Each year as more and more software products are released into the market, the issue of software piracy becomes larger and more critical for businesses and individuals alike. As such, it threatens to hinder the development of future software products, affecting everyone from the software publishers to legitimate users, and even illegal users. Software piracy is the unauthorized duplication and use of software without consent from the copyright owner. Or, in the case of volume licensees, it can mean under reporting the number of computers on which software is installed. Hard-Disk Loading Practiced by dishonest computer system builders who sell PCs with illicit software preinstalled.
Dealers use one legally acquired copy illegally for installation on many machines.
Disks and documentation are often missing or incomplete. Counterfieting Software piracy on a grand scale in which software and its packaging is illegally duplicatedoften by organized crime ringsthen redistributed as a supposedly legal product. Mischanneling Software distributed under special discount licenseseither to high-volume customers, computer manu facturers, or academic institutionsthat is then redistributed to others who do not hold or qualify for these licenses. When you consider that 27 percent of software in use in the United States is illegally copied, you begin to see the scope of the problem. It is illegal to use that software for any other purpose unless specific permission has been obtained from the copyright owner.