Online File Sharing: Innovations in Media Consumption

by Jonas Andersson Schwarz

Overview

It is apparent that file sharing on the Internet has become an emerging norm of media consumption—especially among young people. This book provides a critical perspective on this phenomenon, exploring issues related to file sharing, downloading, peer-to-peer networks, "piracy," and (not least) policy issues regarding these practices. Andersson Schwartz critically engages with the justificatory discourses of the actual file-sharers, taking Sweden as a geographic focus. By focusing on the example of Sweden—home to both The Pirate Bay and Spotify—he provides a unique insight into a mentality that drives both innovation and deviance and accommodates sharing in both its unadulterated and its compliant, business-friendly forms.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415854306
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	08/28/2013
Series:	Comedia
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jonas Andersson Schwarz is a Lecturer in the Department of Culture and Communication at Södertörn University, Sweden.

Table of Contents

1. Outlining the Conflict: Observations and Potentials 2. Personal Justifications: Learning from the File-Sharers while Criticizing Them 3. Historical Foundations: The Nested Historiography of P2P-Based File-Sharing 4. Technical Limitations: The Stupid Net – How Protocols Instigate Behaviors and Configurations Online 5. Geographical Locations: The Pirate Bay and Sweden as a Case Study 6. Philosophical Implications: Mass Sharing as an Ubiquitous Backdrop to Everyday Life 7. Political Potentials: Occasional Activism Generating Strategic Sovereigns