Coming to no one’s surprise, it appears that the vast majority of files on BitTorrent networks are pirated versions of a variety of content, infringing on at least one copyright.
A new study from Princeton’s Sauhard Sahi found that 99% of the files in a recent study of content available on BitTorrent infringe on copyrights and that there’s a relationship between DRM and piracy: The more DRM on legal versions, the more popular files appear to be on P2P sites.
Sahi’s random sample showed that movies and TV shows (non-adult content) far outweigh other categories, and 100% of the content in this category was found to be infringing on copyrights. Seven files in the games and software section were found to be non-infringing, as was one adult video and a handful of other files in the remaining sections. Overall, 1% of the content was found to be "likely non-infringing."
The study has a few caveats and is by no means definitive, but it does highlight one important change in the piracy landscape: Users are pursuing larger files and more expensive content through these channels, moving away from its beginnings as a source for free music.
There are going to be a lot of explanations for why, but one thing that can’t be ignored is the proliferation of iTunes and Amazon.com’s MP3 downloader. Why risk a PC infection from a torrent if it’s easy to get a song for 99 cents or find a free service that will stream it on-demand? The amount of film and TV content makes this seem like it’s the ad-supported streaming offerings that have made the difference, as iTunes and Amazon.com also offer a large collection of TV shows and films — but at a price. |
