Constructing the Pirate: Illegal Downloading and the Ethics of Consumption

Constructing the Pirate:

Illegal Downloading and the Ethics of Consumption

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Thursday, 7 April 2011

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mailto:[email protected]

Piracy is a Crime campaign


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.


“There is no difference with

going into a store and stealing Pringles or a handbag and

taking this stuff” James Murdoch


Consumption without Purchase

•Downloader as thief•Stealing physical goods = copying

digital ones•Downloading is like crime against

the person


‘dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another

with the intention of permanently depriving the

other of it.’ UK 1968 Theft Act


Piracy does not deprive ownership

of goods but control over the selling of goods.

Problem of maximising profits

when scarcity cannot be managed.


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.


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’


‘There are more ways than ever to enjoy music legally.’ ‘Make the ethical choice.’

http://www.whymusicmatters.org/)


http://www.whymusicmatters.org

http://www.whymusicmatters.org

But this is just good business...


...surely academic researchers don’t see it the same way.

They are clever and critical...


‘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:


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


Lacking in moral substance or self-control

(Morris and Higgins, 2009; Malin and Fowers, 2009)


[D]igital piracy, more than any other dysfunctional consumer behaviour,

has significantly impacted on companies’ business models.

Harris and Alexia Dumas, 2009, p.380


Money Morality

Harm


Downloading

Loss in Sales

Loss in Revenue

Economic Harm

A wilfully harmful act is an unethical act


0

32

64

96

128

160

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Mill

ion

Physical Digital Total Sales

UK Singles SalesSource BPI


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


Economics is: ‘free from any ideological, theological, or moral philosophy’ (Alvey, 1999, p.53)


Normative ethics that don’t map onto the norms


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?


• 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:


Downloaders of illegally copied games tend to be

male, below 40 and heavy technology users.

Just like players of computer games.


We realise that

It’s a little less complicated than that.

Well sort of...


What about the context of consumption?The social background to items downloaded?The role of digital media?


Constructing the Pirate: Illegal Downloading and the Ethics of Consumption

Education

Transcript of Constructing the Pirate: Illegal Downloading and the Ethics of Consumption