The criminality of digital piracy: Is it a pathway to more serious offending?

The allure of free, bootleg digital content-music, movies, software, games-is hard to refuse for four chief reasons. First, most of this content is intangible: it can be downloaded without touching a physical product. This makes the act of digital piracy seem less consequential than traditional larceny theft such as shoplifting. The physical act of stealing requires the offender to consider detection by bystanders and sneaking the item or items from a location. Digital piracy does not require a detectable, tactile action. Second, the act of digital piracy can be done anonymously. Hiding behind anonymous user accounts or by using anonymized web browsing reduces the risk of detection, which is generally perceived as low. Rarely does someone learn a friend or relative has been prosecuted for illegally obtaining digital media. The prospect of deterring digital piracy is therefore negligible at best (Hinduĵa, 2008). Third, the victims of digital piracy are perceived as large corporations or rich artists and producers. Denying harm to these victims is easy to rationalize (Hinduja, 2007; Ingram & Hinduĵa, 2008). Fourth and finally, those who engage in digital piracy (for profit or use) know the act is illegal but ubiquitous: if everyone does it, it cannot be deviant. This also makes the act easy to rationalize.