‘Isn’t it just a way to protect Walt Disney’s rights?’: Media user perspectives on copyright

Abstract

With digitization allowing for faster and easier sharing and copying of media, the behaviour and attitudes of everyday users of copyrighted material have become an increasing focus of policy, industry and academic attention. This article connects historical characterizations of copyright infringement and the role of the public interest in the development of copyright law and policy with the complex experience of modern, ordinary users of digital media. Users are proposed not as transgressors to be educated, regulated or scared straight, nor as a hazy and largely silent public, but as sources of legitimate perspectives that could contribute to conversations about media, creativity and regulation.

Discourse, justification and critique: towards a legitimate digital copyright regime?

“…Such a dialogue would require the involvement of all affected parties and a structured form of deliberation where different positions could be fully aired, clarified and worked through (Habermas 1997, Young 2002. It would need to meaningfully involve members of the public themselves as a source of legitimate perspectives, not just as copyright infringers who need to be better educated or regulated: as argued elsewhere, users are more than capable of offering rational justifications in relation to copyright, even in the absence of clear and detailed knowledge about it (Edwards et al 2013). However, as we have described, the 'generic structures' through which copyright policy is currently debated are limited because they do not require participants to engage directly with each other.…”

Consumer engagement with and perceptions of offshore online gambling sites

“…It is important to understand motives driving consumer behaviour to create effective campaigns to reduce this. Industry groups have similarly investigated user behaviour to drive campaigns to curtail copyright infringement through education initiatives, and emphasizing consumers’ roles in supporting the threatened creative industries, in addition to criminalization of infringements (Edwards et al, 2015). Campaigns that intend to educate consumers about laws or use arguments based on morality appear to have limited effectiveness (Edwards et al, 2015).…”

“…Thus, consumers gambling on offshore sites, may migrate to other risky and illegal activities, creating risks for themselves and society more broadly. Policies that effectively modify consumer behaviour need to be based on an accurate understanding of consumer motives (Edwards et al, 2015).…”

Copyright: a systemic marketplace icon

“…Consumer misbehaviour is by no means a new phenomenon, and people will continue drawing on local, situated cultural and social norms about copying, sharing and fostering creativity to guide their practice. In doing so, they will likely contravene national and global copyright laws for a range of reasons: ignorance, strategic decision making, lack of resources, or as a protest against the power of dominant rights holders (Edwards et al 2015b;Henkel, James, and Croce 2016). Nonetheless, unruly consumers disrupt markets, and so rights holders use discourse alongside formal punishments to persuade and discipline users into more appropriate behaviour.…”

“…Copyright is experienced differently depending on where you are in the chain of production and motivations for supporting it vary widely. Artists, workers, intermediaries, libraries and archives, commercial users and individual consumers draw on arguments grounded in marketing, consumption, personal identity, community and connection alongside the rights to reward and access that industry rights holders and activists promote (Boyle 2015;Edwards et al 2015b;Phillips and Street 2015;Henkel, James, and Croce 2016). Each of these groups has a stake in how copyright is talked about as well as the uses to which it is put.…”