李嘉雯
When it comes to the question of piracy, there seems to be a consensus
that people should respect and protect the intellectual property rights
of all, and that all copy-cat actions should stop. But, recently in
Taiwan, resistance to anti-piracy regulations is rising and it is
sweeping across the whole island.
As the resistance group points out, 「intellectual property rights」 is a
phrase created by businessmen for their own profit, and the call for
「anti-piracy」 is not for protecting the artists』 entitlement but for the
capitalists』 gain. A few days ago, the teachers』 union protested
against Microsoft』s new rigid policy toward Taiwan. Microsoft Company
had requested that all schools using Microsoft』s software must pay for
its use on each individual computer. But if the school authorities pay
for the software for each computer, it would cost 750 billion dollars a
year! Not to mention how much more would have to be paid by the
students for their own personal computer at home. The Internet café
business had also encountered the same hardship. As Microsoft Company
has already engrossed the market of software in Taiwan, consumers seem
to have no other recourse than to accept its high-priced strategy for
other application programs and games. This is why the resistance
against the anti-piracy measures has risen.
In my opinion, our government has the responsibility to deal with the
big businesses of other countries and to institute a reasonable price
for software use for its people. In short, what our country should do
is make people really benefit from the intellectual property rights, not
to help the capitalists profiteer more. Only in this way will people
really respect others』 invention/creation.