ABSTRACT
A critical perspective on digital piracy involves an examination of the historical roots of copyright law and the economic interests which helped shape these laws. This chapter describes the evolution of digital piracy and a phenomenon dependent on the creation and reification of intellectual property. The legitimacy of intellectual property is widely accepted in contemporary society. The chapter describes the emergence and development of copyright. Legal protections are in place for multiple forms of intellectual property including copyright, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets. Though the historical genesis and transformation each of these forms is important for understanding contemporary information capitalism and intellectual property violations, the chapter focuses primarily on the development of copyright law as this legal realm applies most directly to digital piracy. The chapter examines dialectical contradictions, with particular attention given to the influence of liberalism, as intellectual property and piracy simultaneously uphold and upend accumulation within information capitalism.
