Ethics and Social Issues

Question: Discuss about the Ethics and Social Issues. Answer: Introduction The hypothesis for the essay is the Intellectual Property Rights and Software Piracy is negatively affecting the organizations to store the data and information as well as the person who is indulging in such crime. The Intellectual Property Rights and Software Piracy is currently the affecting society as far as the storage of the materials is concerned (Siponen, Vance and Willison 2012). Due to the advent of technology, many companies tore the data online. Starting from the information about the employees until the important information about the transactions of the company are stored online. In such a situation, software piracy is affecting the image of the company, as the hackers are able to get hold of the data from any part of the country. The hackers are not only able to bring bad name to the organization by tarnishing their image in the market (Nehra et al. 2012). They are using the information about the company and use it for their own purpose. Hence, the organization, which is innovating any new idea, is not able to get proper recognition for the innovation. In addition to this, due to the use of the pirated software, the hackers are able to get easy access to the information of the com pany (Taylor, Fritsch and Liederbach 2014). If an organization is using pirated software, law for such actions can hold the organization At times, it may seem that an organization is being able to profit as they are getting the software at a relatively lesser cost, yet at times, it might cost a huge amount of price for the company. One of the case studies of End Corp. shows the disadvantages of using pirated software. John was hired to reduce the expenses of End Corp (Siia.net 2016). End Corp. is not a big company and worked with only 45 computer systems. John tried to give a good profit for the organization by buying only one copy of each software program. His plan initially seemed profitable but he had to call the software publisher for fixing a technical fault in the pirated software. The publisher understood that the software was not original and the publisher called then SIIA to report the theft. End Corp. was charged with copyright infringement lawsuit and they had to pay a fine of $270,000 for using the illegal for the company. In addition to this, End Corp. had to buy new software and destroy the pirated softw are. The total expenditure that End Corp. faced for using the illegal software was a hefty amount of $500,000. Thus, it can be said that the theft of software not only landed the organization in trouble but they had to suffer huge loss. On the contrary, if they had bought original software, it might have cost more than the pirated software but they would have been saved from such shame and loss. The code of ethics of Australian computer society (ACS) states that a person organization should think of professional development (Australian Computer Society 2016). The professional development should be of the person himself or herself and of the organization and the people who are working in the organization. John failed to comply with the code of ethics of ACS as his actions of using one copy of the software resulted in huge loss for the company where he was working (Asongu 2014). Thus, abiding by the code of ethics of ACS, he should be punished by government of Australia. The theft of intellectual property was noted when one of the employees of Leica Geosystems Pty Ltd, Mr. Koudstaal downloaded a huge number of files, a day before he left the company. Mr. Koudstaal downloaded more than 190,000 file and deleted 54,000 files from the system (Shandtaylor.com.au 2016). As a whole, Mr. Koudstaal used 60 GB data on his last day in the organization. Leica Geosystems Pty Ltd felt that Mr. Koudstaal stole the files because he could use them as he is joining in a senior position in one of the competitor companies. Mr. Koudstaal defended that the files that he downloaded were the heart of h the business of Leica Geosystems Pty Ltd and he has taken the file because he considered the files as trophy of the work that he has delivered in his career (Roth 2014). He was aware that he was not the owner of the files yet he chose to poses them. Mr. Koudstaal was charged under the Copyright act and the Corporations act. Even though Mr. Koudstaal did not misuse the files f or the organization, yet he possessed the files (Buchanan and Wilson 2014). It might have happened that Mr Koudstaal could have used the files in the next company where he was joining and Leica Geosystems Pty Ltd would not have got any recognition even though the files are the result of their hard work. On the contrary, Mr. Koudstaal was charged for the theft even though he had not misused the files. He had to face the punishment for the act of theft. Mr. Koudstaal was working in a good position, yet the act tarnished his image because of the theft of the intellectual property (Lobel 2014). Out of the six codes of ethics by Australian computer society (ACS), one of the ethics is The Primacy of the Public Interest (Australian Computer Society 2016). The code of ethics says that a person or an organization should put the interest of the public above those of the personal, sectional or business interest. The files that were by Mr. Koudstaal were highly important for Leica Geosystems Pt y Ltd. However, Mr. Koudstaal did the act to satisfy his feeling of giving himself a trophy for the work that he had delivered for the organization. In addition this, he downloaded a huge data on the last day. Downloading the huge data would have crashed the system where he was working. Hence, it can be said that he did not think about the organization but only thought about his own personal interest. As a result, it is viable to punish him by the Australian government. However, in the both the above-stated cases, the guilty can defend themselves by stating the advantages of software piracy and theft of the intellectual property. John can defend himself by saying that he was hired by the organization to reduce the expenses (Andrs and Goel 2012). He had used the pirated software to reduce the cost of the organization. They have purchased the software at a relatively lower cost. The organization did not stop him when he took the steps. Due to the steps taken by John, they had been able to make good amount of profit. The act would not have been caught until they have called the software publisher. Hence, the organization should have taken necessary steps to save John when he was charged guilty of using pirated software. Mr. Koudstaal could defend himself by saying that he has not used any of the files against the Leica Geosystems Pty Ltd. He could have been charged for theft but he has not used the files for any unethical reason neither he has sold the files to any other entity who have taken any drastic step for Leica Geosystems Pty Ltd. Thus, the government could not charge him for any unauthorized activity, as he has not tried to use the files for demeaning the company or tarnishing the image of the company (Herman and Swiss 2014). Conclusion It can be concluded that the hypothesis that was taken in the beginning of the essay is proved to be correct that the Intellectual Property Rights and Software Piracy is tarnishing the image of the organization as well as the person who is indulging in such act. The case studies show that an organization can be in trouble if any of the employees indulges in intellectual property theft. On the other hand, the person can be in danger that has made use of pirated software. The main point that could be summarized after going through the case studies and the code of ethics by ACS is that every individual should look into the code of the ethics before taking any steps in the organization. John was held for using pirated software and Mr. Koudstaal was held for stealing intellectual property. However, John could defend himself by saying that he has aimed at development of the organization by reducing the cost. On the other hand, Mr. Koudstaal could have defended himself by saying that he has not tarnished the image of Leica and has kept the file for personal possession. After reading the essay, the readers should make use of original software to stop any unnecessary trouble in future. The readers should understand that changing of jobs is part of the career and it does not mean that an individual should indulge in any kind of theft, either monetary or intellectual property leaving the organization. A person should be contented with the compensations and the benefits that he or she is receiving from the organization and should not aim for other possessions before the leaving the organization. References Andrs, A.R. and Goel, R.K., 2012. Does software piracy affect economic growth? Evidence across countries.Journal of Policy Modeling,34(2), pp.284-295. Asongu, S.A., 2014. Software piracy and scientific publications: knowledge economy evidence from Africa.African Development Review,26(4), pp.572-583. Australian Computer Society, (2016).ACS Code of Ethics. 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://www.acs.org.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/7835/Code-of-Ethics.pdf [Accessed 24 Aug. 2016]. Buchanan, J.A. and Wilson, B.J., 2014. 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