| Summary: | Abstract Purpose/Aim: To study how Piratbyrån argues for a free distribution of information and culture products and to find a possible ideological explanation for their argumentation. Method/Material: I have used a rhetorical analysis to study and describe Piratbyrån´s website, a website that promotes free distribution of information and culture products. I have done so to find out how Piratbyrån argues for a free distribution and to find out what ideological foundation their argumentation is based on. Main results: The main results of the study show that Piratbyrån uses a variety of rhetorical techniques depending on the subject and purpose of the analyzed text. Their main arguments both promote their own thesis and argue against the copyright industry. The main part of the argumentation is based on logical and factual arguments, but parts of it also rely on an emotional appeal to the reader’s heart in order to persuade. The analysis also showed great similarities between Piratbyrån´s argumentation and the ideology that Siva Vaidhyanathan describes as information anarchy. An ideology that promotes free distribution of information and culture products, that relies on decentralized systems and nonhierarchical structures and is a result of the technological development such as digitalization and peer-to-peer networks. Keywords: Rhetoric, technology, file sharing, digitalization, network, ideology, anarchy, oligarchy, copyright, website
|
|---|
