Abstract

In this article, we draw on a survey conducted with elite upcoming lawyers from all around the world to shed new light on the ethical acceptability of file sharing practices. Although file sharing is typically illegal, our findings show that lawyers overwhelmingly perceive it as an acceptable social practice. The main criterion used by lawyers to decide on the ethical acceptability of file sharing is whether or not the infringer derives any monetary benefits from it. Further, our findings show that lawyers in the public sector (including judiciary and academia) are even more tolerant of online copyright infringement than those in the private sector. Interestingly, our data suggests that this is largely the result of self-selection: lawyers who lean more on the side of broad disclosure and social sharing tend to orient themselves toward the public sector. Implications for the current state of the debate on the reform of copyright law are discussed.

摘要

在本文中，我们将与来自世界各地的精英精英律师进行一项调查，以揭示文件共享实践的道德可接受性。尽管文件共享通常是非法的，但我们的调查结果表明，律师绝大多数都将其视为可以接受的社会惯例。律师用来决定文件共享的道德可接受性的主要标准是，侵权人是否从中获得任何金钱利益。此外，我们的研究结果表明，公共部门（包括司法和学术界）的律师比私营部门的律师对在线版权侵权的容忍度更高。有趣的是，我们的数据表明，这在很大程度上是自我选择的结果：倾向于广泛披露和社会共享的律师倾向于将自己定位于公共部门。讨论了有关版权法改革的辩论的现状。