About

Software Piracy

There are many types of computer programs that are pirated in today's world. Examples of some programs that are pirated come from Adobe and Microsoft.²

A survey that was taken for the UK showed that 70% of primary schools and 30% of secondary schools are pirating software. The survey also shows that Birmingham tops the whole league. 40% of the state schools in the city of Birmingham are illegally copying software.¹¹

Software piracy keeps growing as the years go on. There are five main types of software piracy. The different types include softlifting, uploading and downloading, software counterfeiting, OEM unbundling, and hard disk loading.

Softlifting is a single licensed copy of software and loading it onto other computers. Uploading and downloading is creating an unauthorized copy of a copyrighted software. Software counterfeiting is illegally duplicating and then selling the copies. OEM unbundling is selling standalone software that is intended to be bundled with accompanying hardware. Hard disk loading is illegally installing copies of software and putting them on disks of personal computers.¹²