Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Forced pirates and the ethics of digital film

Forced pirates and the ethics of digital film 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. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society Emerald Publishing

Forced pirates and the ethics of digital film

Download PDF
11 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/forced-pirates-and-the-ethics-of-digital-film-ElRoeoacxe
Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
1477-996X
DOI
10.1108/14779961111167667
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

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.

Journal

Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society – Emerald Publishing

Published: Aug 16, 2011

Keywords: Kant; File‐sharing; Ethics; Internet; Film

References

  • The impact of music downloads and P2P file‐sharing on the purchase of music. A study for Industry Canada
    Andersen, B.; Frenz, M.
  • Free: The Future of a Radical Price
    Anderson, C.
  • Music experience and behaviour in young people
    Bahanovich, D.; Collopy, D.
  • On‐line piracy and recorded music sales
    Blackburn, D.
  • Goodbye Pareto principle, hello long tail: the effect of search costs on the concentration of product sales
    Brynjolfsson, E.; Hu, Y.J.; Simester, D.
  • The problem of social cost
    Coase, R.H.
  • Free vs freely distributed
    Cuban, M.
  • Chris Anderson's free adds much to the long tail, but falls short
    Doctorow, C.
  • And the most pirated film of 2009 is … , in
    Gardner, E.
  • Do artists benefit from online music sharing?
    Gopal, R.D.; Bhattacharjee, S.; Sanders, G.L.
  • Piracy and the legitimate demand for recorded music
    Hui, K.L.; Png, I.P.L.
  • Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals
    Kant, I.
  • Of the Injustice of Counterfeiting Books
    Kant, I.
  • Better than free
    Kelly, K.
  • Kantian duty ethics compared with current intellectual property rights laws
    Kimppa, K.K.