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Illegal Film Downloading Up 33% In the UK

moderators_are_w*nke writes "The BBC have picked up a report from 'internet intelligence' company Envisional showing illegal film downloading is up 33% in the UK since 2006. The solution is apparently for content providers to 'compete with piracy and get their content out there themselves as easily and as quickly and as cheaply as possible.'"

17 of 259 comments (clear)

  1. Common Sense! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's about frikken time someone admitted that! I've been saying for years that I don't pirate stuff because it's free - I pirate stuff because it's the only way I can get the product that I want, without DRM and without archaic physical media, and that will actually work on my Linux HTPC.

  2. Re:Will never happen. by ElectricTurtle · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Except that Steam is DRMed shit. If anything what is needed is a GOG or Amazon music or other DRM free thing for movies. If I buy something I don't want some random suit somewhere deciding I can't have it anymore and flipping a proverbial switch that invalidates my purchase.

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  3. My Impatience by improfane · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I torrent but I am not a pirate.

    How is this possible?

    I recently felt like watching DS9 so I started torrenting a season of it. After watching an episode I proceeded to buy four box sets online.

    I went back to watching my torrented versions. How convenient they are!

    When they arrived, I deleted all the episodes I watched and started watching the DVDs from the boxset on TV.

    Not only do I have Babylon 5 and SG, I have almost completed my DS9 series. They were all collected in the same fashion. Streaming or torrents first and then proper purchases.

    Why the fuck would I buy something before knowing what it is like first?

    --
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    1. Re:My Impatience by geminidomino · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Saying you've bought the product does not, under current law, make it all OK.

      It does, however, invalidate every self-serving, self-righteous, and moralistic argument in support of said law.

      Which, when you think about it, says a great deal about the law itself.

    2. Re:My Impatience by TheThiefMaster · · Score: 3

      Personal property right to share your bought copy with a few thousand torrenters? I didn't know there was such a right.

    3. Re:My Impatience by improfane · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I notice that the sources are from the RIAA.

      They're known for falsifying published figures inside and outside of trials.

      It holds very little weight. They have a vested interest to make it seem worse than it is. Provenance. If you search RIAA and misleading, you get lots of results.

      Give me a university backed study, not backed by the RIAA and I might feel sympathy. In other news, the 20xxs are the year of the independent artist using the internet to distribute and market music and movies. Good news!

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  4. Consider the source. by olsmeister · · Score: 5, Informative

    Envisional entire business is based on helping companies find out when their stuff is being downloaded illegally. Of course their study will show that piracy is as exploding ... at about the same pace as what they're projecting for next quarter's profits.

  5. Solution for TV shows: by Justin1313 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Make Bit torrents of your shows complete with commercials, I would download that. And you can track how many downloads for ad revenue.

  6. And it's all coming down the same cable by Rogerborg · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Dear Virgin Media. You (try to) charge me approximately £4-£5 for a 24 hour window of opportunity to stream a bunch of bits to the cable box over there. Or I can use the exact same cable to stream much the same bunch of bits to the network card and hard drive over here, and then I can decode them as many times as I like, indefinitely, at an extra cost of £0.

    I'm not saying that I'd actually do either of these things, but you really aren't making it easy for me to pick the former.

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  7. Transformers by improfane · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I had a similar experience but with the 3D version. It was 10 GBP plus 1GBP for the glasses! Rip off.

    There are sequences in that film that are really good fun. Unfortunately there is a lot of bad acting and ridiculous pro-American propaganda.

    The scene that left me gawping was when the voiceover said the Autobots agreed to help the US 'save humans from themselves'. The scene showed a nuclear power plant subtitled 'Illegal Nuclear Site' with Libya flags. Very offensive.

    The irony is that the film is all about freedom and yet freedoms in America are being taken away everyday (Slashdot YROs etc) Plus America supresses the freedoms of other nations too, UK, Libya, Iraq, Vietnam, Guatemala and so on.

    Other than that, the action is good fun but thoughtless. I found the prisoner scene with the Eeinstein robot particularly disturbing.

    --
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  8. Re:Will never happen. by Dynedain · · Score: 4, Informative

    Steam may be DRM, but they're incredibly smart in that they've made getting and playing content easier than BitTorrent and cracking. Time and time again, people have pointed out that this is the only way to compete with copyright violation, and the success of Steam is proof in the pudding.

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  9. Universal Pictures / Lovefilm dispute by TheophileEscargot · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I wonder if the Universal Pictures / Lovefilm dispute has had an impact. Since November 2009 Universal Pictures have refused to make their movies available to most online DVD-rental services. So you want to see one of their movies you have to pirate it, buy it, or switch to Blockbuster.

  10. Please give us a legal download service. by What+the+Frag · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I live in Germany and I admire many BBC productions. The problem is, after many years of the industry 'fighting piracy', they are still missing the obvious.

    Yes, I consider myself a "TV show pirate". Why am I pirating? Let's say I want to watch the newest Doctor Who. There are a few ways to watch it:

    - legally: Visit UK: Expensive.
    - legally: Buy a huge satellite dish and watch/record it. Expensive and complicated, not possible anywhere.
    - legally: Wait month for DVD.
    - legally: Wait 5 years for any TV station to pick the show up again and show it in Germany with bad synchronization.
    - somewhat legally: watch it on BBCs iplayer via Proxy: Complicated to set up, often slow
    - probably illegally: download it from Filehoster/Newsgroup: easiest and cheapest, also fast.

    So why am I pirating: I'm always picking the fastest, most comfortable and maybe the cheapest way. But I would pay for it, as I would pay for a filehoster or newsgroup provider.

    BBC and others: If you want me to stop piracy, please make a platform that
    - is available everywhere where I have internet access
    - that provides TV shows or movies to an affordable price, with original audio
    - that provides TV shows in decent quality (720p), unencrypted
    - that provides TV shows immediately after being screened.

    I will be your customer.

  11. Re:Shocker? by TenDollarMan · · Score: 5, Informative

    Lets just say that a baker has 13 loaves of bread, and I steal one.

    The baker now has only a conventional dozen, and will be angry because of that, as he is now only able to sell 12, not the original 13. Loss in potential profits of about 8%.

    Imagine the bread is digital, and I copy one of those loaves.

    The baker still has 13 loaves, and can still sell them. Repeatedly. His anger is now because his marketplace has diminished by one. Loss in potential profits of 0.000000001%

    It is still wrong, from the baker's perspective, but it's less damaging.

  12. Re:legal film uploading down 66% outside the UK by dkleinsc · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...but I left with the wrong woman.

    That wasn't a woman.

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  13. Re:No, no, no! by ceoyoyo · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yup, there's been a marked decline in the amount of money Hollywood is making over the last decade and a half. They're really hurting now. Oh wait, no there hasn't: http://www.the-numbers.com/market/.

  14. Envisional... by Heed00 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    It's not like this company has a vested interest in the numbers going up -- oh no of course not:

    http://www.envisional.com/

    Envisional’s business is built around unique, patented search technologies and a superb team of experienced analysts. We use this powerful combination to help corporations protect themselves and their customers from fraud, fakes, piracy and online brand abuse.

    --
    Thought thinks itself.