This study applied a socio-cultural constructivist approach to examine whether or not students at a private university in Indonesia attempted to ‘rationalize’ or ‘neutralize’ their illegal downloading behaviorswhen discussing the phenomenon in semi-structured interviews, through transcript analysis. The study aims to determine whether the social context of Indonesian life and the relationships Indonesians have with each other influence the phenomenon. Research relating to digital piracy and illegal downloading or streaming in Indonesia is scarce, and studies relating to Indonesian illegal downloading from a qualitative perspective are non-existent, as far as the author is aware. This qualitative study replicated the work of Moore and McMullan (2009) who compiled the previous theoriesof Sykes and Matza, Klockars, Minor and Coleman on rationalizations and neutralizations and conducted semi-structuredinterviews with students who were using P2P (peer-to-peer file sharing) networks. This work differs in focusing on illegal downloading and streamingin Indonesia.Indonesian society does not place a high priority on intellectual property rights (IPR) and the levelof non-compliance with the law is evident in the sheer ubiquity of illegal DVD vendors. IPR abuse is endemic in Indonesian society and this study asks university students questions regarding their feelings about the laws and about their behaviors.The research found that students employed 6 out of the 10 rationalizations, andalso found a surprising degree of willingness to admit to the crimeof illegal downloading.The paper concludes by offering insights on what the governing Indonesian institutions can do to counter the attitudes to IPR abusebyIndonesian citizens andsuggesting recommendations for future research.