Digital piracy, historical pirates, and pirate ontologies

Abstract

This research examines why “pirate” has come to be the term used to describe such a vast set of different activities and behaviours associated with copyright infringement. Digital piracy is difficult to define due to the often ambiguous quality of digital interactions. The legal context also has become less clear, with expressed legal purposes often diverging from the application of the law. Whether civil or criminal in nature, research suggests that pirates may not perceive their actions as necessarily deviant or morally wrong. Many of the theories of digital piracy fail to adequately explain the behaviour or to address a possible absent perception of wrong-doing. Based on modern ambiguity and historical comparison, this work argues for a variety of “pirate” types; that digital pirates cannot be treated as a singular concept. Historical piracy and digital copyright may seem intuitively distinct, however, given the evidence presented, it is hoped that the similarities between the two will be seen and that these similarities will provide further support for the need for a multifaceted perspective. From a historical criminological perspective, considering modern digital piracy and its historical analogues, it seems necessary to improve our engagement with the concept of piracy if we wish to conduct accurate and relevant research.

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ORCID for Craig Webber: orcid.org/0000-0003-3900-7579

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