Music Piracy: The Blur in Criminological Focus

Research suggests that those individuals engaging in music piracy have little concern for the potentially negative consequences of engaging in this illegal activity. This study aims to build on previous research which finds that sub-cultural piracy knowledge is effectively transmitted online. Explicitly, this study aims to observe the various justifications people forward to rationalise engagement in music piracy, in accordance with Sykes and Matza’s (1957) widely researched neutralization theory, and if techniques used to rationalize behaviours are shared amongst those individuals found to be discussing and engaging in music piracy online. The research examines naturally occurring discourse across three online settings, finding a widespread perception that there is ‘no harm done’ and that tips to work around web-blocking are exchanged online, including in public spaces such as Twitter. However, differences were found in the beliefs and attitudes of the sample. The study raises key conceptual issues about the theory used.

2012

Systems and technologies used for unauthorised file sharing have received little attention in the Information Systems literature. This paper attempts to fill this gap by presenting a critical, qualitative study on the motivations for using unauthorised file sharing systems. Based on 30 interviews with music consumers, musicians, and the music industry, this paper reports on the decision of music consumers to 'pirate or purchase'.

Media Culture & Society, 2005

Y.Jewkes (ed), Crime Online. Cullompton: Willan., 2006

Southern African Transport CConference, 2018

This paper investigates the link between the rationales between piracy attacks, the information gathered from such incidents and if the same information may be used to address the rationale behind piracy to combat and prevent it. A common understanding of piracy is sought, especially where it relates to the "where" piracy takes places and how it being limited to the High Seas, being outside a State's jurisdiction limits its combating and prevention. The seven rationales behind piracy is then indicated, followed by insight into how piracy information currently is composed off and then brought together by indicating which information is required based on which rationale behind piracy as its incentive. The approach was to identify how information may be used to indicate the incentive for piracy and so combat and prevent piracy from happening. Lastly, the paper highlights how much of this approach is presenting a new perspective in the combat and prevention of piracy.

Deviant Behavior, 2008

Hertfordshire Law Journal, 2007

The ongoing battle between file sharers and the entertainment industries is one which has been largely approached from the point of view of the latter parties with the reasoning that the law should be invoked to clamp down on the distribution of unauthorised copies of works through peer to peer networks. This paper argues that the industries, with the assistance of the legislature in certain circumstances, should be focussing their attentions not on limiting the natural evolution being brought about in the digital age, but by recognising that many of the parties labelled as scurrilous pirates are actually a rich market which can be tapped into through alternative means. An analysis of various theories relating to the routes, impacts and effects of file sharing is applied to a digital distribution model. The model is then expanded to encompass the Efficient Distribution Theory which argues that, through the application of measures which can be cheaply and easily implemented by the entertainment industries, a number of factors can mitigate any negative effects file sharing may cause to the extent that widely distributing digital copies can be directly beneficial to the industries. The analysis and theory is supported by the results of a research study carried out by the author in February 2007, which are presented in this paper. The findings of the research indicate that those who engage in cyber piracy not only financially spend more on authorised products proliferated by the entertainment industries compared to those who do not engage in piracy, but are also willing to move away from committing tortious acts of copyright infringement if the industries can provide a viable alternative means of digital delivery, inter alia.

European Management Journal, 2002

The music and software industry are employing copy-protection devices in CDs and digital downloads to strengthen their weak appropriability regimes that leave ample opportunities for modernday piracy. The effectiveness of the strategy is explained on the grounds that (a) the knowledge involved in copy protection is generally too sophisticated for consumers to circumvent, and (b) consumers are not allowed to use circumvention techniques created by knowledgeable third parties. Copy protection is controversial, because it deprives consumers of making home copies of music and software, and hence overrules copyright law that exempts the copying for private use. It is argued that the technical enforcement of copyright protection in the home domain of millions of individuals necessitates a wide consensus between business and society about the legitimacy of private and fair use. 

This chapter assesses the future trends and trajectory of the optical media piracy. It traces briefly the development of media piracy from the VCR technology using the cassette format to the current digital and nanotechnology using the Internet and file sharing protocols. Optical disc piracy will be a transitory phenomenon in developing countries with underdeveloped IP and Internet culture. As the country increases in Internet penetration, the locus of media piracy shifts from the temporal space of the sidewalk stalls selling pirated DVDs or illegal CD-DVD shops to the cyber space of the Internet. The use of discs becomes less popular as media piracy becomes more convenient, easier and cheaper with direct illegal downloading, peer-to-peer sharing, and other evasive techniques using the latest sophisticated hardware and software technologies. This chapter then examines some popular and current online digital piracy such as Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file sharing, cyberlocker, media box, anti-circumvention technology, digital spying and hacking, and other Internet piracy supported by digital, cloud and nanotechnology. This chapter also makes projections on media piracy would look like with the advent of quantum computing and technology. Media piracy follows technological advancement and innovation, thus difficult for authorities to curb as it uses the same technology used by copyright holders which provides infringers with a variety of options to respond regulation. Finally, this chapter examines the difficulty of regulating the Internet and the role and future involvement of China in counterfeiting and media piracy. With the rise of online media piracy, regulating the Internet would then be the main challenge of law enforcement and copyright owners as regulating the Internet to curb piracy would not be easy with legality and illegality becoming more intimately connected with the growing sophistication of technology and conflicting business interests between service providers and content providers, and between copyright industries and top IT and ICT.

Sociological Perspectives on Media Piracy in the Philippines and Vietnam, 2016

This chapter assesses the future trends and trajectory of the optical media piracy. Media piracy is an evolving cybercrime which can easily adapt to the current technological and global environment. It traces briefly the development of media piracy from the VCR technology using the cassette format to the current digital and nanotechnology using the Internet and file sharing protocols. Optical disc piracy will be a transitory phenomenon in developing countries with underdeveloped IP and Internet culture. As the country increases in Internet penetration, the locus of media piracy shifts from the temporal space of the sidewalk stalls selling pirated DVDs or illegal CD–DVD shops to the cyberspace of the Internet. The use of discs becomes less popular as media piracy becomes more convenient, easier, and cheaper with direct illegal downloading, peer-to-peer sharing, and other evasive techniques using the latest sophisticated hardware and software technologies. This chapter then examines some popular and current online digital piracy such as peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, cyberlocker, media box, anti-circumvention technology, digital spying and hacking, and other Internet piracy supported by digital, cloud, and nanotechnology. It also makes projections on media piracy look like with the advent of quantum computing and technology. Media piracy follows technological advancement and innovation, thus making it difficult for authorities to curb as it uses the same technology used by copyright holders which provides them with a variety of options to respond to regulation. Finally, this chapter examines the difficulty of regulating the Internet and the role and future involvement of China in counterfeiting and media piracy. With the rise of online media piracy, regulating the Internet would then be the main challenge of law enforcement and copyright owners as regulating the Internet to curb piracy would not be easy with legality and illegality becoming more intimately connected with the growing sophistication of technology and conflicting business interests between service providers and content providers and between copyright industries and top IT and ICT.