In today's business world, there are many unethical conducts which need to be put to a stop. Such unethical conducts include piracy and unethical computer hacking among other conducts. Therefore, there is a need for countries to come up with copyright laws to address such problems. In this essay, I will explain why copy right laws are important and why copying software and other resources are called "piracy". In the course of explaining piracy and copyright, Intellectual property will also be partially discussed. Lastly, I will also explain my professional code of ethics as a computer scientist in my future profession.
To begin with, a copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the country to the authors of original works and their Intellectual Property (United States Copyright Office, 2012). Intellectual Property (IP) on another hand is defined as the "creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce." (World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), n.d). From the definition, the Intellectual Property that covers literary works like novels, poems and plays is called Copyright and the Intellectual Property that includes patents for inventions, trademarks, industrial designs and geographical indications is called Industrial Property (WIPO, nd). Intellectual Property is very important because it encourages creativity among people.
From this background, it is important to have copyright laws in today's business world because they provide the legal right to protect one's work. It is possible for someone to claim someone's work as his or hers. But with copyright laws in place, this cannot happen and the claimant may be prosecuted. In addition to this, copyright laws are also important because others can use one's own work at a fee. Sometimes a copyright can be sold to others at a larger fee thereby generating more income. In this case, provision of copyright laws can be a source of living to the authors (Copyrights World, 2013).
On another hand, piracy is defined as the violation of license agreements in an effort of acquiring the Intellectual Property without authorization from the owner or creator (The Ohio State University, n.d). In this case, downloading, copying, installing or distributing digitized material without the permission of the creator is one of the examples of piracy in addition to many of them. Most of the times, these resources are sold at lower prices with the aim of copying customers so that they should buy these materials. Besides, most of these materials happen to be obtained through computer hacking making computer hacking to be unethical. Software piracy is rampant nowadays especially in the entertainment industry like music. There are many musicians today who are complaining about this although there are copyright laws which are supposed to protect them. Their work is used by other greedy people who want to reap where they did not actually sow. This is unethical thing to do as this is the same as stealing.
As the computer scientist, my professional code of ethics will be as follows: First of all, I shall not use my professionalism for personal gains. In this context, what I mean is that I shall not use the knowledge from my computer expertise for selfish reasons. Also, in this context what I mean is that I shall not use it for financial gains. Good money is supposed to be obtained using ethical means. Secondly, I shall make sure to be honest and trustworthy in all my future transactions with people. What I mean here is that I shall executive my profession with a lot of integrity. This is so because in so doing I believe that the profession shall remain very enjoyable for me. Furthermore, in case I have used certain piece of information from another author, then I shall always remember to give proper credit for intellectual property. In this case, I shall avoid putting myself into troubles. In addition to the above professional ethics, I shall also respect existing laws and regulations pertaining to computer work. In this case, I shall always follow all public laws which shall be pertaining to the computer work. Furthermore, I shall also access computing resources upon only being authorized otherwise not. The other professional ethics that I feel I can't finish this essay without mentioning it is that of computer hacking. I shall not indulge myself in computer hacking which is unethical. As a professional computer scientist, my hacking shall be ethical and of good cause to all people. Just as I said earlier, stealing someone's intellectual property is something which cannot be acceptable.
In conclusion, we can say that having copyright laws in today's business is something which is very important and good as highlighted above. Moreover, without these copyright laws then there would be no creativity among people. No one would wish to explore for more additional information in the field of specialization for fear of being not recognized or even quarreling with colleagues who can happen to claim for the same piece of information. Copyright laws offer a platform to punish those people who indulge themselves in piracy. Piracy is unethical thing that needs not to be tolerated by all means. As a future computer scientist I wish to conduct myself in a professional way as not to involve myself in this act of unethical behavior like piracy. Let's join hands together to make this world free from piracy.
References:
1. Copyrights World (2013). Why Copyright protection is so important?
2. The Ohio State University, (n.d). Copyright and Piracy.
3. United States Copyright Office, (2012). Copyright Basics.
4. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) ( n.d). What is Intellectual Property?