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IFPI: 2.8 Million File-Sharers Break Law Daily In Sweden

According to new research carried out by music group IFPI, around 40% of Swedes between 15 and 74 illegally share files every single day. The research, carried out through a web survey, reveals that there are 2.8 million sharers in the group, an increase compared to earlier surveys.

There can be little doubt that Sweden is one of the most file-sharing aware countries in the world. The dramas surrounding The Pirate Bay and other file-sharing operations, coupled with the dramatic successes of the Pirate Party, means that there can hardly be anyone in the country who isn’t aware of downloading via the Internet.

Now Di.se reports that music group IFPI has completed new research which it says reveals the extent of file-sharing penetration in this Scandinavian country of 9.2 million citizens.

The IFPI survey claims that some 40 percent of Swedes aged between 15 and 74 engage in illicit file-sharing every day, a statistic which IFPI chairman Louis Werner says is “a very high figure” but one which does not surprise him.

The 40 percent of this group equates to around 2.8 million people. The figure would be even higher, says IFPI, if it had also counted the under 15 year olds who regularly share files.

The higher-than-expected results are being put down to the method employed by IFPI to collect the data. It says that traditionally such surveys are carried out using the telephone, but this time the data was gathered via the web.

The results come nowhere near those revealed by the earlier research carried out by SIFO on behalf of TV operator Viasat – their conclusion was that only 11% of Swedes download copyright works using the Internet.

Currently Sweden had around 7.3 million Internet users in a population of over 9.2 million, a penetration of around 81%.

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  • Nex

    arrest everyone!!!

  • http://www.eZee.se www.eZee.se

    74% of statistics are made up on the spot…

    and 97.23% of IFPIs statistics cant be trusted

    while 86.4% of mine can be trusted without references and

    100% of mine with references.

    :))

    In all seriousness, the IFPI have been known to cook their numbers, and now their next move is for stronger laws (to protect the failed business model) because in their argument the current laws are ‘not strong enough’ nor provide enough of a deterrence.

    Ideally, they would like something like what the RIAA enjoy in the U.S, upto 150,000USD per song ‘infringed’, so just like the US they can get 1.8million USD (Jammie Thomas) judgements against single mothers and 2million judgements against college kids (Joel Tennenbaum). While if they make a mistake and sue the wrong person, they go scott free, even if they sue the wrong person because he was dead at the time of infringement…its just a boo boo from their side and must be forgiven, no harm done right?

  • First

    They suck anyhow,
    TPB FOREVA

  • outlaw

    Cook the numbers cook the books they are all at it

  • Mr.Afghanistan

    IFPI, how about a F*CK OFF ?

    @sshole IFPI, how on earth you found out exactly 2.8 million is sharing ?

    Who gave you the right to spy 2.8 million residents of Sweden ?

    You have no F**king right to spy what Sweden residents are browsing/sharing.

    Really, IFPI is breaking law.
    Indeed they are playing with the LAW.

    Someone should sue these A-holes and put them in jail for 5-10 years to give them a good listen.

    after that they will never spy without warrant!

    F**K you once again @sshole IFPI sH*T!
    I am sick of your tactics.
    IFPI = Money Makers ! they do whateva they can to make $.

  • Virotelisa

    “According to new research carried out by music group IFPI,”

    After this i stopped reading; I’m pretty certain any random conspiracy website offers more truth then anything the IFPI produces.

  • Anonymous

    if that many people do it why dont they vote to make it legal?

  • xentar

    Well, I’m not sure getting such a high figure would benefit IFPI because it can be argued then that since so many people do it, it can’t be wrong and it’s the laws that are problematic.

  • Sendaii

    Hardly surprising. The old laws didn’t work, what reason is there for the new ones to?

    Anyway, it’s the IFPI, so you should take everything that they say with a pinch of salt.

  • Nea

    In Soviet Russia, files share you.

  • io

    In Democratic Romania, files share among themselves. No romanian involved.

  • er

    In Democratic Germany, files share with no human intervention.

  • Anonymous

    Its more like 8 million! :)
    Old gets help from the kids to download while they inhale some calming marijuana and the babies watch US nazi healthcare being debated on tv by people who think helping in a community is a evil crime that will make them communists and abandon god..

    IFPI said so.

  • je

    In Democratic France, files share only with wine.

  • ?

    In [f*ck knows] China, !(files share). Or do they ?

  • respect

    @2 :respect:

  • Rabbit80

    It is time for the governments to say – “If you dont like, GET THE FUCK OUT OF OUR COUNTRY!”

    If each and every government said that, the world would be a better place!

  • vyvyan

    let’s put non shares in jail for their own safety.

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  • viktor

    so what do you want to prove after all, IFPI?

  • SillyPirate

    If 40% of all Swedes are such nasty file stealing criminals then the remaining 60% must know about that already and are guilty as well.

    Just lock everybody up, right?

    There is nothing more important or holier than business interest, or is there?

  • Tor

    “around 40% of Swedes between 15 and 74 illegally share files every single day”

    This is not true. The original article uses the phrase “every day or more seldom”.

    xentar (comment 8) makes an interesting point though. Do these high figures benefit Ifpi or do they hurt their cause in the current media climate and state of public opinion? For example, not long ago Ifpi stated that the Ipred law had been a huge success. In the light of this survey one could ask oneself if that’s really true.

  • SpikeIH

    So making them all criminals is the answer? Please. Obviously its the laws that need fixed.

  • John WOods

    Wow, thats a whole lotta law breakin goin on! LOL

    Russell
    http://www.true-privacy.net.tc

  • pink panther

    Say this made up number is right. Can you put 40% of the people in jail? Could the court system handle lawsuits against 40% of the population? At what point does a society decide that the harm of filesharing is not as bad as the harm of a crusade against filesharing?

  • outlaw

    Sendaii @ 9
    jest be an outlaw

  • Username ENTER

    now all they need to do is to invest money in a prison that can hold 2mill

  • IHeard

    Reasoned Mind will be able to validate these figures! Just wait and see! :P

  • Anonymous

    Only 40%?

  • Reasoned Reasonind

    You know, the United States have long history of military intervention, in order to ensure some third world rogue states ruled by dictators and terrorists are not threatening the interests of U.S.

    Woodrow Wilson, decided to get rid of the second reich after U-Boots started sinking U.S. cargos. Eisenhower ordered invasion of Iran and overthrew their “communist” government, Not because Ayatollah the muslim fanatic terrorist had been building some nuke, but U.S. (and brits) needed the iranian oil. (sounds familiar, huh?) Kennedy, because of American riches whose casa villas on Cuban shore got confiscated by evil communists, tried d-day style attack on Pigs Bay, which is one of the memorable failures of the U.S. military history.

    These are only a few cases I can remember, sorry for my poor history grades. However, despite my lack of knowledge, Swedes are definitely the worst enemy U.S. ever had; Man, “3 Million Anti-US pirates” is fucking serious. whats even worse is, these swedes are operating internationally. you know thepiratebay.org is only one example. Also they are ideologically challenging; they brainwash, even fellow americans, to piracy.

    I demand immediate full-scale military operation against Sweden. it is clear that swedes are a major threat to Peace, Freedom, Justice, and the shareholders and the boards of directors of MPAA and RIAA. I know this is not an easy task – they are not the ordinary desert tribes armed with obsolete russian armament. But don’t worry, chennyburtons can produce enough bombs and munitions, as long as the U.S. taxpayers recognise their duty..

  • Reasoned Mind

    These figures show how right I’ve been all along. Piracy’s days are numbered and all these lawbreaking Swedes are going to have to start paying up at last.

    Obviously the laws need tightening to the point where people are being sent to jail for their criminal actions. Then we’ll see a dramatic drop in the number of illegal copyright thieves and a massive rise in the amount of money people spend on CDs in the high street stores, because the two are so inextricably linked that you can’t possibly think of them as two completely separate and distinct subjects.

    When the pirates are all serving lengthy custodial sentences the record labels will become profitable again. It’s simple math.

  • Anonymous

    This is such a fascinating time, with so many people breaking the law, and such a comparitively small number of people trying to stop them.

  • Anonymous

    And just when I thought RM couldn’t get more frivolous, there he goes.

    Well played RM.

  • You idiot

    @29

    You complete muppet in this case!

    Do you really think a few random court cases will ever make even the slightest dent in these numbers? I mean come on a 1:2.8 million, or even a 5 to 2.8 million to one chance of being sued.

    Better odds almost of winning lotto, certainly better odds at the horse track!

    The days of P2P are certainly not numbered, and even appear to be increasing. What country can afford to put 40% of their population in jail, or even 5% for that matter?

    2.8 million x 50,000 euro per person per year = 140 million per year for all of the extra prisoners, which excludes the cost of building new prisons.

    Business models must change or die!!!

    Even gov’ts are going to start to see the math.

  • Encore666

    According to new research carried out by a group of grannies, around 40% of IFPI employees between 0 and 64 have a penis growing out of their forehead.

  • Encore666

    According to new research carried out by a group of pervy grannies, around 40% of IFPI employees between 0 and 84 have a erect p-e-n-i-s growing out of their forehead.

    Incidently, the same group discovered that milk goes sour if left outside the fridge and flashlights are recommended in dark places.

  • Encore666

    @29
    Oh shut your gob trollboy! The only thing that stands to “reason” is that we can count on you to jump on inflated weak crap like this latest spew from the ifPIS

  • ngwoo

    So if a majority of people are doing something, doesn’t the basic concept of democracy dictate that it shouldn’t be illegal?

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  • Reasoned Mind

    Furthermore, I like riding horses upside down – long time.

  • Reasoned Mind

    @29, the British reference “High street stores” is a fail. I’m an American. Nice screw-up, there.

    :-)

  • Reasoned Mind

    Contrary to preposterous exaggeration that “swede prison isn’t big enough for 3 million!”, the actual number of imprisonment doesn’t have to be that high at all. If we only punish, say a hundred thousand of them, eventually swedish pirates will start paying for what they’ve downloaded – and this is fair enough for artists, creators, and customers who were suffering from this copyright infringement.

  • Happy Monday

    No no no, there are more.

    “I have about 250 students per year of whom hardly any have not fileshared,” Kristoffer Schollin, who holds a doctorate in intellectual property law, told news wire TT. “It’s at 100 percent.”

    http://www.swedishwire.com/general/1199-three-million-swedes-download-illegally

  • Fama Detainee

    Now we know what all the Fema camps r 4

    lol

  • Spanky McTangleplanks

    “@29, the British reference “High street stores” is a fail. I’m an American. Nice screw-up, there.

    :-)”

    Wait now. So you’re the real RM and the other RM is a fake? Makes sense now. I thought it sounded too trollish even for you.

    So what exactly do you think about it ‘the real RM’?

  • omfg

    In Democratic Austria, files share only with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

  • Shaze

    I’ve never been to Sweden, is that a lot?

  • L.K.

    If 40% of citizens between 15 and 74 commit a crime every day several times, then the BAD is definitely the legislation, no question about it.

  • Anonymous

    “because in their argument the current laws are ‘not strong enough’ nor provide enough of a deterrence”

    Deterrence is the wrong word here. You can’t scare people into doing what you want them to do. That’s very hard, and won’t work on everyone. The word should be “motivation”. What are the advantages of buying music? How much does the artist get? What do I get?

  • kenny_lex

    2.8 million file sharers, and yet did the film and music industry one of its best results, and that was during the same period when SAAB (Swedish car manufacturer) almost went bankrupt due to a economic crisis.

    It is impossible for a company to do a bigger earning every year and the media industry will sometime do worse then its best year, and they will blame the file sharing for this.

  • Sebastian Thürrschmidt

    Wäre es da
    Nicht doch einfacher, die Regierung Löste das Volk auf und
    Wählte ein anderes?

    Bertolt Brecht, 1953
    http://de.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bertolt_Brecht

  • dave l brighton

    o’h know what ever will we do ?

    i know since file share is the majority and we live in a democracy ?

    ifpi right now you in a grace period just like the Nazi and Adolf had, soon you and you and you perverted supporters will be brought to justice were you will spend the rest of your sniveling greedy evil mind anti humanity days in jail.

    ifpi=hitters children.

    ifpi stop raping people and young minds face it you business is OVER.

  • markie

    I say go the 74 year olds. All generations can use bittorrent.

  • Reasoned Mind

    Any here who think these RM posts are by the genuine ReasonedMind haven’t been reading TF long enough to see through the poorly constructed ruse.

    The real RM may not agree with us. But he’s far better spoken on the issues than these morons. lol

  • Reasoned Mind

    We’ve all read Reasoned Mind’s poorly written and poorly reasoned troll posts; they’re nothing to be proud of.

  • Anonymous

    Ars has a good article about the 100 years whining(chipmunk style) of the industry and how the rhetoric just keep the same monotonous tone over the years.

    And the interesting part is that, all innovation greatly benefited the industry and none of that innovation came from the industry, they just use what others discover.

    Came to think about it, Those big names in the industry are all self-made people. Most of them hit it big on their own without help from the industry and then got into it. They were mostly indies. that struggle to make it and that struggle was what made them good.

    Why do we need a music industry anyway, their success rate is something like one digit percentile and that is no better then chance they don’t make artists they buy those that are good.

    Ever heard of a label or studio that had an R&D sector to help develop new technologies for the coming years? They don’t innovate they hold society back.

  • One

    People break laws everyday, not just copyright infringement. This article is ridiculous.

    Besides 15 – 74? lol, I don’t know a single person over the age of 60 that can operate a computer properly and let alone know how to use torrents or an p2p app.

  • StevO

    I will quit downloading when i can get a refund on the junk I have bought in the past. I can get a refund on a poor tasting meal. I can get a return on poorly sewn clothing. Bu tyet I cant get a refund on a poorly written book, or a poorly made movie, or CD or game. Whats the difference?

  • Anonymous

    I’m curious to know the definition of “shares”.

    If the question posted on the survey was “do you use P2P” to share files then the real number probably is higher as people use e-mails, IMs, flash memory cards, storage sites, FTP, news groups, BBS(this is old and still people use it) and other means.

  • the guy who came on Reasoned Mind’s face

    Oops, I got him in the eye.

    Again.

  • Sweden

    “It is important to arrange all filesharers to jail for 2 years”
    Ludvig Werner, chairman of IFPI Sweden, told AFP.

  • Reasoned *

    Why hasn’t the entertainment industry there crashed yet?

    Maybe we should rethink what piracy actually does to the music industry. It’s much more complex than X amount of people are file-sharers, meaning that X amount don’t buy their content.

  • prodigydancer

    Go Sweden!
    3m today – 7m tomorrow!

  • A Victim

    All this article tells me is that Sweden is a rogue country that cares nothing about the rights of workers in other countries. They will try to stay alive by stealing the innovative works from other countries. In the end, they will lose their innovative spirit and become a third-world country.

  • TheTruth

    The entertainment mafia has changed its strategy. They know they’ve lost the war on file-sharing so now they are fighting for a “Culture Flatrate”. The more file-sharing people there are (according to statistics) the more money per person they will demand. This would allow the content mafia to survive and keep on stealing money that belongs to the artists. The content mafia must be eradicated before we ever agree to a Culture Flatrate!

  • Soundwave (Have A Cigar)

    It’s over 9000

  • Wulfgar

    There I was completely wasting, out of work and down
    All inside its so frustrating as I drift from town to town
    Feel as though nobody cares if I live or die
    So I might as well begin to put some action in my life

    Breaking the law, breaking the law
    Breaking the law, breaking the law
    Breaking the law, breaking the law
    Breaking the law, breaking the law

    So much for the golden future, I cant even start
    Ive had every promise broken, theres anger in my heart
    You dont know what its like, you dont have a clue
    If you did youd find yourselves doing the same thing too

    Breaking the law, breaking the law
    Breaking the law, breaking the law
    Breaking the law, breaking the law
    Breaking the law, breaking the law

    You dont know what its like

  • adda

    This just in!

  • slipitin

    millions cannot break laws. those laws are de facto dead and need to be eliminated.

    that’s it, problem solved

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  • hmmm

    The next big thing to be written in every country’s Constitution is to forbid the use of statistics in non-mathematical publications.

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  • Anonymous

    With this army of 2.8 million soldiers we are going to flaten the 7 corporations of criminals and put all these criminals executives, judges and lawers in jail for the rest of their life!

    Mark my world!

  • Anonymous

    “It’s much more complex than X amount of people are file-sharers, meaning that X amount don’t buy their content.”

    Nobody should buy their content. Those that do are just lengthening their death. This make it more painfull for their victims.

    It is like germs. you have to wipe them out with a big dose of antibiotic followed by lower doses for long enough to make sure they don’t come back.

  • Anonymous

    “All this article tells me is that Sweden is a rogue country that cares nothing about the rights of workers in other countries.”

    and then USA, Canada, Mexico, France, England, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Finland, Austria, Spain, Portugal, China, India, Newfoundland, Australia, Monaco, Mozambique, Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, Russia. . . . . . . . . . . .

  • Anonymous

    Even my dog is sharing!

    Come and try to sue my dog!

  • Anonymous

    “When the pirates are all serving lengthy custodial sentences the record labels will become profitable again. It’s simple math.”

    Yep! May be the dogs who could not be arrested because too nasty might still buy music unless they all decide to attack the records label exec and chop off their winy in lieu of hot dog. He! these thing need a lot of food!

  • Just some guy

    40% of population actively sharing files.

    That should mean the entertainment industry in Sweden has collapsed. Or has it?

  • Think

    Someone seems to miss a point, what’s the BIG difference between listening music on your PC from an internet radio or TV station and listening the same music from an mp3, do you see any difference ?

  • Happy Monday

    ‘Spotify dead within a year’ – according to Record industry executive.

    http://www.swedishwire.com/business/1221-spotify-dead-within-a-year

  • Kickass_Sid

    Well it is natural that

  • Kickass_Sid

    Well it is natural that the promotion made by the lawsuits popularized p2p.

  • Adam Sandford

    So swedes are a bunch of childish criminals? What exactly si this meant to prove?
    Go back 100 years or so and find that “Millions of Americans routinely own slaves”
    Guess we should have kept slavery, coz everyone woz doing it right?

  • NoSympathy

    THE SOLUTION:

    Change the law so that it fits in with the wishes of “we the people”, the majority.

    (Rather than just the wishes of the wealthiest.)

  • NoSympathy

    @A Victim…

    By not spending money on crap that should be dirt cheap, they’re going to become a 3rd world country?

    WTF are you smoking?

    Remind me… which country’s currency is tanking globally?

    Oh yes, the country where people are encouraged moreso than any other nation.. to consume crap they do not need! ;)

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  • me

    Wow, there’s a lot of potential growth for Sweden’s PP in there… provided that IFPI continues its arm twisting tactics to “criminalize” the mainstream.

  • lsc

    Time to teach my younger siblings the finer things about internet brb ;)

  • Darth_Tater

    IFPI
    Italian Fascist

    See:
    copyriot.se/2008/04/08/what-the-ifpi-tries-to-conceal-about-its-origins-in-fascist-italy/

    They edited there own WIKI to hide this.

  • nobody, actually

    is that why i can’t connect to my relakks-vpn-account? :-(

  • Dave

    So let me get this straight: By its own admission, IFPI is trying to eliminate rights from 40% of the population.

    Here’s a thought: They’ve gone out of their way to remind everyone that these are people who fileshare EVERY SINGLE DAY – What about the people who only do it once a month, a couple times a year?

    I’d bet that the annual number of file sharers is well north of 50% of the Swedish population, and that the number of copyright infringers (of any sort) is above 90%.

    With this being the case, it’s time for Swedish people to stand up and make it a ballot issue. The rest of the world is ready to follow you – just lead the way!

  • omfg

    why dont they start a national referendum ? 40% of all the people ? thats way enough to make it into a law

  • Reasoned *

    @71

    The USA only cares about workers in china. Without them, we would have no cheap stuff at wal-mart to buy.

  • Reasoned *

    Here’s an insight for those who say it can’t be a law if millions break it: 99.9999999(repeating)% of Americans speed on the highway. The speed limit is and always will be 70-75 MPH. Yet everyone will do 80 as long as the cops aren’t looking, when they do 65.

    For most filesharers right now, smuggling copyrighted content over the interwebz, the cops aren’t looking. Or they are too busy racing down the information superhighway after an 18 wheeler full of files, with copies of them flying around and sometimes hitting your little Prius.

    They’re on a high speed chase after the big file sharers. And they aren’t even writing down your tag number when they race by.

  • OPP

    The most embarrasing part of IFPI’s numbers and surveys is that, with their own logic, 40% of swedes sharing files illegaly must mean that neaither the music industry nor the movie or gaming industry can be macing any money, seeing that those who can use a computer or a remote controle for a television knows how to file-share.

  • ilold

    @reasoned

    how the f can you compare speeding on a highway with sharing music & movies? dont u know one is dangerous and another one is culture??

    reason some more nascar boy

  • pbp

    “According to new research carried out by music group IFPI, around 40% of Swedes between 15 and 74 illegally share files every single day. ”

    Yeah, lots of 73 year old Swedes listen to illegally downloaded speedmetal.

  • TRYER

    Ages 15 to 74. That isn’t a statistic, that’s a good guess. And they were trying to be nice. Try more like 10 to 65.

    I would like to see them try and use that survey in court.

  • Daniel

    What’s humourous about this is it proves that pursuing legal actions against file sharers is impossible. What really needs to be developed is some legal easy way for such actions to happen. This is all part of the revolution of the internet. Rejoice, for change is good. This will bring about so many good things, I just wish everyone would get past the stigma of “it is wrong” and focus on “how can we make this okay/acceptable?”

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