Piracy Day”, it took to court copyright infringers from 48 different countries. Some of the crimes the exploiters stood accused of ranged from individuals selling counterfeit copies of Microsoft programs to internet businesses selling entire online computers with pre-downloaded and unlicensed Microsoft programs; buyers may or may not know that the programs are licensed and by its actions, Microsoft hopes to help educate consumers about such facts. By bringing a legal action shockwave to software pirates around the world on a specified day, Microsoft hopes this strategy will prove more effective than the more common tactic of random busts heard in the news so often that they are considered routine and mundane. It is argued that intellectual property theft is no victimless crime because jobs are lost and future jobs never created because of piracy that in turns damages the global economy by withholding billions of dollars. There has been an ongoing debate for centuries whether ideas can actually be owned or that they should be public domains, accessible to anyone who wishes to use them to better society. In today’s global economy, intellectual property is protected by copyright laws to signify ownership, but even so, this article is a testimony that not everyone obeys these laws and the consequences affect everyone.
I think that it is a good idea for the economy to have copyright laws because they protect the investors so that money can be made, giving them an incentive to keep on creating and hopefully churning out ideas that society will benefit from. I think that it was a good move for Microsoft to reveal a large number of crimes in one day from 48 countries because of a big impact it is supposed to stir up and so that the global society is more aware of this crime.
Article originally on Google News by Kathyrn Small
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/87191,microsoft-launches-aggressive-pursuit-of-pirates.aspx