Web piracy rife despite big-money fines

Despite last week's high-profile US piracy case in which the accused was fined $2 million, consumers are still taking risks and breaking the law by illegally downloading video content from the web.

Some eight percent of all consumers in Britain, France, Germany and the US admit to downloading video illegally from the internet, according to research, showing the scale of the ongoing fight against piracy.

Two-thirds of those surveyed in Britain often or sometimes watched TV, movies and video on their PC or laptop computer, with US consumers not far behind. Of those, 15 per cent did so illegally, the according to the Futuresource Consulting survey.

"This widespread availability of illicit content presents a major obstacle to the development of online content services, and continues to heavily impact upon revenues, despite governments' and industry authorities' renewed attempts to tighten up the system," said the report published late last week.

Most media companies are struggling to persuade consumers to pay for video, music or news online amid the widely held assumption that content on the web is free. But attempts to fund free content by selling advertising are mostly falling short.

Governments around the world are trying to help media providers fight online piracy. The worst effects have so far been borne by the music industry, which is still struggling to compensate for an ongoing decline in CD sales.

Last week in the US, Jammie Thomas-Rasset was fined almost $2 million for illegal music sharing.

In response to the ruling, Cara Duckworth of the Recording Industry Association of America, said in a statement: "We appreciate the jury's service and that they take this as seriously as we do."

Duckworth added: "We are pleased that the jury agreed with the evidence and found the defendant liable. Since day one, we have been willing to settle this case and we remain willing to do so."

France's lower house of parliament approved a bill last month that will let authorities track illegal downloading over the internet and disconnect repeat offenders.

And Britain's government recently proposed a range of to punish persistent illegal downloaders, including slowing down connections and eventually blocking web access.

But such measures are highly controversial as internet access is increasingly perceived as something close to a human right by those who have it.

The survey found that 90 per cent of those who watched video content online had never paid to watch news or recently-missed TV shows. Just over half had never paid to watch new movies. But most said they would or might be willing to pay in future.

Less than one per cent said that an advertising reel placed before, during or after an old movie or TV show spoiled their online viewing, with 30 per cent saying it had no impact and nearly half saying it only put them off a bit.

Additional reporting by Maggie Holland, IT PRO