PIRACY - The Elephant in the Room Independent Consumer Research

Presented by: James Myring

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What the pirates say…

…you'll notice that Google often predicts the word 'torrent' after you type in a popular track, film or TV show Male Casual Pirate

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Has Piracy made the internet more compelling? There is a suggestion that the widespread violation of intellectual property rights helped to fuel the growth of broadband.

The consequences were a free ride for the distributors, while the IT industry successfully argued that the advantages of network roll out offset the losses to the content industry

Olivier Bomsel – French Economist 6

Piracy…it’s tough to research The precise extent of piracy and its impact on legal sales is difficult to gauge precisely – survey data is questionable due to the issue of respondent honesty…

And, just because content was pirated does not mean that it is a lost sale.

…but it’s big What we can say with confidence is that piracy is a big issue already amongst the young. A whole tranche of people are now pirates (at least to some degree) and not used to paying for digital content. The scale of piracy has led to recent law changes with the Digital Economy Bill. 10

Audience Question: thinking about music, TV programmes, films and games

Q. Would you be so kind as to put your hand up if you have NEVER illegally downloaded content yourself from a peer to peer site such as BitTorrent? Please keep can you keep your arm up for a few seconds so we can count it properly

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Method – We’ve gone forMethod honesty We’ve conducted 45 semi-structured depth interviews with pirates to help us to get under the skin of this sensitive (and illegal) subject.

We’ve conducted 45, 30 minute semi-structured depth interviews (recruited with the help of snowballing to help ensure an honest response) with pirates to help us to get under the skin of this sensitive (and illegal) subject.

We’ve also surveyed a nationally representative face to face sample of 1000 to look to gauge the relative scale of different types of piracy. 12

Pirates – they are not all the same The world is not just made up of pirates and non pirates – we’ve identified different types or pirates…

….from SupaPirates to Unwitting pirates

SupaPirates

Proactive pirates

Casual Pirates

Second hand Unwitting pirates pirates Passive pirates

Non- pirates

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SupaPirates Firstly there is a relatively small number of what we call SupaPirates, they are distinguished by their very extensive piracy which is linked to their IT expertise and passion for (generally, but not only), music, games or films.

SupaPirates are • Confident enough with IT to avoid viruses/ fear of slowing down PC • Unfazed by legal sanction (at least in its current state) • Normally not limited to just illegally downloading music/ films/ TV programmes, but will also pirate software and games • At least indifferent to moral/ ethical objections to piracy 14

SupaPirates…continued Frequently they… •Use pirated material as a gift to friends/ family All the SupaPirates had given people advice to others on how to get hold of pirated content

•Are men •Some actively think that piracy helps in the maintenance/ promotion of an internet where content is available for free and big business/ government is undermined 15

Casual Pirates Tend to be Pragmatic, sometimes pirate directly, sometimes second hand, occasionally distribute – it’s not an enormous part of their life…. 

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Not particularly concerned either way on ethics

Concerned/

fearful about viruses/ slowing down their

computer



Like convenience…..could pay if (very) cheap, easy and quicker than pirating..

Not especially concerned about being caught “I think they would be after bigger people than me” 

Casual pirates can be put off pirating directly….. “if I got a letter (from ISP threatening their internet connection) I would stop” 

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But Many of them will know a SupaPirate “you don’t need to pay for that mate” 16

Second Hand “Pirates” The issue of second hand piracy is a huge one. Many people who don’t directly pirate themselves from peer to peer sites, receive very significant quantities of copied material from friends or family Second Hand “Pirates” • Tend not to see themselves as being involved in anything remotely criminal – they aren’t doing it, they are detached from it • Doesn’t even cross their mind that they could be caught • Quite often female – given material by boyfriend/ husband

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It’s largely guilt free…… Distance removes guilt Male second hand “pirate”

Easy…

I take from friends and family who have done the dirty work for me… Male second hand “pirate”

And safe… I don’t download myself, I get (it) on a stick…. Only do things when sure can get away with it…….if you download on your PC there is evidence you have downloaded. Male second hand “pirate” 19

And can involve huge quantities of material

(Q: How often do you do it?)

Infrequently - once a year perhaps but it might be an entire music and film collection swap Male Casual Pirate

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Unwitting “Pirates” (sub group of second hand “pirates”) • They occasionally receive second hand content (often receive from children), may have limited awareness of how it has reached them • Do have concerns about legality/ ethics but…

Darling, I’m very concerned about this pirating/ downloading thing, I read about them arresting people

Which tracks do you want on your classical music CD Mum?

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continued……

Oh!…but I do quite like Handel’s Messiah

O.K mum!

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Audience Question: thinking again about music, TV programmes, films and games

Q. Would you be so kind as to put your hand up if you have NEVER been given a copy (for example via memory stick, email, hard drive, ipod) from friends/ family which had originally been downloaded online or copied it from a CD/ DVD Please keep can you keep your arm up for a few seconds so we can count it properly 24

How many direct and second hand pirates are there? Direct Pirates

Second Hand Pirates

• Downloaded in last year: 15%

• Been given copy in last year: 16%

9% 7% 4%

3%

6% 3%

4%

1%

Last month

2-6 months ago

Downloaded ONLY

Both downloaded and given copy

7%

9%

Net: Base:

1000 f2f interviews

7-12 months ago

Given copy ONLY 8%

More than 12 months ago

These numbers almost certainly underestimate the true extent of piracy, but are useful to look at the relative scale of direct and second hand piracy.

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Second hand piracy changes the demographics 36% of direct pirates are women

Base:

1000 f2f interviews

50% of second hand (only) pirates are women

Downloaded ONLY

Both downloaded and given copy

7%

9%

Given copy ONLY 8%

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Universities – havens for piracy Jamaica in the 17th century or Somalia in the 21st served as havens for maritime piracy. In a similar way universities are hothouses of online piracy

They have all the ingredients in place…. • Lots of bright/ IT savvy people in close proximity to exchange ideas

• Lots of time to consume media • No money to buy it

At Uni a student set up a files sharing hub on the University server, that could be only be accessed on campus, and literally everyone used it to download music, films and programmes. Female Casual Pirate

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Barriers to Piracy There are several potential barriers to piracy, they have differing impacts on the segments already identified.

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Morality/ Ethics – i.e. “its wrong”

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Fear of legal sanction

3.

Not IT savvy enough/ not sure what to do

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Fear of computer viruses

5.

Legitimate alternatives

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1. Morality/ Ethics Piracy is seen by many as something of a victimless crime – much anti-piracy advertising has focussed so far on trying to point out that piracy is a serious crime with serious consequences for society, but so far pirates don’t seem convinced. I don't consider it to be a major crime it's a case of: 'everyone's doing it, so it isn't that bad' Male Second Hand Pirate

Pirates make the own morality, some think that it is worse to pirate software than films, others that software is fine, but music not. But ethical concerns often don’t impact on behaviour. I'm a hypocrite (who also works in the record industry)! so I'm aware of the anti-piracy arguments, and when it comes to music content I mostly agree with them….. Female casual pirate

SupaPirates did not feel especially feel more or less guilty than casual or second hand “pirates”. Level of guilt about piracy does not seem closely related to extent of piracy – some people feel a bit guilty but, crucially it often doesn’t stop them pirating. 30

In fact some SupaPirates think piracy can be an active good I pirate software because the software is useful, or needed for work, and it's really expensive to buy. Actually I quite enjoy the challenge of pirating software - "arrrr, me hearties. We've won one over on Adobe again!" Male SupaPirate

Or that the music industry had it coming… So, the music industry is dead and good riddance! (the music is fine). Male Supa Pirate

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2. Looking at legal enforcement…

H.M. PRISON SLADE

If people don’t see it as a serious crime, punishment may have to be quite draconian (parallel with speed cameras)

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A letter threatening to cut of their internet connection would deter Casual Pirates – but SupaPirates are often know their way round the law ACS Law have recently hit the headlines with the way they blackmail people into paying up or they threaten to take them to court. So far they have not yet taken anyone to court. Male SupaPirate

You can run software that hides your external IP address Male SupaPirate

…..But they do need the internet I'd rather slit my own wrists with a rusty butter knife than lose my internet connection. I would be unable to function as a human being without internet, besides the govt now consider the net to be a basic need. Male SupaPirate

…….And a letter from the ISP threatening internet cut off would deter the majority of both Casual and SupaPirates 40

3. Lack of IT Knowledge Is a massive barrier to people pirating directly I don’t know much about how it works, and which sites are riskier than others Male second hand “pirate”

And impacts on the type of piracy people do – the fact that some sectors are more impacted than others seems mainly down to how technically difficult it is to pirate content

Very much more effort than it’s worth to pirate console games so I don’t Male casual pirate

There was a very strong correlation between IT knowledge and the extent of piracy 43

4. IT concerns - catching a virus Worry People about IT consequences Many are worried about downloading illegal content making them more likely to catch a virus and/ or slowing their PC. This concerns a lot of Casual Pirates, and does prevent many second hand “pirates” from pirating directly

Do not want viruses associated with illegal downloads

Such worries keep me away from doing it Male second hand “pirate”

Male second hand “pirate”

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But SupaPirates know about IT I have a separate PC for downloading so I don't clog my own machines resources. My bandwidth is not affected as I have 14megs speed, and most p2p software sites don't take anywhere near that amount. . Male SupaPirate I use antivirus and other security software. Besides, I use a separate machine for downloading therefore I would sandbox any file before moving it to my main system over the network Male SupaPirate

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5. Legitimate alternatives - content providers need to realise the world has changed There are also occasions where the UK broadcast of a programme is so far behind the American broadcast that I might have to wait over a year to continue watching the series. With regard to music - there are some niche or no longer available recordings that I can get access to using P2P software that would be impossible to get hold of via conventional means. Ultimately business takes advantage of the global market (uses cheap foreign labour) but assign restrictions to the consumer by attempting to control access to media. Male Casual Pirate

Things like different launch times in different markets and DVD restrictions seem an anachronism (and encourage piracy which otherwise might not happen).

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Stream, stream, stream…stream

Spotify I think must have dramatically reduced music piracy. Male SupaPirate

Free sites that stream content, enabling people to access what they want, when they want are very popular

Ultimately could it lead to ‘The End of Ownership’

No need to buy and store dvd’s anymore . Male SupaPirate

No need to make to make a collection and have clutter Male Casual Pirate

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Barriers to Piracy – how strong are they? Currently… Strong

Not IT savvy enough/ not sure what to do: Strong amongst many second hand and some casual pirates Fear of computer viruses: Strong amongst those who lack the IT knowledge

Growing

Legitimate alternatives: Growing as legal content (especially free streamed content) is more available

Weak Morality/ Ethics – i.e. “its wrong”: Weak as feelings of guilt (if they exist) often don’t stop piracy Fear of legal sanction: Currently weak but showing signs of increase

But these are not barriers to second hand piracy 50

The Carrot and the Stick …..need to work in conjunction if piracy is to be reduced

• Ending of geographical restrictions on availability (e.g. have one global launch) • Competitive pricing with convenient payment methods • Increasing amount of streamed content available (e.g. increase time period for VOD services)

• Acknowledge that people want to consume content when they want, where they want and are increasingly not used to paying for it

• Move away from focussing on the moral rights or wrongs of piracy and work on peoples fear of viruses and/ or prosecution • (Polite) letters to people alerting them that they have pirated will deter most – if they are too threatening they will get negative reaction and a polite letter will stop many • Some high profile prosecutions

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From the pirates mouth: What would make you pirate less?

Death! Male SupaPirate

There will remain a hardcore who won’t come quietly 54

End Note Piracy… … a growing issue…? …New generation not used to paying ….Growing knowledge of how to pirate material …Faster broadband speeds allowing easier/ quicker downloads … internet connected TVs making piracy more convenient

… OR on the wane…? ….Almost all pirates we spoke to expected the extent of their piracy to stay the same (almost two-thirds) or decrease (almost a third) …Legal content more available as industries adapt …The law is more enforced

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