Study: Piracy is Caused by Poor Choice
Written by Ben Jones on March 05, 2008According to a new study just released in the UK, one of the biggest causes of copyright infringement is a lack of choice. The study further shows that one third of the Brits have downloaded copyright infringing content, or plans to do so in the future.
This claim, published in the 2008 Digital Entertainment Survey (pdf), is only reiterating what has been said many times before – that trying to promote the artificial scarcity is what is fueling piracy.
In total, 70% of those who admitted to piracy agreed that “legal sites just don’t have the range of illegal ones” (try looking for Beatles tracks) whilst almost as many said they would pay for downloads, if what they wanted was available. This is probably also one of the main reasons why half of the BitTorrent downloads are TV-shows.
The fact that one third of the UK citizens can be labeled as a pirate is thus a signal that these customers want something that is not available through other channels. It’s more about availability than the fact that it’s free.
On top of the availability issue, 68% of the respondents who have downloaded copyrighted content indicate that the illegal alternatives are more convenient, because they can get what they want much faster.
In addition, the report shows that anti-piracy campaigns are not very effective. To the possible despair of industry bodies, however, 68% believed that that are very unlikely to be caught downloading, showing that slogans such as ‘You can click but you can’t hide‘ are understood as intimidation rather than a promise.
With a motion having being put forward, requesting the information being used to identify and prosecute filesharers, and judges getting annoyed with the methods used in these cases, the chances of being caught are steadily declining.
If there is anything the Entertainment Industry should take from this report, it’s that they should move with the times, and start releasing their back catalogs for sale, rather than let someone else do it for free.
Previously: NIN Confirms Uploads to Public and Private Torrent Sites
Next: IFPI Pressure Forces ISPs to Block Another File-Sharing Site
102 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)
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Well said, exactly how I feel.
Availability and prices…make it available sooner and easy to get as well as affordable and they would have my business. All things that are possible while they still stuff their pockets.
Torrents offer:
- greatest selection of media known to man
- high quality
- DRM free
- ours forever
- we can do what we want with it
Legal downlloads need to offer at least 4 of the above before they stand a chance
clearly the world hacks
“Piracy” by any means offers something else that is steadily growing in importance:
PRIVACY
When you buy almost ANYTHING online, you could just as well agree to a body cavity search, have it filmed and posted online.
In a manner of speak … ;)
I’d be one of those who didn’t admit to piracy, because I’m not one. I consider myself very honest (I have to be in my position) and have used file sharing for a long time.
It is what the people want and what the Internet is about. The laws will eventually have to bend to the will of the people and not the other way round. At present they are murky, unclear and inconsistent geographically. The Internet has no boundaries and thus cannot bind and restrict individuals wherever they are.
Media pricing is artificially inflated by the cartels, who try to control and fix it according to location. Then they make certain titles available there but not here, and repeat a TV season ad infinitum on pay TV rather than show the whole series, because in another 50 years they intend to release it on DVD when there’s no interest anymore.
But it is available now and for a good price to all thanks to file sharing.
As it is we all pay the media cartels through their extortion fee on every blank media disk.
And why would govts want to ban file sharing when that would mean the end of the Internet as we know it, and ISPs would go out of business, meaning a drastic reduction in taxes paid every month by every user?
i agree with the tv-shows. i would have paid to have uh lets say hbo if it was available in my country, but its not. so im forced to download it. alternative way is to watch it when it air in norway, 6 months after.
meh. i would still download as much if it still air’ed in norway as the same time as any other channels =)
and don’t forget those who PAID for Sky One (for all the american shows) then had it removed from their Virgin Media account because Branson fell out with Sky…
Sky gets the American series too late anyway.
If the legal channels provided the better quality material without DRM, it would get purchased a lot more. The large corporations don’t seem to release that their DRM just discourages people from purchasing music as it much makes it more hassle not less. It’s very difficult to stop people redistributing data between each other, so instead of trying to limit the use of the data, the firms should just ensure that they are the fastest and easiest method or getting it.
iTunes for example doesn’t ever get used because DRM (which is getting removed.. but sitll have to pay to “upgrade” to non-DRM on existing files), and you can’t redownload the files if you lose it. Data loss is common on computers, people will lose lose and need to redownload them, they shouldn’t be expected to pay for the data again. The format they use should be what people want - for me that’s MP3 and FLAC, and price difference between the two formats should be caused by added bandwidth costs.
Get legal content it’s fucking complicated if you’re not on US or EU…
If you don’t have international CC, you won’t have paypal…
Then you’ll have to pay taxes for shipping, wait 30 days… taxes for govern…
Or just 3 clicks and download right away in less then 24 hours!
Other cases, there are stuff that you just can’t find in ANY store…
[quote comment="304127"]Torrents offer:
- greatest selection of media known to man
- high quality
- DRM free
- ours forever
- we can do what we want with it
Legal downloads need to offer at least 4 of the above before they stand a chance[/quote]
4? LOL! They not only need to offer all of the above but even more. And frankly, after years of being harassed, hounded, and branded a criminal by the entertainment industry I don’t think I’m willing to just say “let bygones be bygones, all is forgiven” and start paying them, no matter what they do. I don’t feel I’m alone in this thinking either.
How many have had their lives disrupted and even destroyed by the anti-piracy forces. How many college students were forced to leave college (and their future plans) due to being sued into the poorhouse by RIAA goons? Grandmothers, students, working class parents, even a dead person has been targeted by these dirtbags and the scum of the legal profession that works in their cause.
Dan Glickman of the MPAA says that I and my fellow filesharers (100 million+ and growing) are the “lowest form of criminal” and the “scum of the earth” for pirating movies. Now because they’re teetering on the brink of collapse I’m supposed to just put all the bad feelings in the past and move on? AND actually give them money???
You know what? Fuck them and the horse they rode in on. The MPAA and RIAA were the ones who decided it was good business strategy to criminalize their customer base, buy and corrupt the political process to change laws that benefit the entertainment industry’s interests and not the people’s, and even relentlessly try to meddle and influence the internal affairs of other countries (as in the Pirate Bay case). All in the name of money.
Greedy, arrogant bastards. The hell with them. The future of entertainment distribution is developing just fine without their participation in building the platforms and business models of tomorrow. It won’t be too many more years before they are nothing but a bad memory. I do believe we will see it in our lifetime. And they have no one to blame but themselves.
They can hire all the Media Defenders and buy all the politicians they want. In the end, it will not save them.
I say hoist the sails mateys. Ramming speed!
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Take the results with a pinch of salt.
They surveyed something like one person in every 40,000 of the population, and make some funny claims, like Apple TV outselling the iphone (1.2 million apple TVs based on their results vs apples lousy iphone performance in the UK, maybe 200,000 up to xmas).
[quote]The survey reveals that a substantial proportion of consumers are generally receptive towards brands being more involved in social
networks: just under 1 in 5 would even add brands as a ‘friend’ on
their profile.[/quote]
At least 73% of all respondants disagreed with everything asked about advertisements. 73-81% of people being against you is not “receptive” in anyones books.
Perhaps of more interest is the claim that 7/10 would stop downloading with one C+D letter.
Problem is, they have 4 options, rather than yes/no.
50% say they agree they would stop downloading rather than strongly agree. If those 50% truly intended to stop at the first letter, they would have chosen strongly agree instead.
So what is actually left is that possibly 1/5 will freak out and stop all downloading if they were sent a letter.
I wont bother ripping into the rest of it, just don’t read too much into the 1600 people who took the survey, or place any kind of faith in their findings.
[quote comment="304264"][quote comment="304127"]Torrents offer:
- greatest selection of media known to man
- high quality
- DRM free
- ours forever
- we can do what we want with it
Legal downloads need to offer at least 4 of the above before they stand a chance[/quote]
4? LOL! They not only need to offer all of the above but even more. And frankly, after years of being harassed, hounded, and branded a criminal by the entertainment industry I don’t think I’m willing to just say “let bygones be bygones, all is forgiven” and start paying them, no matter what they do. I don’t feel I’m alone in this thinking either.
How many have had their lives disrupted and even destroyed by the anti-piracy forces. How many college students were forced to leave college (and their future plans) due to being sued into the poorhouse by RIAA goons? Grandmothers, students, working class parents, even a dead person has been targeted by these dirtbags and the scum of the legal profession that works in their cause.
Dan Glickman of the MPAA says that I and my fellow filesharers (100 million+ and growing) are the “lowest form of criminal” and the “scum of the earth” for pirating movies. Now because they’re teetering on the brink of collapse I’m supposed to just put all the bad feelings in the past and move on? AND actually give them money???
You know what? Fuck them and the horse they rode in on. The MPAA and RIAA were the ones who decided it was good business strategy to criminalize their customer base, buy and corrupt the political process to change laws that benefit the entertainment industry’s interests and not the people’s, and even relentlessly try to meddle and influence the internal affairs of other countries (as in the Pirate Bay case). All in the name of money.
Greedy, arrogant bastards. The hell with them. The future of entertainment distribution is developing just fine without their participation in building the platforms and business models of tomorrow. It won’t be too many more years before they are nothing but a bad memory. I do believe we will see it in our lifetime. And they have no one to blame but themselves.
They can hire all the Media Defenders and buy all the politicians they want. In the end, it will not save them.
I say hoist the sails mateys. Ramming speed![/quote]
agreed
[quote comment="304264"][quote comment="304127"]Torrents offer:
- greatest selection of media known to man
- high quality
- DRM free
- ours forever
- we can do what we want with it
Legal downloads need to offer at least 4 of the above before they stand a chance[/quote]
4? LOL! They not only need to offer all of the above but even more. And frankly, after years of being harassed, hounded, and branded a criminal by the entertainment industry I don’t think I’m willing to just say “let bygones be bygones, all is forgiven” and start paying them, no matter what they do. I don’t feel I’m alone in this thinking either.
How many have had their lives disrupted and even destroyed by the anti-piracy forces. How many college students were forced to leave college (and their future plans) due to being sued into the poorhouse by RIAA goons? Grandmothers, students, working class parents, even a dead person has been targeted by these dirtbags and the scum of the legal profession that works in their cause.
Dan Glickman of the MPAA says that I and my fellow filesharers (100 million+ and growing) are the “lowest form of criminal” and the “scum of the earth” for pirating movies. Now because they’re teetering on the brink of collapse I’m supposed to just put all the bad feelings in the past and move on? AND actually give them money???
You know what? Fuck them and the horse they rode in on. The MPAA and RIAA were the ones who decided it was good business strategy to criminalize their customer base, buy and corrupt the political process to change laws that benefit the entertainment industry’s interests and not the people’s, and even relentlessly try to meddle and influence the internal affairs of other countries (as in the Pirate Bay case). All in the name of money.
Greedy, arrogant bastards. The hell with them. The future of entertainment distribution is developing just fine without their participation in building the platforms and business models of tomorrow. It won’t be too many more years before they are nothing but a bad memory. I do believe we will see it in our lifetime. And they have no one to blame but themselves.
They can hire all the Media Defenders and buy all the politicians they want. In the end, it will not save them.
I say hoist the sails mateys. Ramming speed![/quote]
Me3
Me, also.
[quote comment="304264"][quote comment="304127"]Torrents offer:
- greatest selection of media known to man
- high quality
- DRM free
- ours forever
- we can do what we want with it
Legal downloads need to offer at least 4 of the above before they stand a chance[/quote]
4? LOL! They not only need to offer all of the above but even more. And frankly, after years of being harassed, hounded, and branded a criminal by the entertainment industry I don’t think I’m willing to just say “let bygones be bygones, all is forgiven” and start paying them, no matter what they do. I don’t feel I’m alone in this thinking either.
How many have had their lives disrupted and even destroyed by the anti-piracy forces. How many college students were forced to leave college (and their future plans) due to being sued into the poorhouse by RIAA goons? Grandmothers, students, working class parents, even a dead person has been targeted by these dirtbags and the scum of the legal profession that works in their cause.
Dan Glickman of the MPAA says that I and my fellow filesharers (100 million+ and growing) are the “lowest form of criminal” and the “scum of the earth” for pirating movies. Now because they’re teetering on the brink of collapse I’m supposed to just put all the bad feelings in the past and move on? AND actually give them money???
You know what? Fuck them and the horse they rode in on. The MPAA and RIAA were the ones who decided it was good business strategy to criminalize their customer base, buy and corrupt the political process to change laws that benefit the entertainment industry’s interests and not the people’s, and even relentlessly try to meddle and influence the internal affairs of other countries (as in the Pirate Bay case). All in the name of money.
Greedy, arrogant bastards. The hell with them. The future of entertainment distribution is developing just fine without their participation in building the platforms and business models of tomorrow. It won’t be too many more years before they are nothing but a bad memory. I do believe we will see it in our lifetime. And they have no one to blame but themselves.
They can hire all the Media Defenders and buy all the politicians they want. In the end, it will not save them.
I say hoist the sails mateys. Ramming speed![/quote]
Agreed, why let the media in when we’re just about finished with them?
They had their chance(s). They blew it.
[quote comment="304264"][quote comment="304127"]Torrents offer:
- greatest selection of media known to man
- high quality
- DRM free
- ours forever
- we can do what we want with it
Legal downloads need to offer at least 4 of the above before they stand a chance[/quote]
4? LOL! They not only need to offer all of the above but even more. And frankly, after years of being harassed, hounded, and branded a criminal by the entertainment industry I don’t think I’m willing to just say “let bygones be bygones, all is forgiven” and start paying them, no matter what they do. I don’t feel I’m alone in this thinking either.
How many have had their lives disrupted and even destroyed by the anti-piracy forces. How many college students were forced to leave college (and their future plans) due to being sued into the poorhouse by RIAA goons? Grandmothers, students, working class parents, even a dead person has been targeted by these dirtbags and the scum of the legal profession that works in their cause.
Dan Glickman of the MPAA says that I and my fellow filesharers (100 million+ and growing) are the “lowest form of criminal” and the “scum of the earth” for pirating movies. Now because they’re teetering on the brink of collapse I’m supposed to just put all the bad feelings in the past and move on? AND actually give them money???
You know what? Fuck them and the horse they rode in on. The MPAA and RIAA were the ones who decided it was good business strategy to criminalize their customer base, buy and corrupt the political process to change laws that benefit the entertainment industry’s interests and not the people’s, and even relentlessly try to meddle and influence the internal affairs of other countries (as in the Pirate Bay case). All in the name of money.
Greedy, arrogant bastards. The hell with them. The future of entertainment distribution is developing just fine without their participation in building the platforms and business models of tomorrow. It won’t be too many more years before they are nothing but a bad memory. I do believe we will see it in our lifetime. And they have no one to blame but themselves.
They can hire all the Media Defenders and buy all the politicians they want. In the end, it will not save them.
I say hoist the sails mateys. Ramming speed![/quote]
I have to say I agree, I will never stop downloading for free. Fact is there rich and im poor, and i just dont give a shit.
Anyone that would pay for something when it’s free obviously has more money than brains.
While I think this article makes some good points about why the industry as to change, it’s also important to note that, according to the report: 7 out of 10 people would stop downloading if warned by their ISPs.
That’s another, less desirable, avenue for change.
I think this is true and as old as the printing press. Pirates were printing books which were hard to find, obscure stuff.
I NEED TO GO TO BOOTLEGGER THERAPY BECAUSE I CANT STOP. I HAVE TRIED MANY TIMES BUT THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING I WANT.I LOVE HUNTING TORRENTS. THE FACT THAT IT IS AGAINST THE LAW MAKES IT BETTER FOR ME. HAS ANYONE EVER TRIED TO QUIT?? IT SEEMS THERE ARE OTHERS JUST LIKE ME WHO CANT STOP….WE KNOW THE TRUTH…….I HAVE BEEN TO THE GATES OF TORRENT HELL AND I LIKED IT…
What’s the solution for pirated programs and games? People will choose the free way no matter how DRM-free music or tv-shows get. Piracy is for getting stuff free.
Fallacy - “piracy” of files implies you could buy them - this is wrong - look at how much music and other media is out of print and can only be found on a torrent (free) or used (high price) - why is ANY SONG out of print now that the cost to provide it is $0? Even then, if you want, say, Andy Summers’ albums, you have to “pirate” them because his label is gone. Why are ALL of Sheena Easton’s 1980s albums out of print? This is just a sign that copyright is TOO LONG and is de facto censorship because companies can withhold creative works from the public and just sit on them.
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