To Purchase or Pirate: Copyright Infringement and the Valuation of Digital Media.

• In Event: 545 - Section on Sociology of Culture Roundtable Session.
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 19. Production of Culture I

Abstract

The pervasive use of Information and Communication Technologies in everyday consumption has provided a new means by which entertainment media is accessed, consumed, and experienced. Advancements in file-sharing and streaming capabilities has changed how digital entertainment is appropriated and used, and has led to new ways in which media is experienced and enjoyed. The use of Internet technologies can shape what is valued in entertainment media, contributing to what products are worth consuming, and the method in which they would like to be consumed. Recent studies demonstrate that active copyright infringers acquire a significant proportion of goods through legitimate sources, demonstrating a variation in how copyright infringers choose to purchase or pirate entertainment media. This suggests that the willingness to pay for an item may be related to how products are valued by copyright infringers, predicated on the presence of certain standards of quality that contribute to an item being desirable for purchase. Through the use of a qualitative database created by the Cybernorms research group, this research examines how consumption practices and purchasing decisions are changing online through the analysis of copyright infringer accounts of the criteria contributing to the purchasing or pirating of digital media. Approaching copyright infringement from a Valuation Studies perspective, the pursuit of pirated materials can be understood as a practice that arises out of assessing criteria related to the assessment of quality, and include multiple criteria in determining whether a product/service is worth purchasing or pursuing through alternative means, such as file-sharing websites.

Author

• Lance Stewart, University of Toronto