In this day and age, we all want to get something fast and free, but pirating software is never the answer. Downloading copy written software is not only unethical, but illegal and could potentially harm the people who created the software that was good enough for you to risk the download. It can land you in court paying thousands of dollars in lawsuit and court costs and could also prevent the manufacturer from producing newer versions of your game, DVD, program or CD due to lack of sales. The dangers of software piracy goes much deeper then this and can effect everything around you. In this article, we discuss these dangers and how to avoid them.

Pirating Software may be More Trouble than it’s Worth

With the rise of services like Bittorrent, pirating expensive software is easier now than ever before. Often this pirated software is available as soon, or sooner, than the retail version and has the bonus of being free. While this is the only way some users are able to use expensive software like the CS5, it also opens up a whole new world of potential problems. From legal trouble, to malware, here is a detailed look at the unseen risk of software piracy.

Potential Legal Trouble

The most talked about problem with piracy of any media is the risk of legal trouble. The penalty for pirating media varies on a few things such as location, media type and the monetary loss of the company. Focusing on Bittorent, there is a misconception that using a client and connecting directly to peers means you’re free of any legal trouble. The reason this myth persists is that many torrent sites such as the Piratebay, have fought and won cases on the grounds that no files are held on these torrent sites. Instead, a completely legal torrent file containing information for sharing with peers is held on the site. This is true for sites that hold torrent files, but once you actively leech and seed data you have become a distributor of the pirated material. This makes you liable and in some cases has led to direct legal action. Another myth is that Bittorrent is completely anonymous. This is another common misconception. Anyone who has created a torrent knows all of the IP addresses of the leechers. If you think you’re safe because you live outside the US, you may want to check your local laws. The US has been pushing for strict copyright enforcement all over the globe. While it’s true that the number of users who actually face legal trouble is extremely low, you have to ask yourself if it is worth the potential risk.

Malware

Perhaps an even more widespread problem with software piracy is the rampant malware. These malicious pieces of software are lumped in or mislabeled as the software you are looking for. This software can then do things like steal your personal information, keep track of everything you type and take over your computer. Malware is found all over the Internet and isn’t exclusive to pirated software but the nature of installing pirated software lends itself to malware. Often this malware comes in the form of an .EXE or an installable application. Some sites require you install malware in exchange for free emoticons. Most of the time you can avoid malware by never installing an .EXE from a site you don’t trust. Since the point of pirated software is installation, however, you cannot avoid installing the .EXE and often you won’t be able to tell the software is malware until it’s too late. Experienced pirates will point to the “size comparison trick” or check sums to weed out malware. The “size comparison trick” is when a pirate examines the total size of a file in hopes of weeding out malware. Since more tech-savvy users have a general idea of how big each piece of software should be, if the downloaded file is too large or too small it is likely malware. Check sums are when the user examines the MD5 tag of an ISO (or fake disc) to ensure the file is what he was looking for and not malware.

Buffer Overflow Attacks

While the methods mentioned above have worked well in the past, not even they are 100% successful at weeding out malware. More popular in recent years is something called a Buffer Overflow attack. In this attack, a piece of software has the same name, appearance and even size of the standard application but with a sinister twist. In addition to the files you were looking for, the downloaded application also attacks and overwrites adjacent memory. The over written data can be anything the hacker wishes, including malware and there is no way to see that the data has been compromised. For example, if you have a 250 GB hard drive and install a 5 GB pirated application, the computer will report 245 GBs free. In actuality, the software you installed is over writing data and an unknown amount of data is being used. So in actuality, you may only have 100 GBs but your computer will still report 245 GBs. Hackers are working on new ways to deliver malware all the time and this is only one example of ways pirating software can ruin your computer without you even knowing it.

Long-Term Implications for the Industry

It may not seem like it, but pirating a piece of software can have a real effect on the industry and legitimate users down the line. One industry that has seen a huge impact by software piracy is PC gaming. The piracy of PC games is so rampant that companies such as Ubisoft have started using tough DRM. DRM stands for Digital Rights Management and is essentially limits built into the code to stop users from pirating their software. Because of pirates, users who purchase a legitimate copy of games such as “Assassin’s Creed” have to face tough DRM and can’t even play offline games without access to the Internet. This leads to the mistreatment of your fellow gamer and a major backlash against the company and may in the long term, mean fewer installments in the game franchises you love. When it comes to software aimed at productivity, like the Adobe suit of applications, year-after-year the price increases in some part due to piracy. Downloading illegal copies of the software makes it harder for legitimate businesses to afford these applications and that can affect the economy. Pirating software may seem like a victimless crime at first, but the long term and short-term risk to yourself and others is always there.

Guest Writer
Maria Rainier

Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and recent graduate of Elon University. She is currently a resident blogger at online degrees, where recently she’s been researching different online nutrition science degrees and blogging about student life. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.