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