问答题 In many developing countries, software piracy has become pandemic. According to Software Publishers Association, 95% of the software in Pakistan is pirated, 89% in Brazil, 88% in Malaysia and 82% in Mexico. (1) Hundreds of tiny gizmo shops in the mazelike streets of Seoul's Yongsan electronics market offer brandname U.S. made programs for a programer for a fraction of the list price, including Lotus 1-2-3 for $7.50 (suggested retail: $368). New Delhi's largest pirate outlet is a backroom operation that offers customers a catalog of nearly 400 titles and facilities for making copies for as little as $ 4 a disk ($2.50 for customers who bring their own floppies).
How to combat this rampant piracy? (2) The publishers' first approach was to control it through technical means—by putting codes in their programs that prevented users from copying them.
This strategy worked for a while, or at least until determined pirates found ways to get around it. (3) But the codes also made it difficult for legitimate users to copy programs onto their hard drives. Copy protection became so unpopular that by 1986 most publishers had abandoned it as their first line of defense. But they didn't give up altogether. Through associations like Software Publishers Association they began picking off pirates one at a time, focusing on the biggest abusers. (4) Software Publishers Association began running spot checks and audits on major corporations, suing for damages when they found firms had bought, say, a single copy of a program and then made numerous unlicensed copies for its employees. Software Publishers Association also opened a hot line on which anybody can report the use of illegal software. The organization now gets 20 to 30 calls a day, mostly from former or disgruntled employees, and collects more than $3.5 million a year in fines and penalties. (5) The Washington based Business Software Alliance is conducting similar operations overseas, putting pressure on foreign governments to enforce the copyright laws already on the books.