Online File Sharing: Innovations In Media Consumption

Description

It is apparent that file sharing on the Internet has become an emerging norm of media consumption—especially among young people. This book provides a critical perspective on this phenomenon, exploring issues related to file sharing, downloading, peer-to-peer networks, "piracy," and (not least) policy issues regarding these practices. Andersson Schwartz critically engages with the justificatory discourses of the actual file-sharers, taking Sweden as a geographic focus. By focusing on the example of Sweden—home to both The Pirate Bay and Spotify—he provides a unique insight into a mentality that drives both innovation and deviance and accommodates sharing in both its unadulterated and its compliant, business-friendly forms. Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 6 Copyright......Page 7 Dedication......Page 8 Contents......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 12 1 Introduction......Page 14 2 Initial Orientations / Outlining the Conflict: Observations and Potentials......Page 33 3 Personal Justifications / Learning from the File Sharers While Criticizing Them......Page 68 Intermezzo: Two Gatherings......Page 96 4 Material Complexities / The Nested Historiography of Digitization......Page 99 5 Geographical Conditions / Sweden as a Case Study: The Pirate Bay and Spotify......Page 130 6 Critical Masses / Undercurrents and Articulations of Community......Page 168 7 Technologies of the Self / Subjectivities Engendered by Mass-scale File Sharing......Page 189 8 Conclusion / Cultural Consumption and Piracy......Page 210 Notes......Page 220 References......Page 222 Index......Page 244