University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Sociology

Tez (Yüksek Lisans) - Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Maliye Anabilim Dalı, 2008. / Kaynakça var.

This study presented a critical investigation of the mainstream neo-liberal approach to global intellectual property rights protection. There is a widespread but incorrect perception in the contemporary intellectual property policy regime that ineffective copyright protection in developing countries is primarily an institutional problem deriving from the lack of economic capacity and jurisprudential systems. Arguing that the conventional policy regime offers only a limited account for global copyright protection, this study aimed to show that inadequate copyright protection is not only an institutional but also historically contingent cultural problem. For the purpose, the present study conducted two phases of investigation: (1) a cross- national data analysis of software piracy and (2) comparative historical analysis of authorship in England and China. The first study empirically examined the key determinants of software piracy in the contemporary international market. From multivariate statistical analyses of international data, the study attempted to identify significant factors facilitating software piracy. Special attention was paid to identifying the influence of national culture in software piracy when other institutional factors were controlled. The results showed that a combined outcome of multiple factors including national income, institutional capacity for property protection, in-group collectivist cultural practices, and attitudes toward international intellectual property protection explains the software piracy problem. The second study aimed to provide a more in-depth understanding of the historical linkage between copyright and culture. It traced the historical formation of authorship in English and Chinese print culture to examine whether and why there emerged contrasting conceptions of authorship between them. The findings showed that there was a distinctive historical divergence of material, ideological, and institutional contexts of print culture, which led to different authorship conceptions between England and China. This implies that authorship as the fundamental cultural basis of modern copyright law was not a natural and universal phenomenon inevitably arising from the printing press but rather historically and culturally contingent. / text

Thesis (B.A.)--Haverford College, Dept. of Economics, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Psychology. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Michigan, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 237-253).

Internet and computer criminality Summary This thesis, as its name indicates, deals with the problems of our times associated with computers and the Internet, which make it possible to commit all sorts of crimes. Computers are part of our daily life and the sphere of information and communication technologies are constantly and rapidly developing, which gives space to potential perpetrators to find new approaches. The thesis is composed of eight chapters. The opening chapter of this thesis describes the basic concepts related to computer and Internet criminality. It includes the definitions of computer criminality, cybercrime, cyberspace, as well as basic technical concepts such as computer, hardware or software. Approximation of this terminology is essential to understanding the issue. Next chapter is devoted to some illegal activities in cyberspace, which are then legally assessed. The third chapter forms the most important part of the whole thesis because it describes in details the issue of copyright violations in connection with computers. At first it generally talks about intangible goods, and after that it acquaints to readers with piracy of audio and audiovisual works and later with software piracy. It shows the most important judgments that are connected to the discussed topic and were judged at...

Wu, Xiao. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-124). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgement --- p.iv / Table of Contents --- p.v / Chapter Chapter One: --- Chinese Film Piracy Consumption and Media Globalization --- p.1 / Introduction: The Rampant Film Piracy in China --- p.1 / Literature Review --- p.4 / Focuses in Chinese Film Piracy --- p.4 / Four Theoretical Positions in Media Globalization --- p.7 / Summary --- p.17 / Chapter Chapter Two: --- Problematics of Chinese Film Piracy Consumption --- p.19 / Two Concepts --- p.19 / Diversity --- p.19 / Filmic Gene Pool --- p.20 / Two Arguments and One Deduction --- p.23 / The Argument for the Expanding Global Capital --- p.23 / The Argument for National Protectionism --- p.25 / The Long Tail --- p.26 / The Theoretical Deduction for the Chinese Case --- p.27 / Research Questions --- p.28 / Methodological Note --- p.28 / Chapter Chapter Three: --- A Re-Examination of Chinese Film Piracy Market --- p.32 / The Myth of Market Access --- p.32 / State Censorship Overlooked --- p.34 / The First-Release Obsession --- p.35 / An Internet Take-over? --- p.38 / Summary --- p.39 / Chapter Chapter Four: --- "In Search of the “Invisible"" Audience/Viewers" --- p.42 / The “Official´ح Audience --- p.42 / Chinese Film Audiences Re-Captured --- p.45 / Sketches on the ´بInvisible´ة Viewers --- p.51 / Conclusion --- p.56 / Chapter Chapter Five: --- Structural Analysis for Chinese Film Piracy Consumption --- p.58 / Chinese Piracy Viewers: An Idle Spare of the Nexus? --- p.58 / The Film Piracy Market in China --- p.61 / Summary --- p.63 / Chapter Chapter Six: --- A Brief History of Chinese Piracy Consumption --- p.67 / Video Hall (Mid-1980s to Mid-1990s) --- p.68 / Epoch of the Videodisc (Since mid-1990s) --- p.70 / Online Movie Forums and Blogs (1998-Present) --- p.73 / Online Social Networks of Cinephiles (2004-Present) --- p.76 / The Accompanying Print Media (1999-Present) --- p.78 / Conclusion --- p.82 / Chapter Chapter Seven: --- The Chinese Public Cine-Space --- p.83 / The Publicness of Piracy Viewing --- p.83 / A Public Cine-Space --- p.84 / Cultural Public Sphere: The Concept --- p.84 / The Chinese Internet --- p.85 / The Chinese Online Film Critics --- p.87 / The Chinese Public Cine-Space --- p.89 / A Trajectory of the Online Cine-Space --- p.90 / Mechanism towards Diversity --- p.93 / The Techno-Divide --- p.98 / Chapter Chapter Eight: --- Conclusion --- p.100 / Contributions --- p.100 / Historical Account of Chinese Film Piracy Consumption --- p.100 / Inclusive Model for Diversity of Cultural Market --- p.101 / Weaknesses and Future Suggestions --- p.103 / Final Remark --- p.106 / Appendix A --- p.108 / Bibliography --- p.111

Digital piracy, the illegal copying or downloading of copyrighted digital products without approval from the copyright holders, has brought great economic loss to the software and digital media industries. Previous studies using moral developmental theory have not found consistent relationships between moral judgment and attitudes towards digital piracy. While some researchers have developed individual test items to assess relationships between moral judgment and attitudes toward digital piracy, others have relied on the Defining Issues Test (DIT). However, in that the DIT represents a general measure of moral judgment based on broad social issues, it, too, may not adequately assess an individual’s reasoning specific to issues regarding digital piracy. The purpose of this study was to create a reliable instrument (i.e., DP-DIT) modeled after the DIT designed to assess moral judgment regarding digital piracy as well as to examine and compare the ability of both DP-DIT and DIT2-short to predict attitudes, intentions and behaviors regarding digital piracy of college students. Results indicated the reliability of both the DIT2-short and the DP-DIT were discounted, quite likely due to the small number of stories contained in each. DP-DIT appeared to have greater predictive ability due to its advantage in predicting attitudes toward digital piracy, especially using DP-DIT MNS. However, even though here DP-DIT MNS was the strongest predictor of attitudes toward digital piracy, it explained a limited amount of variance. Further research to improve reliability and validity of DP-DIT is warranted.

The pilot study used in this thesis examined the attitudes and perceptions of a small group of students at the University of North Texas. The participants in this pilot study (n=22) were administered an online music file sharing survey, a Defining Issues Test (DIT), and participated in a small focus group. This thesis also outlined the history and progression of online music piracy in the United States, and addressed four research questions which aimed to determine why individuals choose to engage in the file sharing of copyrighted music online.