Download Scoping review of the correlates and consequences of illegal file

Determinants of Unlawful File
Sharing
Steven Watson, Daniel Zizzo and
Piers Fleming
Scoping Review of Existing Research
54,441 articles:
Academic
Literature
Keyword Search
Abstracts Screened
-> Text Screened
122 articles:
Companies and
Organisations
(e.g. OFCOM)
206 included
articles
Empirical, primary data about
people’s unlawful file sharing of
digital media
2003-2013
Why do people file share unlawfully?
UFS
Proximity to actual behaviour
Outcome Measure
Definition
Qualitative research
Explorations of perceptions of or engagement in behaviors without
quantitative assessment.
Stated preferences and
attitudes
Outcome is at the level of how good or bad, right or wrong, or
preferable an action is perceived to be
Intentions to perform
behavior
Outcome described participants reports of behavior that they plan
to engage in in the future
Willingness to pay
(WTP)
Outcome represents the amount of money that a participant states
they are willing to pay in order to obtain a good
Stated behavior
Outcome represents a participant’s report of behavior that has been
engaged in in the past, such as from a survey
Observed behavior
Outcome represents behavior that is either directly observed at the
level of the individual, such as in an experiment, or else at the
population level, such as from sales data
Why do people file share unlawfully?
Sales and Unlawful File Sharing (UFS)
40-60% of evidence
> 60% of evidence
-ve association
Sales
Replace/
Generate
Unlawful file
sharing
• UFS may replace sales, e.g. anecdotally the emergence of Napster
coincided with a decline in music sales (Liebowitz, 2006)
• Most evidence suggests potential sales of music and movies are
decreased by UFS.
• However, UFS may generate sales by promoting interest.
• There is strong evidence that for individuals more UFS is associated
with more actual sales.
Financial & Legal Utility
Less strict laws
Lower Prices
Lower WTP
40-60% of
> 60% of e
-ve associ
Sales
Replace/
Generate
Unlawful file
sharing
Less Perceived
Deterrent
• Stronger laws appear to reduce unlawful file sharing, but effect may
be temporary and limited behavioral data confirming causal legal
effect
• Many people are unaware of what is lawful (Ofcom, 2011) or it
doesn’t feel like a crime (BMRB Social Research, 2009).
• High prices appear to reduce sales, lower willingness to pay for
content is associated with UFS
Experiential Utility
40-60% of
> 60% of e
Interest
Sales
Replace/
Generate
-ve associ
Unlawful file
sharing
• Unlawful file sharing may be influenced by a desire
to sample new content, to access niche content, to
build a collection or general interest in the content
• UFS provides access to difficult to find content
(Sandulli, 2007; Mateus & Peta, 2008)
Technical
40-60% of
Long release
lag
(availability)
> 60% of e
-ve associ
Sales
Replace/
Generate
Unlawful file
sharing
(Physical
Sales)
Closing file
sharing sites
Access to internet
• Clear effects of availability
• Initial barrier to unlawful file sharing?
Ability to file share
Social Utility
Others
beliefs and
behaviour
Sales
Replace/
Generate
Unlawful file
sharing
• Correlation UFS and peer UFS
• ... But need observed behavioural and causal
evidence
40-60% of
> 60% of e
-ve associ
Moral Utility
40-60% of
UFS is immoral
> 60% of e
-ve associ
Sales
Replace/
Generate
Unlawful file
sharing
UFS enhances
social welfare
UFS doesn’t
cause harm
• Correlation UFS and moral beliefs
• ... But need observed behavioural and causal
evidence
Experiment
• Participants had the choice to purchase legally,
obtain without paying or do nothing
• The risk and penalty of being caught was known
and varied across trials
• Goods came from a producer who made a profit
if they were paid for
• Preliminary findings: Risk preferences matter,
financial and legal consequences matter, if the
producer had put in a lot of effort to make the
product UFS was lower.
Conclusions
• Understanding the why of file sharing is
essential to understand the how of changing
file sharing from a policy viewpoint
• Legal and financial are important
• But so are moral, social, technical and
experiential
• Future research should consider multiple
factors and specific media.
Thanks for your
attention!