A few days ago we reported that the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) had published the worldwide Internet piracy report. In this report the MPAA concluded that about one in four Internet users had downloaded a movie off the Internet, an impressive number. The report was based on surveying 3,600 Internet users in 8 different countries and conducted in cooperation with the Online Testing Exchange (OTX).
GristyMcFisty reports us today that The Register has posted an interesting article which sheds a different light on the MPAA's piracy report. For one, the report's claim that one in four Internet users downloaded a movie is far from the truth as the report was based on questioning broadband Internet users only. Here are some more interesting takes on the MPAA's report:
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OTX found that Koreans are movie downloading fiends with 58 percent of those surveyed admitting to pulling down a flick. The French came in second at 27 percent, the US followed at 24 percent and the UK hit 20 percent, apparently. Yep, that's high. But there are problems with these numbers. For one, the sample "was augmented in several countries in order to provide a minimum sample of 100 movie downloaders per country." Given their total of 3,600 respondents for 8 countries, that breaks down to about 450 respondents per country. And, if you demand that 100 of these be movie downloaders, your numbers start approaching "one in four" pretty quick. Secondly, OTX did not even ask what types of movies had been downloaded, and could not say if these were whole movies. Spokeswoman Wendy Goldberg told The Register that the phrase "feature film" was used in some questions but would not give us the exact questions or list questions that did not use this phrase. Did OTX ask if the movies were porn or if users downloaded clips as opposed to the whole move? We'll never know. Let's be straight here. If the MPAA and OTX had found that most people - instead of just 17 percent - attended movies less as a result of online piracy, we would have heard about it. And, if OTX had set a bar of 200 movie downloaders per sample, we would have heard that 50 percent of Internet users have downloaded a movie. Our own "living life" study indicates that it's likely movie buffs who are doing the most downloading - the very same people packing theaters. But for some reason that is a theory the MPAA does not even want to explore. |
It seems to me that the MPAA
is desperately trying to convince the world that Internet piracy is getting out
of hands. Feel free to share your opinions on this below. You can read the
complete article over at The Register .
GristyMcFisty adds that The Register
has started a poll over at their website where people can vote if they
downloaded a movie or not. "It's clear that the MPAA needs a helping hand in
getting its fact straight. Accordingly, we have put together a simple online
poll to help that hapless organisation determine just how serious the
downloading problem is."
If you want, you can cast your vote here 😉
Source: Register
