32% of All US Adults Watch Pirated Content (torrentfreak.com)

Nearly a third of all US adults admit to having downloaded or streamed pirated movies or TV-shows, a new survey has found. Even though many are aware that watching pirated content is not permitted, a large number of pirates are particularly hard to deter. According to a report from TorrentFreak: This is one of the main conclusions of research conducted by anti-piracy firm Irdeto, which works with prominent clients including Twentieth Century Fox and Starz. Through YouGov, the company conducted a representative survey of over 1,000 respondents which found that 32 percent of all US adults admit to streaming or downloading pirated video content. These self-confessed pirates are interested in a wide variety of video content. TV-shows and movies that still play in theaters are on the top of the list for many, with 24 percent each, but older movies, live sports and Netflix originals are mentioned as well. The data further show that the majority of US adults (69%) know that piracy is illegal. Interestingly, this also means that a large chunk of the population believes that they're doing nothing wrong.

Comments

Re:Old movies

[phantomfive]

is it still pirating when there's no possible loss to anyone ? Same question for old music, books, software ...

The answer is yes, although only the rights-holder is able to sue you, and if they aren't around, then you can get away with it.

Under copyright law (this is the way the law is written), not only do you have to pay for actual damages, you also have to pay for theoretical damages. So the copyright holder can say, "We weren't releasing it to increase demand at a later date, when we theoretically would release it. Your piracy robbed us of those theoretical potential profits."