Piracy is widespread in modern society; there’s no use denying it. But yesterday, I got to thinking about why. Why has piracy become a socially acceptable activity? Most people do it, and most of them know it’s wrong, but they still do it. Why?

Just to be clear, I do not condone piracy; this is a philosophical exploration of the reasons behind it. If you’re against piracy, good for you, you’re in the minority. So don’t be offended when I make generalisations about the human race as a whole. I really just mean “the majority”. I have no hard evidence to support claims that piracy is more common than compliance; just casual observations accompanied by the fact that piracy is still occurring and therefore is still an issue.

I should clarify what I mean by ‘piracy’. I don’t mean that of the swashbuckling kind, but rather the act of reproducing copyrighted work to the extent that it becomes unlawful. It seems people will pirate just about anything these days, and with increasing ease. Music, software, books, TV shows, movies, just to name a few.

But what motivates someone to choose piracy? The law says it’s wrong. You don’t hear any news reports praising piracy, do you? So why do we do it? There must be a strong underlying principle of human psyche that drives us to pirate.

On the surface, there are a few basic excuses for piracy, most of which are asserted as self-justifying. These are some of the excuses I’ve observed used to justify piracy:

• Why pay for something you can get for free?
• The stuff is overpriced anyway, so you have a right to pirate it. This one is particularly annoying because it’s often piracy that drives the prices up.
• It’s the law’s job to police piracy and if you don’t get caught then it’s OK. I’ve also seen this excuse used extensively to “justify” motorists exceeding the speed limit.
• The stuff is so easy to pirate, it’s just asking for it. An egocentric one often used to “justify” software piracy. Also used for movie and DVD piracy; the recent cracking of AACS is a good example.

The excuses above are examples of rationalising; that is, applying false logic to justify certain actions. It creates the illusion that we have relieved ourselves of any moral responsibility. We use it to convince ourselves to do things we know are wrong. The title of “rationalise” is possibly a misnomer, as it implies logical process which is blatantly absent here. I’m also about to demonise the term “rationalise” which could possibly devalue the meaning of the word “rational” but I can’t think of a better word for it, so here goes.

On a broader level, I am concerned that the endemic use of rationalising is leading the populous to prefer it to logical argument and scientific process. Rationalising is harmless for the most part. E.g. it’s OK to eat junk food now because you’re going to the gym later. But when rationalising becomes the basis for important decisions, it becomes dangerous. For example, consider the defence of the rapist justifying his actions by claiming the victim was asking for it due to the way she was dressed. Obviously no defence in a legal court, but it was enough of an “argument” to convince the rapist to act in the first place. Religious beliefs provide abundant “reasons” for rationalising, but that’s a discussion for another post.

Piracy is common because rationalising is socially acceptable, and that in turn makes the excuses for piracy socially acceptable. However, not one of the excuses above is logically valid as they all fail to address the fact that piracy is wrong. It is wrong because it is illegal but that’s not enough to stop most people. I’d like to argue that piracy is intrinsically immoral, but this would be difficult as I have defined piracy as breaking copyright law. Under this definition, if there was no copyright law, there could be no piracy.

We should obey copyright law simply because it is the law. But this in itself isn’t enough of a reason to convince people. To deter people from piracy, there are severe penalties for breaking copyright laws. Then the authorities have the challenge of actually proving to the public they are capable of enforcing the law, a feat I think they are still yet to achieve. Since Napster, there has been a multitude of high-profile cases resulting in prosecution of pirates, yet piracy is still rife. These cases obviously haven’t offered much of a deterrent. People will continue to commit piracy as long as they believe they can get away with it.

Copyright circumvention tools are becoming increasingly common and easier to use (for movies, music and software at least). The bar has been lowered in terms of the skill required for piracy, thus making it more accessible to the average computer user. Armed with an Internet connection, a couple of keywords and a few mouse clicks, any 12-year old can become a pirate in mere minutes.

Piracy may be easy and you might not get caught, but these aren’t the only reasons people do it. The main motivation for piracy stems from a fundamental desire that has become deeply embedded in our social psyche. It is the desire of the masses to stick it to the man; to resist authority. Increasing efforts technically and legally by corporations to stamp out piracy only fuel our desire to challenge the establishment.

This is not a new ideal; it’s been around for centuries, and continues to appeal to us today. We love the idea that as lowly peasants we can unite our forces to defy authority. Stories of subversion have been around for years and are retold over and over. The tale of Robin Hood is a classic example. And recently we have Pirates of the Caribbean, which is about “real” pirates, but at its core is still about a group of rebels flouting authority.

As long as this point of view persists amongst humans, piracy will continue and any attempts to quell it will only be met with increased resistance.