Ten Percent Of Australia’s Pirates Have Stopped Downloading, Study Says

June 5, 2012 by
Filed under: Announcements & Events, Downloads, File-Sharing Programs, Networks & Services, Legal P2P News & Issues 

A new analysis from the IPAF (Intellectual Property Awareness Foundation) shows that one in ten Aussies stopped from infringing copyrighted TV and movie content.

The online survey was led by Newspoll on behalf of IPAF, a foundation comprised of owner organizations such as Foxtel and the American movie industry.

In April 2012 Newspoll scrutinized 1654 Australians on their opinion about online copyright infringement. They found out that only 27% of them are actively downloading copyrighted content of TV shows or movies.

Furthermore, 10% of them admitted that they’ve downloaded at least once copyrighted data, but had now stopped from doing it. In addition 67% said that there are more legal options available. Lastly, 61% said that they’ve stopped from downloading because “piracy is the wrong thing to do”.

Of the 10% who admitted they weekly download TV shows, 72% said they do it because the infringed show is not legally available online; 86% recognized that they do it because it’s free.

As for the Aussies’ favorite source of download, the study showed that is the popular TPB (The Pirate Bay) with 21%. Other websites include YouTube, Google, IsoHunt, LimeWire, iTunes, Megavideo, Eztv.com and Mediafire.com.

In 2011 Ericsson’s survey found out that legal alternatives are gaining popularity. For example, ABC’s iView became really famous, running head to head with file-sharing websites.

Newspoll’s survey discovered that more Australians (26% from 25% in 2011) are willing to purchase or rent a DVD after watching the pirated version of that content; they are also willing to pay for their downloads or for streaming accounts after getting an infringing copy – up to 13% from 10% in 2011.

The study further explained that 54% of respondents are willing to pay $2.99 for a TV show rather than illegally download it.

The response comes after Australia’s High Court ruled that iiNet did not authorize its customers’ copyright infringement, by not sending infringement notices to them.

Lori Flekser (director at IPAF) told ZDNet Australia that, despite the court ruling, the survey showed ISPs are indeed having an impact on people’s behavior.

“Quite a high percentage of people … have said they would stop if they were warned by their ISP. So, regardless of the finding of the iiNet case, clearly this research gives a voice to Australians, and that is what they are saying.”

The survey indeed confirms this claim as it found out that 62% of those aged 18 to 24 would stop from illegally download content after being warned by their ISP; this figure reaches 81% when it comes to those aged between 50 and 64.
The thought of having their internet account suspended, which is part of Australia’s “warning system”, didn’t have much success.

However, John Stanton – CEO at Communications Alliance – said:
“Bandwidth costs money.” he told ZDNet Australia.

“And to suggest peer-to-peer traffic is a profitable exercise for ISPs is absolutely wrong.”

He gave the example of America’s Netflix and Hulu – two services which had a hand on diminishing peer-to-peer traffic, a reaction Stanton hopes to see in Australia as well.

“In Australia, where we are still subject to staggered release windows and delays, the motivation is still there to look for the other ways of getting content when you want it.”

“In reality, if they were to spend a little less on research designed to sway public opinion and a little less on litigation, they’d probably have more than enough money to fund what is required to make a trial happen,” he said.

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