Empire Platforms and Pirate Mutinies
Wojciech Sitek
sitek.wojtek@gmail.comUniversity of Wroclaw (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4550-7679
Abstract
The author incorporates pirate metaphors into the story of contemporary Western capitalist hegemony. He suggests that the activities of Bay Network users, like the pirate practices of the 17th and 18th centuries, represent a subversive opposition to capitalism. Rentier capitalism profits not only from physical and financial property but also from intellectual property (including access to cultural goods). Although global corporations and economic giants promise to support creators, their main goal is to capture value from streaming portals. The article reports on the tensions that exist between the pirates and the digital platform owners. What is the biggest obstacle to companies continuing to grow and build wealth? In trying to characterize the X-as-a-Service model, the author takes a pirate’s perspective. He assumes that as long as pirate asylums exist, the dangerous new enclosure movement will not be crowned with complete success.
Keywords:
digital platforms, rentier capitalism, streaming platforms, piracyReferences
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Authors
Wojciech Siteksitek.wojtek@gmail.com
University of Wroclaw Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4550-7679
PhD, he works at the Institute of Journalism and Social Communication of the University of Wrocław. His academic interests include the ideological structure of American cinema and video games, as well as the social phenomenon of video cassettes.
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In issues from 105-106 (2019) to 119 (2022) all articles were published under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence. During this period the authors granted a royalty-free non-exclusive licence (CC BY-ND 4.0) to use their article in „Kwartalnik Filmowy”, retained full copyright, and agreed to identify the work as first having been published in our journal should it be published or used again.
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