This book builds an empirical basis towards creating broader prevention and intervention programs in curbing digital piracy. It addresses the psychosocial, cultural and criminological factors associated with digital piracy to construct more efficient problem-solving mechanisms. Digital piracy including online piracy involves illegal copying of copyrighted materials. This practice costs the software industry, entertainment industry, and governments billions of dollars every year. Reports of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Business Software Alliance (BSA) view piracy largely in the light of economic factors; the assumption being that only those who cannot afford legitimate copies of software, music, and movies indulge in it. Drawing on research and theories from various disciplines like psychology, sociology, criminology, and law, the authors have designed an empirical study to understand the contribution of psychological, cultural and criminological factors to digital piracy. The chapters include data from India and China, which continue to be on the Special 301 report priority watch list of the WIPO, and Serbia, which has been on the watch list 4 times. They examine the role of self-control, self-efficacy, perceived punishment severity, awareness about digital piracy, peer influence, neutralization techniques, novelty seeking, pro-industry factors and other socio-demographic factors in predicting digital piracy. This book addresses a large readership, comprising academics and researchers in psychology, criminology and criminal justice, law and intellectual property rights, social sciences, and IT, as well as policymakers, to better understand and deal with the phenomenon of digital piracy.

When most people think of piracy, they think of Bittorrent and The Pirate Bay. These public manifestations of piracy, though, conceal an elite worldwide, underground, organized network of pirate groups who specialize in obtaining media – music, videos, games, and software – before their official sale date and then racing against one another to release the material for free. Warez: The Infrastructure and Aesthetics of Piracy is the first scholarly research book about this underground subculture, which began life in the pre-internet era Bulletin Board Systems and moved to internet File Transfer Protocol servers (“topsites") in the mid- to late-1990s. The “Scene," as it is known, is highly illegal in almost every aspect of its operations. The term “Warez" itself refers to pirated media, a derivative of “software." Taking a deep dive in the documentary evidence produced by the Scene itself, Warez describes the operations and infrastructures an underground culture with its own norms and rules of participation, its own forms of sociality, and its own artistic forms. Even though forms of digital piracy are often framed within ideological terms of equal access to knowledge and culture, Eve uncovers in the Warez Scene a culture of competitive ranking and one-upmanship that is at odds with the often communalist interpretations of piracy. Broad in scope and novel in its approach, Warez is indispensible reading for anyone interested in recent developments in digital culture, access to knowledge and culture, and the infrastructures that support our digital age.

This book takes a Marxist approach to the study of media piracy – the production, distribution, and consumption of media texts in violation of intellectual property laws – to examine its place as an endemic feature of the cultural economy since the rise of the Internet. The author explores media piracy not in terms of its moral or legal failings, or as the inevitable by-product of digital technologies, but as a symptom of a much larger restructuring of cultural labor in the era of the Internet: labor that is digital, entrepreneurial, informal, and even illegal, and increasingly politicized. Sketching the contours of this new political economy while engaging with theories of digital media, both critical and celebratory, Mueller reveals piracy as a submerged social history of the digital world, and potentially the key to its political reimagining. This significant contribution to the study of piracy and digital culture will be vital reading for scholars and students of critical media studies, cultural studies, political theory, or digital humanities, and particularly those researching media piracy, digital labor, the digital economy, and Marxist theory.

Media Piracy in Emerging Economies is the first independent, large-scale study of music, film and software piracy in emerging economies, with a focus on Brazil, India, Russia, South Africa, Mexico and Bolivia. Based on three years of work by some thirty five researchers, Media Piracy in Emerging Economies tells two overarching stories: one tracing the explosive growth of piracy as digital technologies became cheap and ubiquitous around the world, and another following the growth of industry lobbies that have reshaped laws and law enforcement around copyright protection. The report argues that these efforts have largely failed, and that the problem of piracy is better conceived as a failure of affordable access to media in legal markets.

Film Distribution in the Digital Age critically examines the evolution of the landscape of film distribution in recent years. In doing so, it argues that the interlocking ecosystem(s) of media dissemination must be considered holistically and culturally if we are to truly understand the transnational flows of cultural texts.

Examines key implications for democratization, cyber security, e-government, technical coordination and Internet policy and regulation.

Cyber-attacks are rapidly becoming one of the most prevalent issues globally, and as they continue to escalate, it is imperative to explore new approaches and technologies that help ensure the security of the online community. Beyond cyber-attacks, personal information is now routinely and exclusively housed in cloud-based systems. The rising use of information technologies requires stronger information security and system procedures to reduce the risk of information breaches. Advanced Methodologies and Technologies in System Security, Information Privacy, and Forensics presents emerging research and methods on preventing information breaches and further securing system networks. While highlighting the rising concerns in information privacy and system security, this book explores the cutting-edge methods combatting digital risks and cyber threats. This book is an important resource for information technology professionals, cybercrime researchers, network analysts, government agencies, business professionals, academicians, and practitioners seeking the most up-to-date information and methodologies on cybercrime, digital terrorism, network security, and information technology ethics.