Search results
1 – 10 of over 1000Jenine Beekhuyzen, Liisa von Hellens and Sue Nielsen
This paper aims to investigate the rules and rituals for joining and operating within underground music file sharing communities as well as the members' motivations for joining.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the rules and rituals for joining and operating within underground music file sharing communities as well as the members' motivations for joining.
Design/methodology/approach
Actor‐network theory is combined with an ethnographic methodology to explore the structure, technology and rules of these communities from an actor‐oriented, member perspective. Empirical data include in‐depth interviews with three file sharers, and participant‐observations for 120 days within an online community.
Findings
The paper provides an increased understanding of the structured and orderly nature of underground music file sharing communities and the perceived importance of strong rules and rituals for membership. Many communities use the same open‐source software.
Research limitations/implications
Only a small number of file sharers (three) were interviewed. However they provide rich insights into this under‐researched topic.
Practical implications
An understanding of these sophisticated underground file sharing communities assists the further development of legitimate online music systems to appeal to the large number of individuals involved in music file sharing communities.
Social implications
This paper provides an understanding of the practices within a subculture that is currently regarded as deviant and illegal, and contributes to the discussion and policy formulation on file sharing.
Originality/value
This study is the only known ethnography investigating underground music file sharing communities. These communities have not been systematically studied previously and the paper addresses this lack of research literature. This study is also novel as it applies actor‐network theory to a context to which it has not previously been applied.
Details
Keywords
Stefan Larsson, Måns Svensson, Marcin de Kaminski, Kari Rönkkö and Johanna Alkan Olsson
The purpose of this study is to understand more of online anonymity in the global file sharing community in the context of social norms and copyright law. The study describes the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to understand more of online anonymity in the global file sharing community in the context of social norms and copyright law. The study describes the respondents in terms of use of VPN or similar service related to age, gender, geographical location, as well as analysing the correlation with file sharing frequencies.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is to a large extent descriptively collecting data through a web‐based survey. This was carried out in collaboration with the BitTorrent tracker The Pirate Bay (TPB), allowing the authors to link the survey from the main logo of their site. In 72 hours the authors received over 75,000 responses, which gives the opportunity to compare use of anonymity services with factors of age, geographical region, file sharing frequency, etc.
Findings
Overall, 17.8 per cent of the respondents use a VPN or similar service (free or paid). A core of high frequency uploaders is more inclined to use VPN or similar services than the average file sharer. Online anonymity practices in the file sharing community are depending on how legal and social norms correlate (more enforcement means more anonymity).
Research limitations/implications
The web‐based survey was in English and mainly attracted visitors on The Pirate Bays' web page. This means that it is likely that those who do not have the language skills necessary were excluded from the survey.
Practical implications
This study adds to the knowledge of anonymity practices online in terms of traceability and identification. This means that it shows some of the conditions for legal enforcement in a digital environment.
Social implications
This study adds to the knowledge of how the Internet is changing in terms of a polarization between stronger means of legally enforced identification and a growing awareness of how to be more untraceable.
Originality/value
The scale of the survey, with over 75,000 respondents from most parts of the world, has likely not been seen before on this topic. The descriptive study of anonymity practices in the global file sharing community is therefore likely unique.
Details
Keywords
Oscar F. Bustinza, Ferran Vendrell‐Herrero, Glenn Parry and Vasileios Myrthianos
The purpose of this paper is to estimate the scale of illegal file‐sharing activity across ten countries and to correlate this activity with country revenues. The work aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to estimate the scale of illegal file‐sharing activity across ten countries and to correlate this activity with country revenues. The work aims to elucidate an under‐explored business model challenge which exists in parallel with a music piracy challenge.
Design/methodology/approach
The study data are drawn from a number of sources, including a data set of a survey of more than 44,000 consumers in ten different countries undertaken in 2010. Following analysis, all findings are validated by a panel of industry experts.
Findings
Results show that non‐legitimate file‐sharing activity is a heterogeneous issue across countries. The scale of activity varies from 14 per cent in Germany to 44 per cent in Spain, with an average of 28 per cent. File‐sharing activity negatively correlates to music industry revenue per capita. This research finds many consumers are not engaging with online business models. Almost one fourth of the population claim that they do not consume digital music in either legal or illegal forms. This phenomenon is also negatively correlated with sales per capita.
Practical implications
Results support the need for policy makers to introduce strong intellectual property rights (IPR) regulation which reduces file‐sharing activity. The work also identifies a large percentage of non‐participants in the digital market who may be re‐engaged with music through business model innovation.
Originality/value
This research presents a map of the current file‐sharing activity in ten countries using a rich and unique dataset. The work identifies that a country's legal origin correlates to data on file‐sharing activity, with countries from a German legal origin illegally file sharing least. Approximately, half of the survey respondents chose not to answer the question related to file‐sharing activity. Different estimates of the true scale of file‐sharing activity are given based upon three different assumptions of the file sharing activity of non‐respondents to this question. The challenge of engaging consumers in the digital market through different business models is discussed in light of digital music's high velocity environment.
Details
Keywords
With the rise of the internet, the act of sharing copyrighted material has received a lot of attention, culminating in a flood of lawsuits against file‐sharers as well as studies…
Abstract
Purpose
With the rise of the internet, the act of sharing copyrighted material has received a lot of attention, culminating in a flood of lawsuits against file‐sharers as well as studies concerning the costs of file‐sharing for the entertainment industry. This paper attempts to judge whether file‐sharing really is an ethically problematic act and, upon achieving this, goes on to propose strategies to avoid file‐sharing and discuss ethical considerations surrounding those distribution alternatives.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper limits its discussion to the medium of moving images. It tries to achieve above aims by applying the ethics of Immanuel Kant to the phenomenon of file‐sharing on the internet and borrowing ideas for alternative, file‐sharing avoiding, strategies from practitioners and media commentators and applying Kant's ideas to those.
Findings
The paper argues that file‐sharing cannot, per se, be considered to be unethical. While file‐sharing has positive and negative aspects, the proposed alternative distribution strategies, a one‐stop shop and giving films away for free, seem to avoid the negative implications of file‐sharing while not impeding with its positive facets. The paper concludes that, since the suggested strategies exist but are not yet implemented by the commercial film industry, the moral responsibility for file‐sharing lies with the commercial film industry, not with the individual file‐sharer.
Originality/value
The paper hence adds to the discussions surrounding online files haring by shifting the focus towards the entertainment industry as well as by providing alternative, file‐sharing avoiding, distribution solutions.
Details
Keywords
Purpose – This chapter discusses the criminalization of sharing music on peer-to-peer (p2p) networks. Taking the Italian situation into consideration, it aims to…
Abstract
Purpose – This chapter discusses the criminalization of sharing music on peer-to-peer (p2p) networks. Taking the Italian situation into consideration, it aims to introduce a socio-legal reflection about the processes of construction of this deviance.
Design methodology/approach – Adopting a constructionist approach, this chapter first explores the ways in which the social problem of music piracy was built in Italy. The choice of the legislator to place this practice within the category of criminal behaviour was analysed and examined. In the second section, the points of view of other participants involved in the practice of file sharing are taken into account.
Findings – Placing file sharing within the jurisdiction of criminal law does not seem to respond to the needs to counter the infringement of a shared social value, but it rather seems to reflect the protagonists’ involvement into the process of legislative decision about piracy conception and idea of the damage caused by this phenomenon, promoted and conveyed by the music business. The way in which piracy is conceived by Italian legislation emerges here in its partial understanding of the effects of this practice. Sharing music on digital networks appears as a highly conflicted crime, whose harmfulness is scarcely perceived by the society. Furthermore, file sharing repression policy seems to give shape to a new victimless crime, whose harmful effects do not seem to actually fall back on artists or consumers.
Originality/value – Sharing music on the net and violating copyright is little studied from the perspective of the sociology of crime. Using this approach, this chapter contributes to a better understanding of the phenomenon.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to better understand the world‐view of cultural consumers who download and share copyrighted content for free.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to better understand the world‐view of cultural consumers who download and share copyrighted content for free.
Design/methodology/approach
By utilizing a critical discourse analysis of the arguments given by file‐sharers in online forums and in interviews, focusing on the arguments which arise for justifying certain everyday uses, and contrasting these with their material and structural conditions, a critical approach is sought, inquiring on the validity of certain tropes. Particularity was achieved by making a geographically delimited case study.
Findings
The case study helps to conceptualize online sociality, with wider application than this geographical setting only. As BitTorrent technology makes every downloader share his/her files while downloading, file‐sharing is found to accommodate individual opportunism, and a world‐view that puts the consumer at the centre of agency, in turn reinforcing the civic idea of cultural access and diversity as a human right.
Research limitations/implications
Previous findings have correlated heavy file‐sharing with heavy consumption of culture. However, given the greater ability of previewing material and of acquiring more obscure content, how have the habits and consumption patterns changed among media consumers who routinely file‐share? More detailed studies are needed, on how individual users come to question their own role, and the impact of their own actions – and what the level of awareness actually is (in different geographical/demographic settings) of the conditions for cultural production, distribution and consumption. A range of potential new research areas and scenarios is listed.
Practical implications
Given the common constituents seen in the world‐views of file‐sharers, this civic approach to intellectual property could prompt professional producers, distributors, rights holders and regulators to consider the actual visibility of potential impacts of file‐sharing. The civic approach suggests that file‐sharers can reconcile with individual authors or artists, as long as these are found to have precarious economic conditions, and not be affiliated with an industrial mode of reasoning. Cultural producers that are seen to adhere to a civic (amateur‐ or fan‐like) mode of reasoning – rather than an industrial (professional) one – are met with more sympathy among consumers.
Originality/value
The paper is of interest for media sociology, cultural studies, and policymaking within the cultural industries.
Details
Keywords
Ramon Casadesus‐Masanell and Andres Hervas‐Drane
This paper aims to explore online sharing of copyrighted content over peer‐to‐peer (p2p) file sharing networks and its impact on the music industry, and to assess the viable…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore online sharing of copyrighted content over peer‐to‐peer (p2p) file sharing networks and its impact on the music industry, and to assess the viable business models for the industry in the future.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analyze the evolution of the online content market over the years that followed the widespread adoption of p2p. The paper is based on a teaching case, and builds on two related academic papers that provide the theoretical underpinnings for the analysis.
Findings
Based on the early developments observed in this marketplace and the aforementioned theoretical work, the paper argues that it is unfeasible to fully eradicate p2p, and so the industry must embrace it by understanding how consumers derive value from the technologies that enable it.
Originality/value
The developments analyzed here offer relevant insights for the online content marketplace, allow the scope of strategies available to the music industry to be understood better, and may provide lessons for other industries transitioning to online business models.
Details
Keywords
Patrick Wolf, Martin Steinebach and Konstantin Diener
The purpose of this paper is to show how digital watermarking can be applied to assist and improve cryptography‐based digital rights management (DRM) systems by allowing the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to show how digital watermarking can be applied to assist and improve cryptography‐based digital rights management (DRM) systems by allowing the protection of content beyond the domain protected by the DRM system.
Design/methodology/approach
Digital watermarking is a passive technology, not allowing the active prevention of copyright violations. But it allows the irreversible linking of information with multimedia data, ensuring that an embedded watermark can be retrieved even after analogue copies. Therefore watermarking can be used where DRM fails: whenever content needs to be moved out of the protected DRM domain, e.g. when playing back content via analogue output channels it can mark the content with information that would help to identify its origin if it is used for copyright violations. The remaining challenge now is to find the marked content within the channels regularly used for copyright violations. The paper therefore introduces a concept for scanning file sharing networks for marked content.
Findings
The vast number of files present in the file sharing networks prohibits every approach based on completely scanning and analysing each file. Therefore concepts for filtered search queries where only potentially watermarked files are downloaded are discussed.
Originality/value
The paper shows how watermarking can be applied as a technology to allow active content protection beyond the limitations of current DRM systems.
Details
Keywords
Aimee van Wynsberghe and Jeroen van der Ham
The purpose of this paper is to develop a novel approach for the ethical analysis of data collected from an online file-sharing site known as The PirateBay. Since the creation of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a novel approach for the ethical analysis of data collected from an online file-sharing site known as The PirateBay. Since the creation of Napster back in the late 1990s for the sharing and distribution of MP3 files across the Internet, the entertainment industry has struggled to deal with the regulation of information sharing at large. Added to the ethical questions of censorship and distributive justice are questions related to the use of data collected from such file-sharing sites for research purposes.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach is based on previous work analysing the use of data from online social networking sites and involves value analysis of the collection of data throughout the data’s various life cycles.
Findings
This paper highlights the difficulties faced when attempting to apply a deontological or utilitarian approach to cases like the one used here. With this in mind, the authors point to a virtue ethics approach as a way to address ethical issues related to data sharing in the face of ever-changing data gathering and sharing practices.
Practical implications
This work is intended to provide a concrete approach for ethical data sharing practices in the domain of Internet security research.
Originality/value
The approach presented in this paper is a novel approach combining the insights from: the embedded values concept, value-sensitive design and the approach of the embedded ethicist.
Details
Keywords
Niklas Elert, Magnus Henrekson and Joakim Wernberg
Evasive entrepreneurs innovate by circumventing or disrupting existing formal institutional frameworks. Since such evasions rarely go unnoticed, they usually lead to responses…
Abstract
Purpose
Evasive entrepreneurs innovate by circumventing or disrupting existing formal institutional frameworks. Since such evasions rarely go unnoticed, they usually lead to responses from lawmakers and regulators. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors introduce a conceptual model to illustrate and map the interdependencey between evasive entrepreneurship and the regulatory response it provokes. The authors apply this framework to the case of the file sharing platform The Pirate Bay, a venture with a number of clearly innovative and evasive features.
Findings
The platform was a radical, widely applied innovation that transformed the internet landscape, yet its founders became convicted criminals because of it.
Originality/value
Applying the evasive entrepreneurship framework to this case improves the understanding of the relationship between policymaking and entrepreneurship in the digital age, and is a first step toward exploring best responses for regulators facing evasive entrepreneurship.
Details