Adolescents' perception of illegal music downloads from the internet: An empirical investigation of israeli high school students' moral atittude and behviour

This study examined the various aspects of adolescents downloading music from the Internet. As of the present time (2013), no comprehensive study has been done among Israeli adolescents with regard to music downloading from the Internet. The present study examined the correlation between adolescents' moral attitude towards music downloading and the extent of their actual engagement in the activity. We found that more than 80% of the participants are involved in illegal music downloading, while gender, age, religiosity, Internet experience and average daily Internet use influence the frequency of downloading. We found that those who adhere to religious practices tend to illegally download less often than others. Long hours of internet surfing and rich internet experience raise the tendency to illegally download music. Age and gender were found to have only a minimal affect, if any, on the phenomenon. This behavior is explained in various manners, including the perception of the act (by the adolescents) as one that is accepted by society. Furthermore, the chance of getting caught and suffering any consequences is minimal, thus the deterrent hardly exists.