What Motivates Software Crackers?

Software piracy is a serious problem in the software industry. Software authors and publishing companies lose revenue when pirated software rather than legally purchased software is used. Policy developers are forced to invest time and money into restricting software piracy. Much of the published research literature focuses on software piracy by end-users. However, end-users are only able to copy software once the copy protection has been removed by a ‘cracker’. This research aims to explore why, if copy protection is so difficult to remove, do crackers invest their skill and time in this activity instead of more lucrative and legal employment. This study develops a framework of neutralisation, justification and motivation and goes directly to the initial software crackers to determine what motivates their activities. The study first applies this framework in an anonymous online survey of crackers. The study then conducts cognitive interviews with eight crackers to explore and further validate the survey’s findings. The study finds the challenge of removing the copy protection from software as the strongest motivation for the actions of crackers. Desire for social participation, while found to be rewarding, was considered unnecessary for crackers to continue their actions. Higher social status was not a motivational factor but was a perceived by-product of cracking. The study also raises areas for future research. Dr. Sigi Goode is a senior lecturer in Information Systems at the Australian National University, Canberra and a director of the Australian National Centre for Information Systems Research (NCISR). His PhD thesis dealt with construct validity in IS reserarch. Dr. Goode has published in a variety of journals, including Information & Management, Journal of Global Information Technology Management, Journal of Computer Information Systems, Information Systems Management, Information Technology and Management and the Australian Journal of Information Systems, among others. His research interests include system adoption, mobile commerce, software piracy and open source software. Mr. Sam Cruise has a First Class Honours degree in Information Systems from the Australian National University. Sam has also worked as a project officer for an IT and health research project and recently completed a Graduate Diploma in Education from the University of Western Australia. Sam is currently studying medicine at Griffith University. Sam’s research interests include software piracy and policy, education and information systems use.