Law, norms, piracy and online anonymity: Practices of de‐identification in the global file sharing community
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| Název: | Law, norms, piracy and online anonymity: Practices of de‐identification in the global file sharing community |
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| Autoři: | Larsson, Stefan, Svensson, Måns, De Kaminski, Marcin, Rönkkö, Kari, Alkan Olsson, Johanna |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing: Special Issue on Digital Piracy; 6(4), pp 260-280 (2012) |
| Informace o vydavateli: | Emerald, 2012. |
| Rok vydání: | 2012 |
| Témata: | copyright, 05 social sciences, Information Systems, Social aspects, enforcement, social norms, VPN, traceability, 0508 media and communications, piracy, file sharing, Law and Society, Anonymity, The Pirate Bay, Information Systems, Social aspects (including Human Aspects of ICT), Law, 0505 law |
| Popis: | PurposeThe 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/approachThis 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.FindingsOverall, 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/implicationsThe 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 implicationsThis 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 implicationsThis 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/valueThe 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. |
| Druh dokumentu: | Article |
| Popis souboru: | application/pdf |
| Jazyk: | English |
| ISSN: | 2040-7122 |
| DOI: | 10.1108/17505931211282391 |
| Přístupová URL adresa: | https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/3540728/4053829.pdf https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/publication/aaf8d783-e901-4742-abe4-739c07213c39 https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/17505931211282391/full/html https://portal.research.lu.se/ws/files/3540728/4053829.pdf https://lucris.lub.lu.se/ws/files/3540728/4053829.pdf http://lup.lub.lu.se/search/ws/files/3540728/4053829.pdf http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/17505931211282391?journalCode=jrim https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3045964 http://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3045964 |
| Rights: | Emerald Insight Site Policies pd |
| Přístupové číslo: | edsair.doi.dedup.....e4adc05a6545e2074b5bdec72412501d |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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Nájsť tento článok vo Web of Science | Abstrakt: | PurposeThe 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/approachThis 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.FindingsOverall, 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/implicationsThe 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 implicationsThis 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 implicationsThis 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/valueThe 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. |
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| ISSN: | 20407122 |
| DOI: | 10.1108/17505931211282391 |