Monday, December 30, 2019
World War II The Bombing of Dresden
The Bombing of Dresden took place Feb. 13-15, 1945, during World War II (1939-1945). By the beginning of 1945, German fortunes looked bleak. Though checked at the Battle of the Bulge in the west and with the Soviets pressing hard on the Eastern Front, the Third Reich continued to mount a stubborn defense. As the two fronts began to near, the Western Allies began to consider plans for using strategic bombing to assist the Soviet advance. In January 1945, the Royal Air Force began to consider plans for the widespread bombing of cities in eastern Germany. When consulted, the head of Bomber Command, Air Marshal Arthur Bomber Harris, recommended attacks against Leipzig, Dresden, and Chemnitz. Pressed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the Chief of the Air Staff, Marshal Sir Charles Portal, agreed that cities should be bombed with the goal of disrupting German communications, transportation, and troop movements, but stipulated that these operations should be secondary to strategic attacks on factories, refineries, and shipyards. As a result of the discussions, Harris was ordered to prepare attacks on Leipzig, Dresden, and Chemnitz as soon as weather conditions allowed. With planning moving forward, further discussion of attacks in eastern Germany occurred at the Yalta Conference in early February. During talks in Yalta, the Deputy Chief of the Soviet General Staff, General Aleksei Antonov, inquired about the possibility of using the bombing to hinder German troop movements through hubs in eastern Germany. Among the list of targets discussed by Portal and Antonov were Berlin and Dresden. In Britain, planning for the Dresden attack moved forward with the operation calling for daylight bombing by the US Eighth Air Force followed by night strikes by Bomber Command. Though much of Dresdens industry was in suburban areas, planners targeted the city center with the goal crippling its infrastructure and causing chaos. Allied Commanders Air Marshal Arthur Bomber Harris, RAF Bomber CommandLieutenant General James Doolittle, US Eighth Air Force Why Dresden The largest remaining unbombed city in the Third Reich, Dresden was Germanys seventh-largest city and a cultural center known as the Florence on the Elbe. Though a center for the arts, it was also one of Germanys largest remaining industrial sites and contained over 100 factories of various sizes. Among these were facilities for producing poison gas, artillery, and aircraft components. In addition, it was a key rail hub with lines running north-south to Berlin, Prague, and Vienna as well as east-west Munich and Breslau (Wroclaw) and Leipzig and Hamburg. Dresden Attacked The initial strikes against Dresden were to have been flown by the Eighth Air Force on February 13. These were called off due to poor weather and it was left to Bomber Command to open the campaign that night. To support the attack, Bomber Command dispatched several diversionary raids designed to confuse the German air defenses. These struck targets in Bonn, Magdeburg, Nuremberg, and Misburg. For Dresden, the attack was to come in two waves with the second three hours after the first. This approach was designed to catch German emergency response teams exposed and increase casualties. This first group of aircraft to depart was a flight of Avro Lancaster bombers from 83 Squadron, No. 5 Group which were to serve as the Pathfinders and were tasked with finding and lighting the target area. They were followed by a group of De Havilland Mosquitoes which dropped 1000 lb. target indicators to mark the aiming points for the raid. The main bomber force, consisting of 254 Lancasters, departed next with a mixed load of 500 tons of high explosives and 375 tons of incendiaries. Dubbed Plate Rock, this force crossed into Germany near Cologne. As the British bombers approached, air raid sirens began sounding in Dresden at 9:51 PM. As the city lacked adequate bomb shelters, many civilians hid in their basements. Arriving over Dresden, Plate Rock began dropping its bombs at 10:14 PM. With the exception of one aircraft, all of the bombs were dropped within two minutes. Though a night fighter group at Klotzsche airfield had scrambled, they were unable to be in position for thirty minutes and the city was essentially undefended as the bombers struck. Landing in a fan-shaped area over a mile long, the bombs ignited a firestorm in the city center. Subsequent Attacks Approaching Dresden three hours later, Pathfinders for the 529-bomber second wave decided to expand the target area and dropped their markers on both sides of the firestorm. Areas hit by the second wave include the Großer Garten park and the citys main train station, Hauptbahnhof. Fire consumed the city through the night. The next day, 316 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses from the Eighth Air Force attacked Dresden. While some groups were able to aim visually, others found their targets obscured and were forced to attack using H2X radar. As a result, the bombs were widely dispersed over the city. The next day, American bombers again returned to Dresden. Departing on February 15, the Eighth Air Forces 1st Bombardment Division intended to strike the synthetic oil works near Leipzig. Finding the target clouded over, it proceeded to its secondary target which was Dresden. As Dresden was also covered by clouds, the bombers attacked using H2X scattering their bombs over the southeastern suburbs and two nearby towns. Aftermath of Dresden The attacks on Dresden effectively destroyed over 12,000 buildings in the citys old town and inner eastern suburbs. Among the military targets destroyed were the Wehrmachts headquarters and several military hospitals. In addition, several factories were badly damaged or destroyed. Civilian deaths numbered between 22,700 and 25,000. Responding to the Dresden bombing, the Germans expressed outrage stating that it was a city of culture and that no war industries were present. In addition, they claimed that over 200,000 civilians had been killed. The German propaganda proved effective in influencing attitudes in neutral countries and led some in Parliament to question the policy of area bombing. Unable to confirm or refute the German claims, senior Allied officials distanced themselves from the attack and began to debate the necessity of continuing area bombing. Though the operation caused fewer casualties than the 1943 bombing of Hamburg, the timing was called into question as the Germans were clearly heading towards defeat. In the years after the war, the necessity of the Dresden bombing was officially investigated and widely debated by leaders and historians. An inquiry conducted by US Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall found that the raid was justified based on the intelligence available. Regardless, the debate over the attack continues and it is viewed as one of the more controversial actions of World War II. Sources World War II Database: Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other CitiesHistoryNet: Dresden Survivor
Sunday, December 22, 2019
Acceptance of the Homosexual Lifestyle An Evaluation and...
Acceptance of the Homosexual Lifestyle: An Evaluation and Comparison between the United States and Other Locations The idea of homosexual behavior has created a number of responses worldwide. Currently, the United States has many levels of acceptance of homosexuality. There are places on this earth that have the same outlook as the United States, and there are places that are completely opposite. By looking at these different perspectives, the public could obtain some valuable points in the battle of acceptance. My objective is to give these old ideas a new audience, to show the wide range of acceptance throughout the world, and to compare the United States and other nations challenged to acknowledge a different lifestyle. Thereâ⬠¦show more contentâ⬠¦There are hate crimes committed far too often to homosexuals who have ââ¬Å"come out.â⬠On February 23, 2004, Ronn Mattai was attacked at a nightclub in Ontario, Canada. A broken glass was thrown at his face, and the attacker continued to slash Mattaiââ¬â¢s face with the jagged edges. Police said it was the direct result of a anti-gay hate crime (Morisson, 2004). Then there is another side; there is progress. Openness to this different lifestyle has increased as the times go on. In the United States, we can look at the rise in public attention for the homosexual minority. You canââ¬â¢t open a newspaper without seeing an article on civil unions. The U.S. market aims a whole new line of advertising at homosexuals. For example, PlanetOUT.com is, ââ¬Å"the leading provider of media products and online services to gay and lesbian consumers worldwideâ⬠(PR Newswire, 2004). They have launched an online television channel dedicated to the homosexual population (PR Newswire, 2004). Personally, this year alone I have witnessed, heard of, and participated in more public displays in favor of acceptance for different lifestyles than I ever have before. Look at television. There are numerous shows which include gay characters or actors, to name a few Will Grace, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Real World, and Dismissed. People are beginning to open their eyes, but that is only a beginning, and much more progress is needed. Until the majority of the population canShow MoreRelatedFundamentals of Hrm263904 Words à |à 1056 PagesAccount Manager Training and implementation support www.wileyplus.com/accountmanager MAKE IT YOURS! Fundamentals of Human Resource Management Tenth Edition David A. DeCenzo Coastal Carolina University Conway, SC Stephen P. Robbins San Diego State University San Diego, CA Tenth Edition Contributor Susan L. Verhulst Des Moines Area Community College Ankeny, IA John Wiley Sons, Inc. 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Dowden Philosophy Department California State University Sacramento Sacramento, CA 95819 USA ii iii Preface Copyright à © 2011-14 by Bradley H. Dowden This book Logical Reasoning by Bradley H. Dowden is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. That is, you are free to share, copy, distribute, store, and transmit all or any part of the work under the following conditions:
Saturday, December 14, 2019
The global financial system Free Essays
The global financial system is experiencing banking and financial turmoil commonly referred to as the credit crunch that is said to be due to the pricking of a massive debt bubble, (Peston, 2009). There is no standard definition of the credit crunch; however, a credit crunch is generally described as an economic condition in which investment capital is difficult to obtain (Invetopedia 2009). Credit crunches have been observed to follow recessions and do seriously stifle economic growth through decreased capital liquidity thereby reducing productive sectorââ¬â¢s ability to borrow. We will write a custom essay sample on The global financial system or any similar topic only for you Order Now When this situation arises, companies are not able to borrow in order to expand their operations and many may cease production altogether thereby resulting in bankruptcies. When such a situation arises, unemployment increases, homes are lost, banks close down and governments are forced to step in to contain the crisis, in most cases with limited success in the short run. This is not the first time that such a crisis has occurred. Records show that there was a crisis as early as 1622 and between 18th and 20th sixty two banking and financial crashes have been experienced (Henley 2007). Among the chief credit crunches that took place in the 20th century are the Wall Street in the year 1929 and the Japanese financial turmoil in 1990s. Genesis of the crisis The genesis of the debt crisis is partly due to imprudent lending. An observation made by Liu (2008 p9), an individual without a job or reliable income and poor credit history gets a mortgage from a bank. That borrowerââ¬â¢s debt is partly sold to another bank that partly sells that debt to another bank that partly sells that debt to another bank perhaps a foreign bank. When the borrower fails to pay, all these banks get affected. In the event that many such borrowers are involved banks will have a liquid crisis and will not be able to lend to needy customers thereby setting in motion a credit crunch. Britain as example AS stated above, massive borrowing and reckless lending is viewed as the major cause of the credit crunch and the situation is made worse when the money is from foreign countries. For Britain, if one aggregates together the consumer, private and public-sector debt, ratio of Britainââ¬â¢s borrowings to her annual economic output is estimated at over 300%, roughly GBP 40000 bn Peston (2009 p1). Households borrowed too much GBP 1200bn on mortgages alone. Gross foreign current liabilities of Britain banks rose from GBP 1100 bn in 1997 to GBP 4400 bn 2008. That is three times the size of Britainââ¬â¢s annual economic output. Most of this cash were the savings from foreign country banks notably China, other Asian countries and the Middle East that were used to buy foreign currency assets in Britain, but the British used this to buy. The savings that were used to buy assets in Britain were made the poorly paid workers in those countries. The tilting of the economic balance could not be sustained for ever. A return to equilibrium to a more balanced global economy had to come to pass at some point and this is currently what is happening with the western economies USA, Britain and others getting the pinch (Peston 2009) Credit crunch in the United States Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of Chinese Central Bank said, ââ¬Å"Over-consumption and a high reliance on credit is the main cause of the US financial crisisâ⬠Peston (2009 p2). Up to 2007, borrowers were financed 100% of the purchase price to buy assets without any serious scrutiny being done on the ability to pay. The New Times of 19 February 20, 2009 reported that the credit crunch in US started way back in late 1990s. At the beginning of 2000, there was a decline in the stock market that made the US to slip into recession. This prompted the Federal Reserve Bank to lower interest rates to stimulate the economic growth. Lower interest rates made mortgage payments cheaper and increased demand for homes that lead to the souring of prices. At the same time banks lowered the refinancing rates which consequently lowered the quality of the mortgage but kept on increasing and finally led to the commencement of the defaults and delinquency in 2006. The financial institutions were not able to balance two things that were simultaneously happening that is the rise in the purchase of assets and the corresponding demand for credit prompting the introduction of securitization (Liu 2008 p4). This susceptibility could not be contained, even with the introduction of securitization, resulting inevitably into the bursting of the bubbles. The outcome was the falling of asset prices that precipitated losses to those who borrowed to buy houses and these include hedge funds, private equity finds, billionaireââ¬â¢s corporate raiders, banks and others. The debts started to increase and the need to sell these assets to offset debts drove the prices down resulting in further losses. With banks not being paid, their resources were progressively depleted thereby halting 100% mortgage financing and other loans. This has the effect of driving prices further down that will lead to the contraction of the US economy as this vicious circle is bound to persist into the future. Business loans for the newly established companies that depend on credit are and will continue to be difficult to access (Tse, et al, 2008). In addition, closing major deals is not proving easy either. The economists predict that the tightening of the credit to drag on the US economy for quite sometime. Size of debt A number of governments are in the process of formulating various policies and measures to be undertaken so as to contain the negative economic and social impact of the credit crunch. To achieve this, and in order to set in a recovery mechanism, an estimate of the size of the debt has to be carried out and this is by no means straight forward. However, a rough calculation of the debt may be estimated by a jargon referred in financial circles, notably by Bank of England, as the customer funding gap (Peston 2009 p3) that is the difference what the US banks have lent and what they have borrowed from households, businesses and institutions that are considered too small to be major players in global financial markets. Conclusion The credit crunch, also known as liquidity crisis or squeeze, is as a result of too much borrowing and lending to undeserving individual and institutions especially in the USA and Britain. This squeeze has constrained the banks ability to lend, scared away investors from buying debts thereby drying up money for borrowing. The liquidity crisis has reduced money available to spend by consumers and the business. The credit squeeze has triggered in serious ramifications for the USA economy, the developed economies and the entire globe in general. Works Cited: Henley, J September 2007. Show us the Money: The Guardian, September 19, 2007. Available at http://guardian. co. uk/money/2007/september/19/business accessed on 19 February 2009. Investopedia 2009: Investoprdia News and Articles available at http://www. investopedia. com/ask/answers/credit-crunch. asp accessed on19 February 2009. Liu, X (2008). CDO and the Credit Crunch: Article presented at Xiamen University. Available at http://ifas. xmu. edu. cn/Article/uploadfiles/200810/200810091551131838 pdf accessed on 19 February 2009. Peston, R (2009). The New Capitalism: BBC News. Available at http://www. bbc. co. uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/16 12_09_news_capitalism. pdf , accessed on 20 February 2009. The New York Times of 19 February 2009. Available at http://topics. nytimes. com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/credit_crisis/index. html accessed on 19 February 2009. Creditcrunch. co. uk, The UK Forum p 1 Published by Credit Crunch. co. uk. Available at http://www. creditcrunch. co. uk/home/index. php accessed on 21 February 2009. Tse, T. M and Cho, D (2008), Credit Crunch in U. S. Upends Global Markets, The Washington Post of 9 August 2008 available at http://www. washingtonpost. com/wp accessed on 20 February 2009. How to cite The global financial system, Papers
Thursday, December 5, 2019
Economic Consequences Of Software Crime Essay Example For Students
Economic Consequences Of Software Crime Essay In 1996 worldwide illegal copying of domestic and international software cost$15.2 billion to the software industry, with a loss of $5.1 billion in theNorth America alone. Some sources put the total up-to-date losses, due tosoftware crime, as high as $4.7 trillion. On the next page is a regionalbreakdown of software piracy losses for 1994. Estimates show that over 40percent of North American software company revenues are generated overseas,yet nearly 85 percent of the software industrys piracy losses occurred outsideof North America.The Software Publishers Association (SPA) indicated thatapproximately 35 percent of the business software in the North America wasobtained illegally. In fact, 30 percent of the piracy occurs in corporatesettings.In a corporate setting or business, every computer must have itsown set of original software and the appropriate number of manuals.It isillegal for a corporation or business to purchase a single set of original s!oftware and then load that softwar e onto more than one computer, or lend, copyor distribute software for any reason without the prior written consent of thesoftware manufacturer.Many software managers are concerned with the legalcompliance, along with asset management and costs to their organizations. Manyfirms involve their legal departments and human resources in regards tosoftware distribution and licensing. Information can qualify to be property in two ways; patent law and copyrightlaws which are creations of federal statutes, which are subject toConstitutional authority.In order for the government to prosecute theunauthorized copying of computerized information as theft, it must first relyon other theories of information-as-property. Trade secret laws are created byprovincial law, and most jurisdictions have laws that criminalize theviolations of a trade-secret holders rights. The definition of a trade secretvaries somewhat from province to province, but commonly have the same elements. For example, the information must be secret, not of public knowledge or ofgeneral knowledge in the trade or business. A court will allow a trade secretto be used by someone who discovered or developed the trade secretindependently if the holder takes adequate precautions to protect the secret. In 1964, the National Copyright Office began to register software as a form ofliterary expression.The office based its decision on White-Smith Music Co. v. Apollo, where the Supreme Court determined that a piano roll used in aplayer piano did not infringe upon copyrighted music because the roll was partof a mechanical device. Since a computer program is textual, like a book, yetalso mechanical, like the piano roll in White-Smith, the Copyright Officegranted copyright protection under the rule of doubt. In 1974, the government created the Natural Commission on New TechnologicalUses (CONTU) to investigate whether the evolving computer technology fieldoutpaced the existing copyright laws and also to determine the extent ofcopyright protection for computer programs. CONTU concluded that whilecopyright protection should extend beyond the literal source code of a computerprogram, evolving case law should determine the extent of protection. Thecommission also felt copyright was the best alternative among existingintellectual property protective mechanisms. CONTU rejected trade secret andpatents as viable protective mechanisms. The CONTU report resulted in the 1980Computer Software Act, and the report acts as informal legislative history toaid the courts in interpreting the Act. In 1980, the Copyright Act was amended to explicitly include computerprograms. It now states that it is illegal to make or to distribute copies ofcopyrighted material without authorization, except for the users right tomake a single backup copy for archival purposes. Any written material(including computer programs) fixed in a tangible form (written somewhere ?i.e. printout) is considered copyrighted without any additional action on thepart of the author. Therefore, it is not necessary that a copy of the softwareprogram be deposited with the National Copyright Office for the program to beprotected as copyrighted. With that in mind a copyright is a property rightonly. In order to prevent anyone from selling your software programs, you mustask a (federal) court to stop that person by an injunction and to give youdamages for the injury they have done to you by selling the program. The Software Rental Amendments Act was approved in 1990. This Act prohibitsthe commercial rental, leasing or lending of software without the expresswritten permission of the copyright holder.Another amendment to theCopyright Act was passed in 1992. This amendment made software piracy afederal offense, and instituted criminal penalties for copyright infringementof software. The penalties can include imprisonment of up to five years, finesup to $250,000 or both for unauthorized reproduction or distribution of 10 ormore copies of software with a total retail value exceeding $2,500 or more. According to federal law duplicating software for profit, making multiplecopies for use by different users within an organization, and giving anunauthorized copy to someone else is prohibited. Under this law if anyone iscaught with the pirated software, an individual or the individuals company canbe tried under both civil and criminal law.A Civil action may beestablished for injunction, actual damages (which includes the infringersprofits) or statutory damages up to $100,000 per infringement. The criminalpenalties for copyright infringement can result in fines up to $250,000 and ajail term up to five years for the first offense and ten years for a secondoffense. When software is counterfeit or copied, the software developer losestheir revenue and the whole software industry feels the effect of piracy. Allsoftware developers spend a lot of time and money in developing software forpublic use. A portion of every dollar spent in purchasing original softwar!e is funneled back into researc h and development of new software. Software piracy can be found in three forms: software counterfeiting, which isthe illegal duplication and sale of copyrighted software in a form that isdesigned to make it appear to be a legitimate program; Hard disk loading,whereby computer dealers load unauthorized copies of software onto the harddisks of personal computers, which acts as an incentive for the end user to buythe hardware from that particular dealer; and downloading of copyrightedsoftware to users connected by modem to electronic bulletin boards and/or theInternet. When software is pirated the consumer pays for that cost by newsoftware and/or upgrade version being more expensive. Federal appellate courts have determined that operating systems, object codeand software contained in ROMs are protected by copyright. Some lower federalcourts have also determined that microcode (the instructions set onmicroprocessor chips) and the look and feel of computer screens is subject tocopyright protection. Which has created major problems for the widespreaddevelopment of multimedia applications with regards to clearing copyright forsmall elements of text, images, video and sound. The United States Government has been an active participant in protecting therights of the software industry. When the Business Software Alliance (BSA)conducts a raid, Federal Marshals or local law enforcement officialsparticipate as well. An organization known as the Software PublishersAssociation (SPA) is the principal trade association of the PC softwareindustry. SPA works closely with the FBI and has also written an enforcementmanual for the FBI to help them investigate pirate bulletin board systems andorganizations (audits). With the help of the FBI, the result of enforcementactions resulted in recoveries from anti-piracy actions totaling $16 millionsince the program started in 1990. The Software Publishers Association (SPA) funds an educational program toinform individuals and corporations about software use and the law. Thisprogram provides all PC users with the tools needed to comply with copyrightlaw and become software legal. The SPA also publishes brochures free of chargeabout the legal use of software for individuals and businesses.Alsoavailable to help corporations understand the copyright law is a 12-minutevideotape, which is composed of the most commonly asked questions and answersto them. The video tape is available in French and Spanish and all togetherover 35,000 copies of the tape had been sold. Paradise Lost Essay PaperSPA has created a program that companies can use to help discover and correctproblems before they result in legal actions, fines and also negativepublicity. The eight point program is as follows:1. Appoint a software manager to implement and monitor all aspects ofcompany software policy. 2. Implement a software codes of ethics for everyone to adhere to. Theethicsshould state that copyrighted software, except for backup and archivalpurposes, is a violation of the law. 3. Establish a procedure for acquiring and registering software. Determineyour companies software needs, evaluate software packages, and also havesupervisors approve the plans. Keep the lines of communication open. 4. Establish and maintain a software log. The log should state the date ofwhen the software was acquired, the registration of it, serial number, networkversion, location of where the software is in use, where the original is,licensing agreement and the location of the original disks. 5. Conduct periodic audits or on an as needed basis comparing the softwarelog and/or other purchase records. 6. Establish a program to educate and train your employees about everyaspect of software and its uses. 7. Maintain a library of software licenses and provide users with copies ofthe agreement. 8. Having done the above seven points, the company can benefit by havingobtained software legally, receive full documentation, technical support whenneeded and also upgrade notices. Patents do not cover specific systems, instead they cover particular techniquesthat can be used to build systems or particular features that systems canoffer. Patent grants the inventor a 17 year monopoly on its use. Once atechnique or feature is patented, it may not be used in a system without thepermission of the patent-holder even if it is implemented in a different way. Since a computer program usually uses several techniques and provides manyfeatures, it can infringe many patents at once. A computer program is builtout of ideal mathematical objects whose behavior is defined, not modeledapproximately, by abstract rules. An example of this is when BorlandInternational, Inc. complained that a federal court decision gave LotusDevelopment Corp. the benefit of patent protection to Lotus 1-2-3 menu commandsand their order, but failed to require Lotus to meet the requirements of patentlaw, including novelty, examination and contribution to the prior art.TheSupreme Court sided with the decision that one entity cannot own the userinterface to programs. This would include such components as file formats,menu structures and programming languages. Software license agreements emerged as the most popular means of protection ofproprietary rights in computer software. They coexist with other forms ofintellectual property rights as patent and copyright. Software licenseagreements serve several functions in transactions involving the transfer ofcomputer technology. One of the most important legal functions is theprotection of the proprietary rights of the licenser in the transferredsoftware. Other functions include controlling the revenue generated bylicensed software and determining the rights and responsibilities of theparties regarding the performance of the licensed technology. Issues relatedto these functions include the applicability of Article 2 of the UniformCommercial Code, including offer and disclaimer of warranties, determining theappropriate types of licenses to utilize, such as single users/CPU licenses,Site/enterprise licenses and network/concurrent licenses. Trade secret, copyright and patent law are static forms of protection in thesense that they may exist independently of any underlying business transactionsand do not necessarily require any transfer of intellectual property from oneparty to another. Whereas, the need for a license agreement usually arises asone of the contractual forms of protection when the underlying businesstransaction involves the transfer of intellectual property, such as computersoftware. Transactions involving the transfer of computer software are subjectto both federal and provincial laws. Generally, provincial law governscontractual and trade secrets aspects of the transaction, while federal lawgoverns aspects related to patent, copyright and antitrust issues. Each province has its own version of a trade secret, the common thread throughthese province-specific laws is that if you show that you are seriously treatedinformation as confidential and that the confidential information helped yourcompetitive position, you can stop others from using it if the information wasimproperly acquired by them, and even collect damages from the wrongdoers. A computer is useless without software. The two types of software typicallyfound on a computer are operating systems software and application software. Operating system software provides an interface that makes it easier to developprograms for the system by reducing the amount of code that must be written. The operating system acts as an interface between the computer hardware,application programs and the end user.Application software consists of oneor more computer programs that fulfill a specific function for the user likeword processing, bookkeeping or financial analysis. Two legal cases recently within the last few years has brought to light thecontroversy regarding the copyright protection of software elements. Until1992, most of the federal courts followed the decision in Whenlan v JaslowDental Laboratory as a precedent for similar cases. Whenlan, a small softwarecompany wrote a accounting program for Jaslow Dental Laboratory company. Jaslow rewrote the software to run on personal computers and proceeded to sellthe product. The software was identical to Whenlans in the data structures,logic, and the program structure, except for the source code. Jaslow arguedthat the duplicated elements were part by the of the idea not the expression. The court in response felt that the data structures, logic, and the programstructure comprised to make a single function of a computer program, thereforecopyright protection should be given to those elements also. In 1992, this protection was weakened by Computer Associates v. Altai, Inc. ,when Altai a software developer was accused of copying various modules of asoftware package developed by Computer Associates which controlled the runningof applications on IBM mainframes. The court rejected Whelans premise that acomputer program embodies one function because programs are made up ofsub-routines that contain their own idea. The court recognized that this wouldnarrow the scope of software copyright protection and found this in accordancewith the Governments intent of computer programs with copyright. This is whycurrently software copyright is not as broad as it once was. All the above mentioned licenses and anti-piracy precautions cost billions ofdollars each year, in both direct and opportunity costs. These costs areshared by anybody that is involved with any aspect of the software industry. As the future of approaches, more and more people are gaining experience withtechnology. That experience doesnt come without a price. That price is thepower to manipulate technology for personal gain which usually results in adetriment ?typically financial?to others. Bibliography:Brandel, William, Licensing stymies users,URL:http://www.viman.com/license/license.html#policy, Viman Software, Inc.,1994. Business Software Alliance, Software Piracy and the Law,URL:http://www.bsa.org/bsa/docs/soft_pl.html, Business Software Alliance,1995. Software Publishers Association, SPA Anti-Piracy Backgrounder,URL:http://www.spa.org/piracy/pi_back.htm, Software Publishers Association,1995. Business Software Alliance, Did You Know?,URL:http://www.bsa.org/cgi-bin-bsa.org/seconds.cgi?, Business SoftwareAlliance, 1997. The Economist, Slipping A DiskURL: http://www.economist.com/issue/27-07-96/wbsfl.gif, The Economist, 1994. Business Software Alliance, Software Piracy,URL: http://www.bsa.org/privacy/privacy.html, Business Software Alliance,1997.
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