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Warez: The Infrastructure and Aesthetics of Piracy (2021)

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Warez: The Infrastructure and Aesthetics of Piracy : Martin Paul Eve : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

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Warez: The Infrastructure and Aesthetics of Piracy

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texts

Warez: The Infrastructure and Aesthetics of Piracy

by

Martin Paul Eve

Publication date

2021-12-15

Usage
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
Topics
JFD, JKVK, UBW, COM060040, COM079010, JBCT1, JKVM, UBJ, computing, hacking, history, internet security, piracy, software, warez
Publisher

punctum books
Collection

thoth-archiving-network

Language

English

Item Size

151.0M

When most people think of piracy, they think of Bittorrent and The Pirate Bay. These public manifestations of piracy, though, conceal an elite worldwide, underground, organized network of pirate groups who specialize in obtaining media – music, videos, games, and software – before their official sale date and then racing against one another to release the material for free.Warez: The Infrastructure and Aesthetics of Piracy is the first scholarly research book about this underground subculture, which began life in the pre-internet era Bulletin Board Systems and moved to internet File Transfer Protocol servers (“topsites”) in the mid- to late-1990s. The “Scene,” as it is known, is highly illegal in almost every aspect of its operations. The term “Warez” itself refers to pirated media, a derivative of “software.” Taking a deep dive in the documentary evidence produced by the Scene itself, Warez describes the operations and infrastructures an underground culture with its own norms and rules of participation, its own forms of sociality, and its own artistic forms. Even though forms of digital piracy are often framed within ideological terms of equal access to knowledge and culture, Eve uncovers in the Warez Scene a culture of competitive ranking and one-upmanship that is at odds with the often communalist interpretations of piracy.Broad in scope and novel in its approach, Warez is indispensible reading for anyone interested in recent developments in digital culture, access to knowledge and culture, and the infrastructures that support our digital age.

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2022-11-28 16:47:47
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Pages

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Thoth-dissemination-service

0.1.0
Thoth-work-id

b904a8eb-9c98-4bb1-bf25-3cb9d075b157
Worldcat (source edition)

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Warez: The Infrastructure and Aesthetics of Piracy by Martin Paul Eve serves as the initial scholarly investigation into the underground subculture of digital piracy. While the public perception of piracy is often limited to high-profile platforms such as BitTorrent and The Pirate Bay, Eve argues that these manifestations conceal a vast, elite, and organized global network of pirate groups dedicated to acquiring media, including music, videos, games, and software, prior to their official release, and subsequently distributing them freely. The book traces the origins of this subculture backward, noting its development from the Bulletin Board Systems prevalent in the pre-internet era to the Internet File Transfer Protocol servers, or "topsites," during the mid- to late-1990s.

The Warez Scene is characterized by a complex set of internal norms, rules of participation, distinct forms of sociality, and unique artistic expressions that the group developed internally. Eve examines the operations and infrastructures established by this underground culture. Although contemporary discussions surrounding digital piracy frequently invoke ideological frameworks focused on equal access to knowledge and culture, Eve reveals that the Warez Scene is fundamentally driven by a culture of competitive ranking and one-upmanship, a dynamic that contrasts with more communal interpretations of piracy. Ultimately, the work is presented as indispensable reading for anyone seeking a comprehensive understanding of recent developments in digital culture, the infrastructures that underpin the digital age, and the dynamics of access to knowledge and culture in this sphere.