"File sharing": razmjena podataka u računalno posredovanoj komunikaciji kao društvena praksa

Buble, Tamara. (2016). "File sharing": razmjena podataka u računalno posredovanoj komunikaciji kao društvena praksa. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of Sociology. [mentor Nikodem, Krunoslav].

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Abstract

File sharing is the term widely used to describe unauthorized circulation of digitalized content on the internet. Due to legal constraints of such circulation, the ethic of this practice has became the subject of debates. File sharing condemners argue that it is equated with stealing and therefore morally wrong and socially deviant, while prosharing activists view it as a strategy of resistance to the commodification of culture. Both discourses use notion of file sharers as merely objects, thus largely ignoring their opinions, views and justification of their activities. Following on the researches of file sharing from the perspecive of its users, this paper explores alternative approaches. We view file sharing as a practice that has its roots both in capitalism and in utopias of 29 freedom that emerged in early days of the internet as its opposition. Capitalists roots of file sharing are revealed through using goods produced by the cultural industry for the consumption. We argue that, while file sharers explicitly oppose the idea of participation in political project, their involvement in file sharing activities helps building and maintaing the system which results in largening the pool of publicly available data, thus making file sharing subversive and political.

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