Aug 02 2009
The Legal Framework
The Computer Misuse Act 1990 makes it an offence to:
- Gain unauthorised access to computer programs or data
- Gain unauthorised access with criminal intent
- Make unauthorised modifications to computer programs.
These provisions are there to deal with hackers and those who write viruses and other programs to vandalise computers. These activities are hard to prove in a court of law. Many corporations are very sensitive to intrusion into their computer systems with its attendant bad publicity.
The Copyright Designs and Patents Act of 1988 makes it an offence to:
- Copy software
- Run pirated software
- Transmit software along a telecommunications line, thereby creating a copy.
- Use the software for more machines than provided for on a licence.
It is easy to copy and bootleg (sell illegally) software. Some manufactures put in small oddities into their software to provide a fingerprint, which makes proof of pirating a lot easier. Much pirated software comes riddled with viruses that can wreck the normal running of the computer. The £20 saved by buying a pirate copy is more than lost in the cost and inconvenience of restoring the computer.
Piracy costs legitimate companies a great deal of money. To produce the often superb software take many hundreds of thousands of hours of hard work. Then a bootlegger copies the program within a few minutes onto a disc that costs less than £1. He then makes £19 profit for each £20 made. This is often more than the profit made by the legitimate company. Go to www.justflight.com (who make excellent add-on software for flight and train simulators) and read their statement on piracy.
There are some areas of computer activity that are not covered in the law. The main area of concern is the Internet, where it is quite possible to access all kinds of unpleasant material. Often these sites are constructed in countries where it is not illegal to produce this material. General laws have been considered by the European Union, but are not in place. However, under other laws it is an offence to be in possession of such material, e.g. paedophilic images.
Click here to download worksheet for this topic.
NEXT: The Data Protection Act