Open Source Software in Eastern Europe and other Emerging Markets: The Moral Alternative to Piracy?

摘要

Central and Eastern Europe countries have some of the highest software piracy rates of any region in the world. At the same time, many business analyses have touted information technology as an area with a great potential for growth that could help the countries of this region jump some developmental stages and reduce the current economic gap that separates them from the developed countries. Can this potential come to fruition in an environment where the infringement of intellectual property rights (IPRs) remains so widespread in the very sector that should drive this new economic development? What are the relationships between the protection of IPRs, the local software industry, and the wider dissemination of and access to information technology? Are there alternative methods to address piracy without hurting the transfer and diffusion of this technology, and, if so, why aren't these methods currently used? Can open source software (OSS) provide a moral and viable alternative?