Posted: 16th Jul, 2009 By: MarkJ
A new survey of 2,000 adults carried out by network integration specialist
Telindus has found that three out of five UK adults don't believe that musicians should profit from their singles and music videos being downloaded online. The results represent an unusual social change, which some would attribute to the casual acceptance of illegal broadband file-sharing (piracy).
It therefore comes as little surprise that 43% of survey respondents who download music, films and video games admitted to never paying for content that they were supposed to. Men proved to be the most prolific online pirates with half never paying for content, compared to 38% of women.
The reluctance to pay for online content may be due to the fact that confusion is rife over the Intellectual Property rights. The majority of consumers view access as a ‘
free for all’. Only a quarter of people believe that they still own the rights to the content they post on sites such as Facebook, YouTube and MySpace*, almost a fifth (19%) felt that no one had ownership rights to content once it was in the public domain and 37% had no idea who owned online content.
Mark Hutchinson, MD of Telindus, comments:
“We live in a digital age where people have grown accustomed to receiving something for nothing and, as a result, online piracy has exploded. While the Digital Britain report increases the pressure on internet Service Providers as the delivery platform to monitor illegal file-sharing and up the threat of legal action on infringers, this clearly doesn’t reduce piracy. The infamous three strikes rule has resulted in limited legal cases and illegal file-sharing continues to rise.”
“Content providers and ISPs need to work together to develop a structure that ensures that the creators don't miss out on revenues due to piracy and ISPs get rewarded for providing the extra bandwidth and experience required. Most importantly, the right holders and ISPs need to deliver an end user experience that consumers will be demanding and, ultimately, willing to pay for.”
The threat of legal action doesn't seem to be deterring UK adults from illegal downloads either, with 59% of people stating that they were aware of the piracy laws governing the downloading of digital content and half knew the consequences, a fifth admitted that they knew which websites to visit for piracy downloads.
The 16 – 24 year old age group remains the most knowledgeable when it comes to online piracy, with 57% declaring that they know which websites to visit for illegal content, compared to a third of 25-34 year olds.
Interestingly the survey found that half of people in the UK would like their broadband ISPs to offer dedicated bandwidth when visiting sites such as YouTube, BBC iPlayer and iTunes. Almost a quarter of surfers polled (22%) would also find increased bandwidth for downloads at specific times over the weekend useful. Sadly the survey failed to ask about the all important cost implications of this.