Why Do People Pirate?

Piracy is something that we are all familiar with in one form or another, particularly in the current age of the proliferation of digital information.  It is defined as the unauthorized use or reproduction of another's work.  One would even be hard pressed to find a person, especially those belonging to the slightly younger generations, who has not participated in an act of piracy in some way during their lives.  Whether it be downloading a song an burning it onto a mix cd, or buying a fake pair of Dior shoes (or whichever incredibly expensive brand specializes in shoes), or even downloading an old Nintendo game and playing it on your computer.  In fact, piracy is so rampant that many people do not even think twice about it.  They certainly do not feel as bad as they would have if they had walked into a store and stolen a piece of equivalent merchandise.  So the question is, what reasons do so many people have to continue to pirate copyrighted material without feeling any remorse?  

Probably because most feel feel that when they do pirate material, they are essentially just taking away some small amount of profit from a giant or rich entity or corporation, who does not really need the money in the first place.  This can be seen as an act of rebellion against the dominant capitalist ideals being propagated within our society.  Piracy is seen by some as an act of protest against rich corporations or individuals (essentially 'The [proverbial] Man').  The corporation in question could be an international record company who already has a strong hold on the market and plenty of money, and the entity could be a well known artist or millionaire who does not need any more money than they already have.  It is essentially the 'taking money (or a cultural commodity as it were) from the rich to give to the poor' mentality.  This view of piracy represents a very anti-capitalist mindset where the pirate is deciding not to contribute to the wealth of the already wealthy.  The problem here would be when independent artists/musicians or small business owners are effected and driven to have to stop producing their cultural commodity for lack of monetary compensation as a direct result of piracy.  

So now we have covered the rebellion against the mainstream aspect, but what about those who have no problem living in a capitalist dominated world, participate in it, and yet continue to pirate material?  To answer this question, we follow Pang's lead and take a look at what is happening in Asia.  Although piracy is a growing problem in North America, it is many times worse in Asia.  According to Pang, 85% percent of Asian computers contain pirated material, compared with North America's 33%.  According to Pang, Asian's are currently in a situation where they are moving towards a more modernized world, a world in which they desperately strive to build for themselves.  They look to the West (particularly America) as a model for successful modernization and they see America's cultural products as representations of this modernization (Pang, 20).  It makes sense that they would want to appropriate American entertainment culture if that meant that they could gaze, however briefly and in whatever quality, into the modernized world that they so desire.  Pirating this material is simply the easiest way to obtain foreign content and since Asia is so far removed from the United States, they do not really see the consequences of their actions ad therefore do not feel any guilt or remorse.  

As discussed in class, Western governments and organizations such as the WTO are increasingly putting pressure on Asian governments to crack down on piracy and put an end to this problem.  Indeed, piracy is a global problem, and it will take an incredible amount of work and time to put an end to the piracy issue.  Currently, the affected industries are working hard with governments and organizations to figure out the best way to deal with this problem, but there is much work to be done.  

Pang, Laikwan (2004).  'Mediating the Ethics of Technology:  Hollywood and Movie Piracy.'  Culture, Theory and Critique, 45 (1): 19-32.