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Information Technology (IT) is gradually becoming one of the hottest topics globally regardless of which age group you are in. Due to the fact that IT enables us to be more efficient and effective, the demand for technology multiplies yearly. Therefore, there is a rapid growth in the technology industry globally, especially the software industry.
For the past few years, Malaysia has been slowly in the Information Technology area. Malaysians are more IT literate and the awareness towards technology usage has increased. The high demand towards technology encouraged the country to open up more technological industries. For instant, due to the demands and needs of the users, a small Scottish software company designed software where it allowed users to safely share and communicate in a secure and safe environment. Without any marketing, the company manages to show a sign of growth through word of mouth. Meanwhile, this led to the escalating software piracy record. Thus, software piracy is about to overshadow the Malaysia’s reputation. The Malaysia government is trying their level best to fight against this crime for years.
(Small Scottish Software Company shows early sign of growth, 2006, Retrieved on 29 November 2006, from http://press.arrivenet.com/technology/article.php/874070.html)
Based on a research regarding “Piracy Rate in Asia Pacific”, Malaysia obtained an average piracy rate, which is 61%. Compared to last year’s research, the piracy rate went down by 2%. The study was done due to examine the effort being devoted to fight the crime as well as to clearly define the term “piracy” throughout the whole world. As piracy might be an obstacle for the development of a country if it is not carefully handled, it is important for Malaysia to understand that a legal system plays an important role in fighting against piracy. However, sometimes it puzzled us on how software piracy is
References: a) Book Cyber Law of Malaysia, 2001, Member of the Malaysian Book Publishers Association, Kuala Lumpur. 1) Osiur Rahman, Mahabubur Rahman, Nour Mohammad, 2004, Law & Our Rights [online]. Available from : http://www.thedailystar.net/law/2004/12/04/index.htm [Accessed Date 25th October 2006] 7) 2005 Global Study English, 2005 [Online]. Available from: http://www.bsa.org/globalstudy/upload/2005-Global-Study-English.pdf [Accessed Date: 15th October 2006] 11) Council of Europe – ETS No. 185 – Convention of Cybercrime, 2001. [online]. Available from: http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/185.htm [Accessed 12th November 2006] [9.00pm]