Online and Offline Content Piracy Activities: Characteristics and Ethical Perceptions

This study identifies several factors that influence an individual's ethical perceptions of other user's content piracy activities. It addresses the relationship between the characteristics of various online and offline content piracy activities and the extent to which individuals perceive these activities to be ethical. It also considers the knowledge and experience individuals have regarding digital technologies to see whether it impacts their ethical perceptions. This paper finds that the more time it takes to copy content, and the higher the value and quality of the copy, the less ethically acceptable these activities are viewed. It also finds that when users have higher levels of digital technology experience and understanding they view all of these activities as relatively more acceptable. Implications and conclusions are discussed for content companies and future research.