A developmental perspective of computer and information technology ethics: Piracy of software and digital music by young adolescents

This study investigated moral developmental dimensions of piracy during early adolescence. Software piracy costs the computer industry billions each year and is a problem among both adults and adolescents.; The researcher compared moral reasoning and related behavior among propiracy and antipiracy students. Quantitative research methodologies were employed using descriptive surveys within a sample of 264 seventh-grade students.; The study revealed that there is a difference in moral orientation toward tangible property and computer-based property among early adolescents. About half of the subjects (51.89%) advocated piracy, compared to 10.23% for bike theft. An even greater portion (60.61%) supported the act on the Internet. In terms of moral reasoning, 13 of 15 Likert-scale items were significantly different between groups.; Moral orientation toward piracy does not appear to be related to actual general ethical behavior and vice versa. However, early adolescents appear more extensively engaged in piracy than previously thought: 46% software CDs, 53% multiple-loading, and 72% MP3 music files.; These results suggest that intervention efforts aimed at this age group might be an effective strategy to curb the current international, multi-billion dollar problem of software piracy.