Piracy: The Ethics
...ledge based products.” (Altbach, 1988) The authors move on to discuss moral decision-making, and explain Asians and like minded individuals having a different perspective on the issue at hand. “Americans, in particular, tend to be more rule-oriented in their decisions than Asians, who tend to be circumstance-oriented.” (Swinyard, Rinne, and Keng Kau, 1990) Explanation follows indicating Americans are “rule-oriented or deontological in their moral decisions,” while Asians (in this case Singaporeans) “make moral decisions less on rules and more on the basis of the consequences of their moral behavior.” (Swinyard, Rinne, and Keng Kau, 1990) While the Asian school of thought is more “utilitarian” and collectivist, the authors following hypotheses are logically sound: “1. Americans will have both attitudes and intentions which are more congruent with copyright laws than Asians, and 2. Asians will tend to base their moral decisions on the outcomes of the behavior, while Americans will tend to base their moral decisions on the nature of the decision itself.” (Swinyard, Rinne, and Keng Kau, 1990) The paper then progressed to its survey of U.S. students versus Singapore students with regards to moral views of piracy. The survey was conducted in the form of a questionnaire designed to evaluate “cognition, attitudes and intentions.” The results gave merit to the hypothesis, and the authors go on to make some astute conclusions. The realization of cultural differences is made apparent. Even if we are to deem Asian pirating activity illegal, the conclusion they are “behaving immorally is inappropriate.” (Swinyard, Rinne, and Keng Kau, 1990) The nature of the collectivist culture is inherently different from that of the individualistic Western philosophy of protectionism. To the Chinese and others, “Copyright and other protection legislation goes firmly against the grain of Asian culture.” (Swinyard, Rinne, and Keng Kau, 1990) Sharing intellectual properties rather than copyrighting them is seen as “support for human benefits”, and is often considered paramount to individual’s rights to such intellectual properties. The two starkly contrasting moralistic interpretations of the same issue presented in this paper offer great insight into the global phenomena of software piracy. In examining the differences in formulation of moral and ethical perceptions regarding piracy, a look to Bryan W. Husteds’, The impact of national culture on software piracy, serves as a broad analysis for cross cultural comparison. “This paper examines the impact of the level of economic development, income inequality, and five cultural variables on the rate of software piracy at the country level.” (Husted, 2000, headnote) The authors’ interpretation of these factors is approached through a series of hypothesis, followed by conclusions drawn from researches and finally his suggestions regarding anti-piracy campaigns. The first hypothesis regarding economic development postulates, “The higher level of economic development, the lower the rate of software piracy.” (Husted, 2000) This inference is based on others findings as the author’s belief of intellectual property protection in less developed countries tending to be, “shorter in duration, less comprehensive and much less vigorously enforced.” (Richardson and Gaisford, 1996) This observation naturally leads to the conclusion that a country with less or limited economic resources, will falter in the pursuit of the same stringent standards of more developed nations. Husteds’ next hypothesis regarding income distribution stipulates, “Other things being equal, the town t the level of income inequality (the larger the middle class), the greater the rate of software piracy.”(Husted, 2000) This hypothesis is drawn from Sims, Cheng, and Teegan as “software piracy is particularly common in the universities.” (Sims, Cheng, and Teegan, 1996) In a university setting, the vast majority is of middle class origin and often has more than significant incentives to pirate software. High prices for collegiate level software programs or text related materials is an obvious incentive to pirate, where a student can save upwards of a hundred dollars for a program they will use on a limited basis. The correlation of the student population to the middle class income effect regarding choices related to software piracy is in my opinion both a valid and realistic approach to one aspect of the piracy issue. For the five cultural variables, Husted draws his work from that of Geert Hofstede. Hofstede characterizes different cultures through “five different work-related values,” including, “power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and Confucian dynamism.” (Hofstede, 1997) Power distance refers to “the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally.” (Hofstede, 1997) In countries of high power-distance, it is common practice to teach subordination to superiors (patriarchal/monarchal) whereas in countries of low power-distance equality is stressed (democracy). It becomes apparent when considering the nature of power-distance that in societies where equality is stressed, tolerance for abuse of power in ethical situations is to be questioned, while those who are more subordinate will follow with out questioning the reasoning of superiors. Drawing a hypothesis from Cohen, Pant and Sharp (1996) one would expect that people from a high power-distance country would tolerate software piracy more than people from low power-distance countries. Hence, “The higher the power distance in a country, the higher the rate of software piracy in a country.” (Husted, 2000) The next of Hofstedes’ five cultural related values discussed is the level of individualism. In a collectivist culture (more socialist), “creators are obligated to share their developments with society.” (Swinyard, Rinne, and Keng Kau, 1990) Husteds' quote referencing the declaration of the government of India argues, “Individual claims on intellectual property are subordinated to the more fundamental claims of social well-being.” (Steidlmeier, 1993) India’s view on piracy thus falls more aligned with the collectivist nature of eastern philosophical views, while starkly contrasting those of western individualism. In the United States and other nations aligned with western philosophy, “individual freedom and benefits are emphasized over societal benefits.” (Swinyard, Rinne, and Keng Kau, 1990) Husteds’ hypothesis logically follows such observations; “The more individualistic (less collectivistic) a society, the lower the rate of software piracy.”(Husted, 2000) Suzanne C Wagner and G Lawrence Sanders’ paper, Considerations in ethical decision-making and software piracy, offers an insightful look into another facet of the piracy issue. The authors approach the issue from a religious and general ethical decision making approach. Through survey analysis, the authors draw conclusions on the religious implications regarding ethical decision making when it comes to piracy. The opening of the a...