AfterDawn: News

Illegal downloaders in UK cost economy £1.4 billion

According to a new report, Building a Digital Economy: The Importance of Saving Jobs in the EU's Creative Industries, illegal downloading of movies, music, games and TV cost the UK economy £1.4 billion in 2008, as well as leading to the loss of 39,000 jobs.

If the trend continues, says the report, piracy will lead to 1.2 million lost jobs and £215 billion in lost revenue across Europe.



The report was commissioned by the Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (BASCAP), and endorsed by the EU's "creative industries," writes the AP.

Says Norwegian actress Agnete Haaland, President of the International Actors Federation (which also endorsed the report) added: "The fact is that piracy is killing the industry. What we are talking about is actually a criminal act. We need to change all poor attitudes towards illegal downloading and recognize that it is theft."

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Mar 2010 0:33

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• 25 comments

• neronut

  What seems to be happening is there are two sides of the coin. On one, people trying say that every download/copy is a sale not made. The other side says that it expands the viewing audience, more people is more publicity which leads to more support from them. This second argument is perfect for music, especially Indie works. What both sides seem to miss is the hybrid of both, which I'm not really sure exists.
  
  However, one thing can be said, give the customer what they want and they will follow your scheme. Give them crazy restrictions (like not being able to buy a Blu-ray and put the movie on their iPod [sure there are digital copies but they are still plastered with DRM]) and they will find the easiest means necessary to accomplish what they want to do. If this means pirating the film/song/etc. then it will be done.
  

  Scott

  18.3.2010 00:50 #1

• elbald90

  so where will the £215 billion come from ? are we all storing it in or banks or under our beds ? money for most people is a finite resource all that would happen is that money that goes to one industry will be diverted elsewhere so ending up with a redistribution of wealth as opposed to extra income
  

  18.3.2010 03:25 #2

• junxs

  That figure is presuming that people would purchase the things that they're downloading if there was no means to download them.
  
  If one was downloading 6 or 7 movies a day, there's no way one could afford or choose to spend £60/day on these films if one had to pay for them for instance.
  

  18.3.2010 03:43 #3

• Josipher

  Originally posted by junxs: That figure is presuming that people would purchase the things that they're downloading if there was no means to download them.
  
  If one was downloading 6 or 7 movies a day, there's no way one could afford or choose to spend £60/day on these films if one had to pay for them for instance. not to mention they are based on the fact that the download is being made only by unique users and not someone downloading from another machine
  

  mods go home

  18.3.2010 04:44 #4

• beanos66

  Yet Another made up number

  18.3.2010 04:49 #5

• plazma247

  How is it were told that naughty downloads on average purchased twice as much music/films as those who dont ?
  
  So if they all stopped, doesnt that mean they would again return to buying half the amount and hence cause the overall profit to drop ?
  
  lol these figures are so broken, ok lets try a little math.
  
  http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_po..._United_Kingdom
  
  £1400000000 devided by total population in 2009 ()
  = £22.90 per person.
  
  So essentially what they are saying is every single person in the UK lost them £22 ?
  
  I dont thing this figure is right despite the average be just £22 per person, i would say its half that as over 50% of people i know dont buy any films or music, out of this 50% most are older and dont bother with such things and are happy with the radio or TV maybe only 10% out of the 50% that dont, were due to them downloading things instead. Out of the 50% that do, 10 - 15% probably download as well, those people actually purchase more as well.
  
  At the end of the day their figures are only ever projections and can never be properly substanciated as they are based on projected/potential sales.
  
  FFS im going to make a record on my casio keyboard for 1984 and project my sales at 2 Trillion, then when its a complete fail im going to complain that it failed due to piracy and not the fact i dont have a musical bone in my body.

  18.3.2010 08:24 #6

• Mez

  So small??? If you are going to make up a number they could have made it much bigger. If every man women and child lost 1,000 £ a year that would get persons riled.
  
  They made up this bogus number so some other moron can then quote this number as fact. This is the way of the world. Lie your ass off and hope everyone is too stupid to figure it out.

  18.3.2010 15:12 #7

• Necrosaro

  How do they come up with these numbers? Are they counting that every download as a $7 movie ticket? If im not going to pay to go see a movie, and I download it, whats the difference between me downloading and watching it, or waiting a few months and watching it on HBO or Showtime? Either way, im not going to the movie theater to see this movie.

  18.3.2010 16:28 #8

• ZippyDSM

  Meh take away 30% of ISP and cable TV subscribers users, how much is that worth to the industry? Mmmmm?
  

  Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy!
  Ah modern gaming its like modern film only the watering down of fiction and characters is replaced with shallow and watered down mechanics, gimmicks and shiny-er "people".
  http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/

  18.3.2010 18:06 #9

• jerryf01

  I don't think it took any amount out of the economy, just diverted that amount to other purchases. Whatever the amount, its still in play.

  18.3.2010 19:09 #10

• Wild9

  How much did the Iraq War cost..?!
  
  How much did bailing the banks out cost..?!
  
  This is the icing the cake: "The report was commissioned by the Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (BASCAP)"
  
  ..yep, a very 'impartial' look at the situation, right..?!

  18.3.2010 20:59 #11

• pspbarry

  Originally posted by Necrosaro: How do they come up with these numbers? Are they counting that every download as a $7 movie ticket? If im not going to pay to go see a movie, and I download it, whats the difference between me downloading and watching it, or waiting a few months and watching it on HBO or Showtime? Either way, im not going to the movie theater to see this movie. I agree iam very shocked to see movie come to tv very very soon after i buy them.
  

  18.3.2010 22:51 #12

• iamgq

  thats not very much, compared to the money they make already...
  

  True thug Afterdawn memeber since 05! Shout out to all those old school member still in the ranks of Newbie! Represent!

  19.3.2010 04:41 #13

• fungyo

  Just recently, somewhere, I read an article where the MPAA were boasting about record ticket sales.
  Where exactly is the industry getting killed?
  
  What I see is the riches they have made from us consumers is now used against us.
  They have too much money and power, they don't deserve it, they need to lose several 10s or 100s of millions a year to compensate us for their bullshit and so they can pull their head out of their arses.

  19.3.2010 07:23 #14

• Lloyd7

  When I was a kid, I was lied to about the effect of certain drugs. Later I found out about how the police exaggerate the "street value" of the drugs they find. When I found all that out, it made me want to experiment with drugs. That is the effect of misrepresenting the facts. When those in charge don't tell you the truth, then one is apt to dismiss the entire issue, just as I am now doing with this headline grabbing amount which, I gather, is supposed to stir up some righteous indignation over lost revenue, but which only encourages me to find out how I too can discover the benefits of downloading movies for free.
  
  You lie or misrepresent and you pay the price.

  19.3.2010 14:03 #15

• BUDDD

  Total Bullsh*t.Downloaders ARENT the problem
  
  UPLOADERS are the problem and they are the ones these leeches should be blaming. Its not so easy to do maybe so they go after everyone else.... GET REAL. Next they're gonna be telling us its illegal to watch a dvd bought by anybody but ourselves. These talentless bureaucrats are introducing nazi style laws that stomp on and stifle every person using their product. Every dvd we play , we are subject to the pirate propaganda cr*p .Do I believe a word of it?
  Lies and twisted statistics used by lawyers against all of us law abiding citizens of the fourth reich, sieg heil.....

  19.3.2010 18:51 #16

• hermes_vb

  Most of the people who pirate stuff never really had the intention of paying for it. That's why I always find it dubious when they come up with figures.

  19.3.2010 21:31 #17

• xtago

  All this will force people into being extremely select about what they buy at the shops if people are forced into only buying stuff then if something is really crap then it won't sell.

  20.3.2010 06:30 #18

• BUDDD

  HEADLINE : UK government looses £200 billion proping up useless banks , ALL other losses Pale in comparison, . Calls to arrest the P.M. and his cabinet.... ;)

  20.3.2010 08:32 #19

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by BUDDD: HEADLINE : UK government looses £200 billion proping up useless banks , ALL other losses Pale in comparison, . Calls to arrest the P.M. and his cabinet.... ;) Only 200? the US has handed out ten times that times 2, don;t you love government? :P
  

  Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy!
  Ah modern gaming its like modern film only the watering down of fiction and characters is replaced with shallow and watered down mechanics, gimmicks and shiny-er "people".
  http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/

  20.3.2010 10:20 #20

• BUDDD

  Heard about Google throwing into their court battle with Viacom accusations of illegally uploaded material being posted by Viacom themselves?..
  
  Would you call that entrapment , conspiracy , obtaining money by deception or just an Extortion Racket plain and simple?
  
  Is this what the 'industry' is doing ? Criminalising people that look at stuff on the Net (Applies to most ). Bullsh*tting their crap to their local politicians and shouldn't we be protected from these scumbags by making them go for major uploaders which could in fact turn out to be the people that want control of downloads , the 'industry'

  20.3.2010 14:14 #21

• pspbarry

  If i were to throw away all the films i have, blu ray, dvd and hd having not seen them before hand, i would have 0 films in my collection.
  
  ps the collection is in the 100`s
  
  I would like to see the knock on effect of stopping torrents, i think shit hitting the fan fits right about here.
  

  20.3.2010 18:56 #22

• juventini

  £1.4 billion in 2008???? Was Arthur Andersen involved in the accounting process?
  

  Forza Juve!!

  22.3.2010 12:35 #23

• hermes_vb

  Originally posted by juventini: £1.4 billion in 2008???? Was Arthur Andersen involved in the accounting process? That's a great one. LOL.

  23.3.2010 01:27 #24

• avoidz

  More bulls**t... What about the criminal act of "creative accounting". We don't see all those involved from the banks and other institutions being threatened or sent to prison, or fined. Meanwhile, record profits for the box office and rising sales for the music industry means they are being "killed"? Makes no f**king sense.
  

  29.3.2010 01:56 #25