Modern Piracy With A Breif History Essay -- essays research papers fc

Piracy is usually determined as a seizure of property (ship, airplane or software) that holds no commission from the owner (â€Å"Piracy† 1). It is mostly linked to the dirty, bearded men that sailed the seven seas and robed merchant ships or ships that carried a valuable cargo. This however, was not the case in the late eighties and is definitely not the case today in the nineties. Now software pirates copy software without the permission of the company for their own personal benefits. Since piracy interrupts trade between nations it has been considered to be an offense against international law (â€Å"Piracy† 1). While the pirates in the medieval age roamed for plunder on the high seas, pirate radio and television stations broadcast, unauthorized software pirates copy to save money and even if one form vanished, another would soon take its place. Although the roots of piracy go as far as 102 BC the true sea pirates golden age was between the time periods of the very late 1600’s and the year of 1923 when almost all pirates suddenly disappeared. Pirates attacked the Romans as early as 100 BC. This was not as rough as the future pirates would be, but the idealism of piracy was present. The so-called piracy’s golden age started in 1695 when the first famous pirate, Henry Every, began seizing sizable treasures in the Red Sea and this made him an idol to many unemployed seamen in England. Piracy offered no more risks than being on board an ordinary merchant or privateering (which is often confused with piracy) vessel and the returns could be indescribably greater than in trade or attacking enemy ships. This started an increase in the number of pirates. Soon, in some parts of the world, for example Nassau, there were so many pirate vessels sailing the seas that the trade between the colonies and the outside world was n onexistent because all the goods ended up in the pirate vessels. Although their ways were inhumane and sometimes highly brutal, they had some sort of passion to sail the unknown and break the law to fight a war on the ordinary world. Some pirates were famous for their incredible brutality or for their otherwise colorful personalities: Edward Teach (alias Black Beard), who terrorized the coastline of North Carolina in 1716-1718; Captain Kidd who was more known for his highly publicized trial than his wrongdoings; and Bartholomew Roberts who was the last and... ...mplies with the law, and that it issues an appropriate policy statement that is signed and respected by all involved (Software Publishers' Association). The sea pirates, the software pirates Hackers and the on the air pirates all have something in common. They all (with the exception of software pirates) do their job for the passion of it. All of these forms are considered illegal because of the losses made to the owner to save costs or to collect prizes (sometimes). Whatever the case, piracy can never be gotten rid of because a new form will show up when another vanishes, history proves that. What will the next form be? Use your imagination. Works Cited Botting, Douglas. â€Å"The Pirates.† Alexandria, Virginia: Time Life Books 1978. â€Å"Piracy.† Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. 1995. â€Å"Software Piracy.† CQ Researcher. May 21, 1993 MAS. Byrd, Kelly V. "Kelly's Place" Computer and Law http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~kbyrd/piracy.html: Spring 1996. Software Publishers' Association. "Software Use and the Law". http://www.spa.org/piracy/homepage.html: November 20, 1996. Computers In Society 6th ed. Dushkin Group/Brown&Benchmark Publishers: Guilford, CT, 1996.