The politics of piracy: political ideology and the usage of pirated online media

AbstractThere is a lack of clarity in information systems research on which factors lead people to use or not use technologies of varying degrees of perceived legality. To address this gap, we use arguments from the information systems and political ideology literatures to theorize on the influence of individuals’ political ideologies on online media piracy. Specifically, we hypothesize that individuals with a more conservative ideology, and thus lower openness to experience and higher conscientiousness, generally engage in less online media piracy. We further hypothesize that this effect is stronger for online piracy technology that is legally ambiguous. Using clickstream data from 3873 individuals in the U.S., we find that this effect in fact exists only for online media piracy technologies that are perceived as legally ambiguous. Specifically, more conservative individuals, who typically have lower ambiguity intolerance, use (legal but ambiguously perceived) pirated streaming websites less, while there is no difference for the (clearly illegal) use of pirated file sharing websites.

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An Insight into the Debates Surrounding the Changing Nature, Scope and Focus of Information Systems Research

SSRN Electronic Journal ◽

10.2139/ssrn.2408809 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Ibrahim Osman Adam

Keyword(s):

Information Systems ◽

Systems Research ◽

Information Systems Research ◽

Insight Into

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A Bridge Too Far?

10.1093/oso/9780198733249.003.0006 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Charlotte P. Lee ◽

Kjeld Schmidt

Keyword(s):

Information Systems ◽

Science And Technology Studies ◽

Large Scale ◽

Cooperative Work ◽

Computer Supported Cooperative Work ◽

Practical Action ◽

Systems Research ◽

Information Infrastructures ◽

Information Systems Research ◽

Critical Investigation

The study of computing infrastructures has grown significantly due to the rapid proliferation and ubiquity of large-scale IT-based installations. At the same time, recognition has also grown of the usefulness of such studies as a means for understanding computing infrastructures as material complements of practical action. Subsequently the concept of “infrastructure” (or “information infrastructures,” “cyberinfrastructures,” and “infrastructuring”) has gained increasing importance in the area of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) as well as in neighboring areas such as Information Systems research (IS) and Science and Technology Studies (STS). However, as such studies have unfolded, the very concept of “infrastructure” is being applied in different discourses, for different purposes, in myriad different senses. Consequently, the concept of “infrastructure” has become increasingly muddled and needs clarification. The chapter presents a critical investigation of the vicissitudes of the concept of “infrastructure” over the last 35 years.

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