The anti-piracy software loaded onto the CDs was meant to stop illegal copying, but it was found that the program inadvertently made computers vulnerable to viruses.
Now, however, the tables are turned for those who may have once been the bane of the music label--provided they recently bought its CDs which were loaded with controversial anti-piracy software.
It provides another measure of the scale of software piracy and allows for important year-over-year comparisons of changes in the software piracy landscape.
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But in general, software piracy rates are declining, despite a small upward tick last year.
Asia is home to the world's three worst offenders in software piracy: China, Vietnam and Indonesia.
Ming Ching Jin later pleaded guilty to software piracy, money laundering, possession of illegal explosives and kidnapping.
In fact, stopping software piracy in Hong Kong may be far harder than it was in China.
An apologetic computer hacker has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison, following a conviction of software piracy.
Bill Gates's company makes money by selling intellectual property, jealously guarding its programs' source code and fighting software piracy.
MGM's willingness to risk software piracy is seen as an indication of its wish to pioneer direct-to consumer systems for Hollywood films.
After a long discussion we realized our biggest problem was software piracy.
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For example, the piracy rate for software is over 85 percent in Indonesia, 80 percent in Vietnam, and 70 percent in Thailand.
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It took the advent of software piracy and the birth of "intellectual property crime" to add a fillip to international efforts against counterfeiting.
The capitalist success story and the Communist state came together to dismiss the report despite past disagreements, most notably over software piracy and the internet market.
Chinese government has implemented many laws to fight software piracy.
Last year, the company filed a software piracy lawsuit against a Beijing company only to have the case come to trial a few weeks after the U.S. bombed China's embassy in Belgrade.
Console-based games giants Nintendo and Sony have steered clear of China, though privately imported boxes are available and Nintendo recently unveiled a games console designed especially to protect against the country's rampant software piracy.
Microsoft ( MSFT - news - people ), which so rarely plays David, recently complained that rampant software piracy in China wasn't just for Chinese individuals earning a few thousand dollars a year.
"We take pride in the work we've created and are committed to helping reduce copyright infringement and software piracy, " said a spokesperson, who claimed that the firm handled many complaints from gamers who have been exposed to malicious software or fraud after joining a private server.
The smart cookies at the Social Science Research Council have spent three years researching media and software piracy in so-called emerging economies -- countries like Brazil, Russia, India and Mexico -- which has this past week resulted in a comprehensive report aimed at establishing the trends and causes of the unauthorized consumption of intellectual property.
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Members of DrinkOrDie, the oldest and largest international software-piracy ring in cyberspace, illegally copied and distributed thousands of copies of copyrighted material throughout the world.
But its subtle lyrics mention neither software nor piracy.
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The idea that they were somehow hoping that by distributing this software, piracy would get to the point where they had to ask the government for permission to control the internet seems like a bit of reach.
According to the Entertainment Software Association, piracy costs the industry eight billion dollars a year.
"So Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery, " Mr. Murdoch wrote.
Published in Mandarin, Up Against the Wind: Microsoft, IBM and Me criticized the hard line the company took on piracy and its refusal to lower software prices to take into account the poverty of the average Chinese.
Professor Harnad argues that what is at issue is what he calls 'self piracy': copyright was drafted to protect the author from theft of his product - but academics would be dealing with their own work, so comparisons with the widespread net piracy of music, text or software do not apply.
The Chinese government is also a major purchaser of licensed software in a country where piracy is rampant.
Beruk said the amount of money software companies lose through this piracy easily reaches into the millions and that the sellers can make thousands in as little as a week.
Two popular file-swapping software programs already enable video piracy via PC: Morpheus and Kazaa, which are used mostly to transport songs and grainy reruns of Seinfeld, The Simpsons and South Park.
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