Downloading free movies

January 26, 2007 at 3:23 pm (Internet, Life, Opinion, Technology)

According to the Solutions Research Group (SRG), 32 million Americans (over age 12) have downloaded a full-length movie off the Internet. (And 20 million people are regular movie downloaders)

80% of the downloaders only download movies from peer-to-peer file-sharing sites (ie; they aren’t paying to download). Of the people who download movies free;

  • 78% believe “taking a DVD from a store without paying” is a very serious offense.
  • 40% believe “downloading copyrighted movies off the Internet” is a very serious offense

According to SRG, it’s the Robin Hood effect. People perceive celebrities and studios to be rich already, so they figure downloading (copywrited) movies without paying for them isn’t a big deal.

What do you think?

5 Comments

  1. icedmocha said,

    It’s theft, pure and simple. I’m not out to protect the “rich” studios and actors, but it’s just not nice to steal.

  2. Jean-Noël said,

    There’s actually a really good post on the On Philosophy blog discussing the ethics of file sharing: The Philosophy of File Sharing

  3. Jean-Noël said,

  4. LindaC said,

    Thanks Jean-Noël — I left my two cents worth at the link.
    : )
    Linda

  5. Narsi said,

    Hello

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