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At Least 25 Million Americans Pirate Movies
ThinSkin writes "Roughly 18 percent of the U.S. online population has illegally downloaded a full-length movie at some point in the past, according to a telephone and online study of 2,600 Americans. A typical movie downloader is 29 years of age, while 63 percent of all downloaders are male, and 37 percent are female. Kaan Yigit, director of the study, observes, 'There is a Robin Hood effect — most people perceive celebrities and studios to be rich already and as a result don't think of movie downloading as a big deal. The current crop of 'download to own' movie services and the new ones coming into the market will need to offer greater flexibility of use, selection and low prices to convert the current users to their services — otherwise file-sharing will continue to thrive.'"
The Internet is basically in its infancy and people are still figuring it out. It's kind of like the Wild West. There weren't really any laws in the Wild West, and it was kinda cool to see who could shoot the other person the fastest. It was called the "Wild West" because anyone could walk around and get away with robbing trains, shooting indians, or whatever they wanted. Roaming around on the Internet is like roaming around the Wild West. People lie, cheat, and steal (movies) and rationalize it. Most people won't go into DVD stores and walk out with a bunch of stolen DVDs. But those same people that wouldn't steal from a DVD store will cruise around the "Wild West" Internet robbing and plundering all the music and movies they can. Because the Internet is different and new, people think the laws are different and don't apply the same way. But basically the laws should be--and for the most part are--the same. We just can't enforce them adequately yet.
I hear ya brother. That's also one of the reasons I don't bother going through the checkout line at the grocery store. It's so much easier to just walk out and not have to pay. I just grab some chips and casually walk out like it's nobody's business. Amen to convenience!