ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how the concepts of formal and informal economies can provide innovative perspectives on digital piracy research and, more specifically, how the categories used to analyse the interactions between formal and informal areas can provide an effective theoretical model for the study of the relationships between anti-piracy communication and the online media ecology. It discusses how the 'economic issue' has affected the piracy debate in past years, focusing in particular on the polarization between commercial and non-commercial piracy and the controversial issue of financial harm. The chapter illustrates how the study of formality and informality, and their interactions, provides a multidimensional approach that enables us to go beyond problematic polarizations, and account for a complex, unstable scenario. It provides a brief overview of the main features of the online film circulation in Italy. The chapter analyses a series of recent, Italian anti-piracy initiatives.
