Piracy is just another word for stealing. Today though, piracy has taken on a different spin both morally and what it really means to people getting the content. First a quick primer on some terms; Intellectual Property (IP) is essentially an idea, like the Mickey Mouse franchise and the Mario franchise are both IPs.
To pull raw data, 72 percent of those who took the survey admit to having pirated music, movies, or software sometime in the past. The reasons for pirating is all over the board, with 1/3 of people saying they pirate because the content was free and another 1/3 because they couldn’t afford to pay. A couple of people had more specific reasons, though. One responder who did not wish to be named said they pirated because they had “Ideological disagreements with publishers,” and left it at that.
Another responder who also did not wish to have his name published, let’s refer to him as Bret from now on, said that they pirate because they wish to evaluate products without having to buy them, as they responded in the other option for this why behind pirating. The try before you buy state of mind is one that many pirates have.
The content that these people are after skews towards music, with 63 percent saying that they had pirated music at some point. Responder Josh admitted to pirating music, although he said “If there is music I really want, I purchase it legally.” He goes on, “Only on a few occasions have I downloaded free music, and those were in cases when it was recommended I listen to a song but didn't really want to purchase it.” People might not know of free alternatives, like last.fm and Amazon.com’s preview function for many available CDs, and so they resort to piracy, as Josh admitted to doing.
Not everybody is in line with this thinking, though. Remember, 27 percent of people taking the survey said they haven’t pirated something. Yet another responder who didn’t wish to give their name believes it’s people’s inability to find a price they’ll pay, saying, “People are too lazy to look up the websites that offer things at a discounted price.” They continue, “Or they don't have enough friends that hook them up with good websites.” Could the problem for pirates be that the price is too high? Keep in mind that 1/3 of responders pirated their content because they couldn’t afford the price.
Other people take it as a matter of freedom. “It is too restrictive and there isn't enough ways to get content in the format that I would prefer.” Says responder Bret, and continues “It is too restrictive and there isn't enough ways to get content in the format that I would prefer.” He goes on to say that if it were available he’d purchase the content if he was simple given his TV shows as a file, so he can watch his shows on his DVD driveless netbook.
Responder Kirsten says, “I think it's wrong and it is stealing.” And she’d be right. In June of last year, for the sharing of 24 songs on Peer-to-Peer (P2P) program Kazaa, Minnesota resident Jammie Thomas-Rasset was found guilty of copyright infringement and was ordered to pay the recording industry $1.92 million.
How much would those 63% of people owe?
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