Capital Punishment

Piracy in the Digital Age: Not so bad, Actually
Today, more than a million thieves will be stealing untold amounts of digital media to the tune of billions of dollars of lost profit.   It doesn’t occur in the seedy underbelly of a huge, crime-ridden city, it happens in office buildings and libraries, schools and in homes.   Where there is an Internet connection, there is the potential for theft.   There have been numerous lawsuits against content providers and threats of legal action against countless more, but it does little to staunch the flow from this wound.   Many corporations have been forced to adopt an “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” attitude, and provided an alternative that benefited both the consumer and businesses alike.
      Software development houses lose thousands of dollars each year to software hackers who delve deep into the programming cod to discover the algorithms for product keys or circumvent product registration.   This drives the cost of the software up, or in some cases putting smaller companies out of business.   Hackers do this so that people can download programs like Adobe Photoshop and not have to pay the hefty price tag that comes with it.
      These devious methods of obtaining software illegally have spawned a new method of distribution among video game programming houses called downloadable content.   The process is relatively simple and occurs in one of a few ways: The first, and more common, is to sell the original software for an agreeable price, or even offer it for free to generate interest in the product, but charge for additional content, like new maps to play on or items that can be used.   Some companies go an entirely different way and make the game’s source code open and encourage the people playing the games to provide the game’s content, which is an infectious way for people to get more out of the games they play.   Another method is to offer continuous content updates that require monthly subscriber fees for...