Post on 11-Nov-2014
description
Constructing the Pirate:
Illegal Downloading and the Ethics of Consumption
Jason.Rutter@soc.kuleuven.be
Thursday, 7 April 2011
Piracy is a Crime campaign
Thursday, 7 April 2011
You wouldn’t steal a car.You wouldn’t steal a handbag.
You wouldn’t steal a television.You wouldn’t steal a movie.
Downloading pirated films is stealing.Stealing is against the law.
Piracy. It’s a crime.
Thursday, 7 April 2011
“There is no difference with
going into a store and stealing Pringles or a handbag and
taking this stuff” James Murdoch
Thursday, 7 April 2011
Consumption without Purchase
•Downloader as thief•Stealing physical goods = copying
digital ones•Downloading is like crime against
the person
Thursday, 7 April 2011
‘dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another
with the intention of permanently depriving the
other of it.’ UK 1968 Theft Act
Thursday, 7 April 2011
Piracy does not deprive ownership
of goods but control over the selling of goods.
Problem of maximising profits
when scarcity cannot be managed.
Thursday, 7 April 2011
Knock Off Nigel campaignThursday, 7 April 2011
He’s the type of man that does things on the cheap,
He gave his girlfriend a watch he found in the street.
He buys knock-off DVDs.He’d rob his own gran.
He scrounges his drinks.What a grubby little man.
Thursday, 7 April 2011
Downloaders as Bad People
•‘a grubby little man’ •‘a real creep’•‘steals money from whip ‘rounds’•‘does things on the cheap’•‘scrounges his drinks’ •‘He’d rob his own gran’
Thursday, 7 April 2011
‘There are more ways than ever to enjoy music legally.’ ‘Make the ethical choice.’
http://www.whymusicmatters.org/)
Thursday, 7 April 2011
But this is just good business...
Thursday, 7 April 2011
...surely academic researchers don’t see it the same way.
They are clever and critical...
Thursday, 7 April 2011
‘unethical’ (Mitchell et al., 2009; Cohn & Vaccaro, 2006; Hinduja, 2003)
‘misbehaviour’ (Albers-Miller, 1999; Harris & Dumas, 2009)
‘questionable’ (Freestone & Mitchell, 2004; Hinduja, 2008)
‘corruption’ (Coyle et al., 2009)
‘aberrant’ (Freestone & Mitchell, 2004)
Piracy is:
Thursday, 7 April 2011
University students are targeted for analysis [...] because school is where
honorable ethical values must be instilled and strengthened. Piracy undermines the
integrity of the educational institution. [...] [P]erhaps software piracy will inevitably precipitate additional forms of unethical
and unlawful computer and network usage, such as the sale of boot- legged copyright material, hacking, Internet stalking, and even dabbling in child
pornography.
Hinduja, 2003, p.50
Thursday, 7 April 2011
Lacking in moral substance or self-control
(Morris and Higgins, 2009; Malin and Fowers, 2009)
Thursday, 7 April 2011
[D]igital piracy, more than any other dysfunctional consumer behaviour,
has significantly impacted on companies’ business models.
Harris and Alexia Dumas, 2009, p.380
Thursday, 7 April 2011
Money Morality
Harm
Thursday, 7 April 2011
Downloading
Loss in Sales
Loss in Revenue
Economic Harm
A wilfully harmful act is an unethical act
Thursday, 7 April 2011
0
32
64
96
128
160
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Mill
ion
Physical Digital Total Sales
UK Singles SalesSource BPI
Thursday, 7 April 2011
0
500
1000
1500
2000
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Mill
ion
Physical Units Digital Units Total Units
Source RIAAUSA Music Sales
Thursday, 7 April 2011
Economics is: ‘free from any ideological, theological, or moral philosophy’ (Alvey, 1999, p.53)
Thursday, 7 April 2011
Normative ethics that don’t map onto the norms
Thursday, 7 April 2011
95%Amount of downloaded music for which rights o w n e r r e c e i v e s n o payment. (IFPI, 2009)
33%
One third of people have knowingly bought counterfeit or pirated goods. (Bryce & Rutter, 2008)
6000Between 2006 & 2009 Davenport Lyons sent out
letters threatening legal action against alleged downloader ’s content unless they paid ₤500The recovery rate was between 20-35%.
Pirates may be a minority but can we claim they
form a subculture?
Thursday, 7 April 2011
• Piracy as a positive economic force• Copyright as a form of exploitation• Market management should not take
precedence of social liberties• Piracy as form of consumption• That consumption as routine, situated and
contextual
Discourse excludes possibilities of:
Thursday, 7 April 2011
Downloaders of illegally copied games tend to be
male, below 40 and heavy technology users.
Just like players of computer games.
Thursday, 7 April 2011
We realise that
It’s a little less complicated than that.
Well sort of...
Thursday, 7 April 2011
What about the context of consumption?The social background to items downloaded?The role of digital media?
Thursday, 7 April 2011