Piracy Has Become Mainstream, Studies Show
Written by Ernesto on March 13, 2009While the entertainment industries push for harsher copyright laws, public opinion steers in the opposite direction. Two recent studies from Canada and Spain found that half of the Internet users use p2p networks to download music, software and films. Less than 5% of the respondents believe that people who download copyrighted content are engaging in criminal behavior.
In recent years many studies have shown that a large chunk of Internet users share copyrighted files on P2P networks, and this number is rapidly increasing every year. The results of a Canadian study published today show that 45% of all those surveyed use file-sharing networks to download movies and music. Also, this behavior is widely accepted since only 3% of the people who participated in the study said that file-sharers should be punished by law.
These results are not unique to Canada either. A few weeks ago a Spanish survey found pretty much the same results (pdf). Of the thousands of Internet users questioned, more than half admitted using file-sharing software regularly. In fact, 28% said they use it every day. Only 1% of the respondents saw downloading copyrighted files as criminal behavior, while 43% said that the development of P2P networks should be promoted.
The results of these two reports clearly show that public opinion is changing in favor of P2P users. So how did this happen? Could it be that the Internet has changed the way we interact with digital media? Unlike 10 years ago, people are now used to unlimited access to all kinds of information, much of it thanks to Google. The Internet allows people to access an unlimited library of information, and at an increasing rate people demand the same experience for TV, music and other forms of digital information, as the studies show.
Meanwhile, entertainment industry lobbyists do all they can to get tougher copyright laws in place, and to get repeated copyright infringers disconnected by their ISPs. They argue that filesharing is hurting content creators, even though research indicates that the opposite might actually be true. So what’s going on here? Could it be that the bosses at the record labels and movie companies are trying to slow down innovation simply because they want to preserve their old business models?
The people who actually create the movies and music want their content to be shared, only the large corporations behind it are too afraid to move on. Lobby groups such as the MPAA and the RIAA represent the distributors of movies and music, NOT the creators. They even pay politicians to support their cause by voting for or against laws so that legislation is made with their interests in mind. Is that moral? When some of the most successful musicians start their own lobby group to take on the record labels for their alleged extortion practices, there’s clearly something wrong.
So should sharing copyrighted material be legalized? Not per se, but the entertainment industry should focus on monetizing filesharing networks instead of bringing them down. The Internet has drastically changed the way people consume music and other forms of entertainment. Every piece of information is only a few clicks away, and people demand the same for their music and other types of media. There are no boundaries anymore. 15 years ago it was unthinkable that someone could have access to millions of songs, on demand. Now, this has become reality, but the music industry is still hesitant to offer such a service.
The answer really is to compete with piracy. Right now most of the online music services don’t offer a very good experience or are simply too expensive. Most of them still include some form of DRM, no unlimited access, or a limited library. “All you can eat” plans are the future though, either for a small fee or ad supported. If it’s done right, the motivation to download something illegally will simply disappear, at least for the majority of the people. This aside, it is likely to generate more revenue for the artist and labels. Everybody wins.
Previously: SXSW 2009 on BitTorrent: 6 GB of Free Music
Next: Fake aXXo Torrents Bombard BitTorrent
67 Responses
>So should sharing copyrighted
>material be legalized? Not per se, >but
Theres no “but”. Let the people, the democracy decide. If we, the people at large, do not want to prohibit our fellow people from sharing information, then sharing should not be lobbied into illegality, so someone can profit from it being illegal, as it is now.
In practice, people do NOT prevent each other from sharing, as they would certainly do with theft and violence. They consider sharing ok (after all, sharing is what we all are being told is nice our whole life) and theft and violence not ok.
Finally, it absolutely does not matter what effect a legalisation of sharing will have on the “copy industry”. If we, the people, value the freedom to share existing culture _more_ than creating an incentive to produce more culture by artificial scarcity, then so be it. If we the people decide we dont want artificial scarcity, who is gonna force us to behave otherwise?
“Less than 5% of the respondents believe that people who download copyrighted content are engaging in criminal behavior.”
Which means those 5% don’t understand the difference between a “civil” offense versus a “criminal” offense.
Funny how that noisy 3% that thinks file sharers should be punished by law are getting their way, huh? I wonder if campaign contributions and special interest groups have anything to do with that?
Nah, couldn’t be. (Gotta wonder how many people are RIAA backers. The study should have asked that, but it may have been a statistically insignificant number!)
>Which means those 5% don’t
>understand the difference between a
>“civil” offense versus a “criminal”
>offense.
1. Filesharing is not in all countries only a civil matter.
2. In practice, it absolutely doesnt matter if its a civil or a criminal liability that fscked up your life just for sharing things you like with people you like. Therefore read it as:
“Less than 5% of the respondents believe that people who download copyrighted content are engaging in objectionable behavior.”
“So should sharing copyrighted material be legalized?”
Another way to frame the question:
“Should sharing copyrighted material be against the law, and make millions of citizens law-breakers?”
Would you still answer “not per se”?
@3 pirateprideWW
“Funny how that noisy 3% that thinks file sharers should be punished by law are getting their way, huh? I wonder if campaign contributions and special interest groups have anything to do with that?”
It all comes down to a question of unity and organization. The more you are able to unify and organize, the more a group of people are able to effectively use resources for a cause. The 3% are just very well-organized, whereas the rest of the population are not organized at all. If this changed even slightly, and if these percentages are correct, then this could change. There is only one solution to this: pirates of the world, unite!
(The problem does not lie, after all, in the faults of the industry: it should be up to the people to make sure things are right. The government is democratic, after all, and democratic rights that are not exercised are simply rights thrown away.)
So.. these studies.. they found that people are in favour of getting free sh*t and getting away scott free??
Madness…..
Yeap, study shows we winning..
Make no mistake, we are here to make those fat cats unemployed.
There is no stopping us, we will win.
Adapt or be destroyed. We don’t care about your arguments, we don’t care about your whining complaints and excuses.. we have made the rules.. follow them or be crushed.
I will download what I want, when I want, how I want. I couldn’t care less about what you think or have to say.. after all I cant even hear you over all the downloading im doing.
Muahahahha this is great. I hope the RIAA and MPAA goes down in flames.
MPAA and the RIAA represent the distributors of movies and music, NOT the creators. They even pay politicians to support their cause by voting for or against laws.
Stright-up,thats it in a nutshell.
In spain non-commercial filesharing *is* legal.
I don’t know about its legality in Canada but the 1% of spaniards who think it is illegal have been misled.
http://torrentfreak.com/web-users-demand-end-to-government-p2p-propaganda-081231/
MPAA and the RIAA represent the distributors of movies and music, NOT the creators. They even pay politicians to support their cause by voting for or against laws.
STRIGHT-UP,thats it in a nutshell.
The juror in the Jammie Thomas trial who stood out for insisting on punishing her with the maximum penalty — was someone who had never used a computer before.
Let’s be honest with ourselves here – EVEN IF there was a PERFECT place to buy legitimate TV, Movie, and Music – would you really use it even if there were still free sources avaliable as they are now? HONESTLY? Somehow I doubt it. I know I wouldn’t – Free is better than NOT free.
Finally some competent people do something for once. It’s about time people have realizes what’s going on with this shit.
KILL THE 5% NOW PIES IN DER FACES ARGHHHHH
Why do we see hundreds of these studies come by and still politicians conform to anything the RIAA and MPAA say without question?
It’s just like the “gaming turns innocent kids into murderers” debate, the myth is disproven but still people scream out unfounded “truths” as soon as some mentally disordered kid flips out and kills somebody (oh and he was incidentally one of the 50% of the world that plays games).
The whole situation in both debates is ridiculous
Those who oppose file sharing should have their genitals surgically removed.
Who gives a shit about Canada and Spain?
#18. Fuck you I give a shit about canada because I am a proud canadian
this will sound tarded but the only way they will damage piracy is by stopping broadband worldwide… gawd.. how much can a pirate on a 56k download with todays bloatware?
arrgh
call all torrent and torrent users i want you all to stop lliegal downloading music and film fles and other thing that are games and softwhere restrin themselves from illegal downloading right away. The goverments are going to post piracy laws and your putting children and teens at risk. We will tell music and movie industries to tell them to meet our ideas and demands from fans of entertainment.
here are the steps.
1. music and video website with streaming and that people can watch.
2. legal downloads that are cheap so the entertainment industries can got profits from music and movie and tv shows and so that people can watch and enjoy themselfs.
3. all torrents must remove entertainment industries music and other entertainment industries stuff torrents.
4. all people on the new legal entertainment industries streaming website can download to own.
5. all people can download 25 songs and put them on the cd and so people can listen to there music in there cars and cd players and same thing goes for there i phone and there other internet gear.
6.the entertainment industriy must listen to internet users ideas for entertainment.
7. we internet whats every 4 months to download 25 songs for free.
8. Internet users got to create music videos from there favorite tv shows and movies from clips and full shows and movies. Can only be upload on there legal site for the internet users around the world best interest.
7. all entertainment industries around world must make there international internet users demend clear and no funny business.
8. In exchange for internet users illegal downloads and listen to internet users ideas
9. all world entertainment tv shows and film and music must be at reasonable price for legal downloads of entertainment stuff for all the entertainment fans of the world.
10. all internet users will make videos and but to make fun of peoples culture and religion and there countries goverments.
11. to goverments of the world must make broadband acess at 1 mbps for free from verzion and all of companies.
12. all entertainment companies must make wish of fans entertainment wishs clear and no jokes.
13. no harsh copyright laws
this website will be legal for all internet users of the world who watch entertainment and this will broke down all international barriers on the net that keep us apart.
support the internet and fans of entertainment world and make the internet legal site a reality and save the entertainment industries of the world and companies who makes them. will be graceful to us. Futher more we must protect deams of all people who want to be actors, song writers and film creators. This will make something for us as reality and make this great site for us legal and no funny business from companies and one more thing torrents users and fans of entertainment do this please. Tell them no harsher or 3 strike laws from the world goverments.
cool internet stream website that streams music and shows and movies and people who download them for reason able prices and this goes international entertainment industry as well. Plus all international entertainment industry people of the world who make them must be included in the international entertainment legal streaming internet websites.
This will resolve our issues and save the thing we love international entertainment and tell them to include there international entertainment tv shows and movies and film from around the world and let people got in to there world culture and music and let entertainments fans create there own music video from clips from all around world international entertainment.
‘Those who oppose file sharing should have their genitals surgically removed’ surgically implies that it should be humane just get the fuck hammer and tongs out!
“Who gives a shit about Canada and Spain?”
Canadians and Spaniards, you arrogant prick.
Its about time the music and film industries had a new business model ..
My idea is:
EVERYTHING should be FREE although protected from copying etc by DRM
If you choose to pay you should be able to get non-DRM in WHATEVER format you want i.e. MP3, FLAC, DIVX etc at WHATEVER quality you want..
ADDITIONAL promotions should be available to those who pay – competitions, websites etc..
REDUCE prices, give the artists a better deal
This would promote the artists, make new content available to try, and make it more convinient for the end user. We would be paying for a service!
guys and girls of fans entertainment of music, films and tv shows. we want a internet streaming website where we listen to music and watch tv shows and movie films and for reasonable cheap downlaod prices and in exchange for stop downloading of illegal downloading and teach younger generations of bad illegal download. Plus make this legal website for internet users around the world forever and block internet goverment rule and have internet freedom and lets have entertainment freedom. lets make one world goverment where people are free and where all part of same earth and people listen to my warning we must prevent nuclear war and world war 3 and stop asteroid impace from space and stop aliens that in a ufo and from there salor systems, so we can keep our culture and religion free and we have the power to make one world goverment for freedom where religion and cultures and sports and our entertainment from getting hurt and have humans dream of one world goverment of freedom and jusice and good jobs and bussiness blooms.
torrent users and fans of entertainment world and tell entertainment world my plans for the site and keep internet free and proud and make international internet freedom realtily and tell them my sit and copy and paste my message to all torrent sites of the world.
@23 I personally DON’T want a pay to watch streaming service. The quality is usually dreadful (look at BBC iPlayer for example)
I want to be able to download a high definition copy that matches my TV resolution and has a 7.1 soundtrack. I also want to be able to download a DIVX at 640×480 at a lower bitrate for playback on my phone… I want to be able to download studio quality FLAC for playback over my expensive HiFi. I want to be able to download a 196Kbps MP3 for my iPod…
This is something even torrents struggle to give me!
if torrent freak does not like my message or upseted some people there free to delete my comments and remember its your things you do and you must accept right thing and the message above reflects all live action entertainment and music entertainment. its my first message and ignore other comments
and if this does not help or make people upset let torrentfreak delete my message and you guys do what you please. but dire warning more illegal downloading on torrents will kill internet freedom and people will not be happy of there internet freedom take away because of you guys and girls and the overseerer of the internet world has spoken.
if you guys want to illegal download and kill the internet freedom be my guys and delete my comments torrent freak if you want but heed my warnings torrent users and fans of entertainment world who download music and live action entertainment from films and tvs shows.
the overseer of the internet world and real world has spoken. and overseer means one person who see the world in bad future or good future.
remember my words of wisdom and warnings and keep internet freedom alive and will and stop all goverments of world from starting world war and nuclear war. One more thing the internet destiny is in your hands torrent users and fans of live action entertainment.
what will it be choose wrong way or the right away.
you decide if you dare your actions and thanks for letting me speak my mind and all torrent users and fans of entertainment. make my site reality and torrent freak leaders of the site our happy to delete my comments and will you do it please thank you and people and torrent users and fans of entertainment make the streaming legal site a reality to have international entertainment and everything from people who create videos to uploading stuff they create and make them selfs interent stars of world XD and torrent freak leaders delete my comments please lol
ok, mods, delete his comments. he said he wants them deleted, this guy is a lunatic, “overseerer of the internets’?? like cmon. Haha i like how he predicted the future of the internet. Listen, the future of the internet is in good hands son, just calm down and stfu.
-sorry for bad language in this and my last post. lol. i had to get my point across though!
i read your comment and tell them to make the international entertainment stream site and free for us in better and best quality and keep us happy our we will just download for free. the message above for our demand above wrote is for us to have better entertainment and got good entertainment from around the world. and we entertainment folks want good entertainment that cheap and free and in the highest best quality for us and what fans want and resonable good download prices that are cheap and not big ok.
This want the fans of entertainment world want.
first message i wrote is to help keep entertainment world alive and our entertainment fans alive and will and support entertainment world and make good legal international entertainment streaming ofr for us and only us to enjoy and keep our fellow fans out of trouble with the international entertainment industries and copy right laws or our fellows fans to dont now law will end up in prison tell them what we want and i hear by declare this my first message and comment to my fellow entertainment fans and my other messages below are for my fellow fans to keep out of trouble with the entertainment industries and the goverments of the remember all fans of the live action and music entertainment. keep out of trouble and listen to music and watch movies. that are legal and fellows your heart and do the right thing.
and keep out of trouble and if cops do find you keep everything all downloads in one folder and delete and tell them that someone made you do it and tell them you where framed and lead them away and never do it again and if you end in court tell them to spare you and tell them i learned my lesson and i will never do it again and wait 3 months laters with a new computer
sorry for getting carried away message and please entertainment fans avoid trouble and here are tips in cause you do.
if cops do find you keep everything all downloads in one folder and delete it and tell them that someone made you do it and tell them you where framed and lead them away and never do it again and if you end in court tell them to spare you and tell them i learned my lesson and i will never do it again and wait 3 months laters with a new computer and upgrade it that hacker proof
ok mods request delete my comments on this page at 12:00 am and guys good luck and good downloading and i will make greatest entertainment site ever lol and torrent freak mods delete my message at 12:00 am and people who read my comments please tell the torrent freak leaders to delete my comments and help me torrent users
shadowstar stfu and eat a dick, nobody wants to read your rambling babble.
torrent users please contact ernesto of this page and tell him to delete my comments on this page and thank you for reading ok and i now i am trying to help torrent users and please tell ernesto to delete my comment and please help got my comment deleted
ok i think i just caused trouble someond my delete all my comments and before i cause more trouble and guys please spear me this once and some contact ernesto who made this page and tell him to delete my comments and sorry XD
got my comments deleted as fast as you can ok
I don’t know about movies, but is it really that hard to make money as a musician and NOT be part of any of these big labels?
Seems to me that all these artists on the major labels are yhe ones keeping the RIAA alive.
I’m not a huge music buff, but I know that Jonathon Coulton (Portal’s Still Alive) lives off his music. And his entire discography is available on his website. If he can do it, why cant all these other artists? Because they are greedy, they don’t care about working with the devil if it means they make lots of money.
Regardless of the stupid shit the RIAA does, this reason alone is enough for me to never buy their music. I go out of my way to make sure I give them none of my money while under those labels.
Considering 90% of my favorite movies are independent or foreign, I’m starting to feel the same way about that other 10% I normally would have bought.
ok guys ignore my message and do what you want and sorry for causing any trouble
I say we pass laws to make rights non-transferable. That way the RIAA and MPAA will have no rights and the artists will have theirs back.
Because alot of artists have more money than they need and do not care.
@Ernesto
“Lobby groups such as the MPAA and the RIAA represent the distributors of movies and music, NOT the creators. They even pay politicians to support their cause by voting for or against laws so that legislation is made with their interests in mind. Is that moral?”
a factual conspiracy that can be proven but very large scaled… having knowledge that ppl like the RIAA are willing to conspire immoral behavior and our politicians to participate in it in itself should be a study… it seems our politicians have no problems making immoral choices in the name of whats better for (their pocket) the public (bs…). they proclaim they are doing whats right but yet know they are wrong…
i think a prerequisite for a politician is “must be willing to be immoral or preform immoral acts”
Hahah.
Of course, this won’t stop the flaks from the IFPI’s Propaganda Ministry from claiming that filesharers only represent an insignificant minority of Internet users.
Not that it really matters, since at this point the Iraqi Information Minister has a higher level of credibility than the MAFIAA’s small army of sockpuppets who continue to babble on and on about how filesharing is theft, up is down, and the Earth is flat… All the while the rest of the world got wise to their lies and half truths a long time ago.
When you have studies where only 1% to 3% of respondants even think that filesharing should be legally punishable, I think it’s safe to say that the MAFIAA might as well be taking the millions of dollars it invests in propaganda(YOU WOULDN’T STEAL A CAR, WOULD YOU?), putting it in a big pile, and just setting it on fire.
No, wait… If they did that, then at least the money could be useful for something, like sitting around it in a circle singing Kumbaya or roasting marshmellows.
Okay, I take that back. Setting it on fire would be an improvement.
Theft is rampant!
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
“The people who actually create the movies and music want their content to be shared, only the large corporations behind it are too afraid to move on.”
And where is your source for that extremely generalised and broad statement TF?
“I say we pass laws to make rights non-transferable. That way the RIAA and MPAA will have no rights and the artists will have theirs back.
Because alot of artists have more money than they need and do not care.”
Your comments are based on made up facts that your tiny imagination comes up with that are really basic for a 16 year old.
Again, STFU!
We can thank the RIAA, MPAA, Media Defender, and all these anti-piracy companies for bringing it to various news medias causing the community to explode by the thousands–even millions–each time.
@18 I’d be willing to be you’re from the US, I’ve heard that type of attitude from US citizens before.
@38, Live performances for music and Theaters for Movies, everything else is a free for all. Also I agree most of what I’ve really enjoyed lately has come from places I can’t get it here anyway, Britain and other foreign places. Well said!!
@42 LOL nice!
@46 Yes they are shooting themselves in the foot. More and more people are starting to see that what they get charged isn’t worth it, not in value, but in cost to get to them.
There should be laws on Greed, it seems to me that is where most of the problems of the world come from.
*willing to [bet]
Heck yeah dude, keep it FREE!
RT
http://www.privacy.at.tc
I think the Jews run the entertainment and media industry. They also runs the banks, the diamond industry and unofficially run most of the occidental governments. As we know they do a great job. Sarkozy is a typical example of an undercover Jew and working for the benefit of his peers. He invented the 3 strikes against all odds, reopen holocaust compensation schemes while stealing music for his own promotion with impunity. They are just working towards the New World Order and we better be careful. Israel is a great example of what these people are capable of. Happy trigger, massacre on a grand scale, eradication of local populations, particularly if you are Muslim.
So if it is a matter of making half of the internet user a criminal for their gain, they will do it. I am not anti-Semite as I am barely reporting concerns of other Jew with integrity.
It just happen that some of them, are crooks with powerful delusion of grandeur. They had it their way for over 100y and killed who either was standing in their way. The music and movies making the millions are of zero interest to me. Most of it is propaganda. These are prefabricated artist, with no soul, and zero talent. I have friends in the cinema industry, and none of them are wealthy in any manner. Only the executives and distributors make money.
If the internet can help in any manner to get rid off these war mongers, so be it.
Mainstream? Did anyone notice that those surveyed were people who signed up to be polled?
Confirmation bias much?
http://www.AppScene.org has open registration atm.
I’ve read the entire thread and no one mentions the right of a director/artist/actor/corporation that spends $200 million on a movie to recoup their investment. Everyone also seems to want to put an arbitrary cap on artist earning. The internet is still a new technology going through its Wild West phase. It will end, business models will emerge, government and corporate interests will regain control over their content. And, yes I do work for a multi-national corporation with interests in film and music, but that’s not my point. Each of you must do something for a living, apply your logic to your job/earnings and see if it still holds water.
#56
What you’re saying is that you *hope* the internet is going through its Wild West phase.
How are you going to curb anonymous p2p file sharing?
just watch. pirating movies will be promoted in movie theaters, and the while “MPAA is out to get you” thing will be something we joke about, as if we don’t already joke about it enough. you honestly think, bdliveguy, that the govt. and corporations will regain control over the content they put out? they haven’t been successful in doing that ever since there has been recordable material available, such as vhs tapes, audio cassettes, cdr discs, dvdr discs, and so on. it’s not going to stop any time soon.
and for the record, the internet is by NO means “new” technology. it’s been out for a LONG ass time, and was originally used by the military, but didn’t really come into mainstream usage until the 90’s, when aol was the big dog on campus, and dial-up was the best thing going. how about before you go and say something that stupid, then PLEASE do your homework. i personally don’t care if your job is with a multi-national corporation that has interests in film and music. that doesn’t mean you know ANYTHING when it comes to the fact and truth that the more that corporations try to crack down on piracy, the more it’s going to flourish. what the mpaa and riaa do not realize is that they might as well give up on their old as hell business model, and they SERIOUSLY need to overhaul their ways of doing things. i think the phrase “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” comes perfectly into play right about now.
Seriously file sharing isn’t bad. I’m not going to lie I do it all the time. But I do still buy movies, software, music, and everything that can be downloaded from the internet.
I feel like if I pay to see a movie and it sucked I would be encouraging the making of crappy movies. So if I download it and watch it and am like “wow that sucked” well at least I didn’t give the people who made a crappy movie money in their pockets for total crap. If the movie is amazing I will go out and buy it on blu-ray.
Same with music. 30 second clips isn’t enough to tell if the song’s good. I’d download the album give it a once through and if it’s good I’ll either buy it in stores or off iTunes. But who wants to buy a cd then have it suck? And nothing beats having the actual CD at 100% quality. so the download isn’t the greatest thing ever anyways. Rarely do I get downloads of music that are 100% copies b/c ppl aren’t smart enough to do it.
And free trials on software aren’t good enough to tell if it’s a good program. What’s the point of a trial version of video converter if it only lets you convert 2 minutes of a video? It’s total crap. I’ve had real video converters that work good unless it’s a 2 hour movie then the video/audio would be way off. If it’s a 2 minute clip you don’t notice this. So I’d download this software see how it works and if it works good I’ll go out and buy it.
Pretty much I use downloading stuff off p2p sites as a buffer of crap. I don’t want to buy something and have it turn out to suck and I’m out money. If I download something that’s really good eventually I’ll go out and buy the product. So why should I get in trouble for making sure I don’t get ripped off? I shouldn’t
And they will never stop p2p sharing. There are way too many smart people out there who will figure out a new way to do stuff. People will always share things free online so stop trying to stop it b/c you make it almost more fun. It’s like speeding, if it wasn’t illegal ppl probably wouldn’t drive way too fast b/c there’s no thrill in following laws.
From the beginning of software people wanted it to be free. Bill Gates was outraged when people wanted him to share his operating systems for free. So back when computers were first starting to be mainstream people wanted free stuff. Computers and free stuff go hand in hand. I understand the companies need the money so they can pay the people who make the products. But too many people actually buy stuff for it to really effect anyone.
” So.. these studies.. they found that people are in favour of getting free sh*t and getting away scott free??
Madness……”
——————-
LOL!
my thoughts exactly.
they should do another study and ask fat people if they enjoy cookies and cake. i’m sure the results will be just as riveting.
“EVEN IF there was a PERFECT place to buy legitimate TV, Movie, and Music – would you really use it even if there were still free sources avaliable as they are now? HONESTLY?”
Um, yeah. What the paid place, if *PERFECT*, would provide is *authentication* and *quality*. Like, “This is made from the original master tape, as broadcast, by the original producers, with no cuts, in a high-definition copy”. You can’t get that kind of authentication from *most* third-party sources.
The pathetic thing is that the MPAA/RIAA companies have been offering damaged, cut, mangled copies, and the so-called “pirates” are the only place to get good-quality, authenticated copies. However, in those cases you have to track down the dedicated fans who have made the effort to authenticate — and for many things there are no such fans.
“no one mentions the right of a director/artist/actor/corporation that spends $200 million on a movie to recoup their investment.”
There is no “right to recoup your investment”, although Citigroup, AIG, and the people who dealt with Lehman Brothers appear to think otherwise.
Being an artist has rarely been profitable, throughout history. Deal with it.
We need studies like this done worldwide and then publicised properly. That would be the first nail in the coffin.
Is anyone moderating these comments? I think that comment #52 by lune (short for antisematic lunatic no doubt) is inappropriate and should be removed.
@Ernesto: You say “The results of a Canadian study published today show that 45% of all those surveyed use file-sharing networks to download movies and music”. The article you cite says “In the online survey of a representative national sample, nearly half of respondents (45 per cent) say those who use peer-to-peer file sharing services to download music and movies are ‘just regular Internet users doing what people should be able to do on the Internet’.” Those two statements aren’t even close to meaning the same thing. Ernesto, misleading your readers isn’t doing anyone any favours. I checked the linked article carefully because your assertion failed the common sense test but, as is so easily seen in the reader comments, a lot of your readers are just kids who don’t question anything they’d like to be true.
And for the children that will immediately suppose I’m on the side of the **AA, the truth is that I’m actually amongst the 45% referred to in the article. I leave it to your fevered imaginations as to which article I mean.
I really don’t like IFPI, but I think its obvious that they try to preserve their old models and slow down the innovation of p2p, when it causes their extint. Dictators want to hold their power, not to go to prison. :)
Piracy has only become mainstream in America because in these times, 20 bucks is too much to pay for a single dvd. Personally I need to spend that extra 20 dollars on the rising cost of food.
Pirates are not their competitor. Nabisco is. General Mills is. Kraft is. Movies companies don’t understand that most American households are on a budget, hence the popularity of cd/dvd buy-back shops.
On a different note, a question:
Say for example, you were on trial for downloading an ‘illegally distributed’ movie to your pc. Couldn’t it be argued that it is not illegal since the copy in your possession [and the torrent you got it from] had no FBI or Copyright Warning?
Frankly speaking, I don’t see a crime in downloading a movie or some music… If there are lots of such things in the Internet, why cannot we make use of them? Here wins rapidshare and its search engines (e.g. http://rapidqueen.com and others)
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