Southwestern Commentator

In 2005, the movie industry lost over $6 billion to piracy worldwide. About $2.3 billion of the losses were due to internet piracy, such as illegal downloading and file-sharing.

It had become clear by that point that piracy was a major problem for movie studios. Less clear, however, was the solution.

In hopes of stopping or slowing down the rate of piracy, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) commissioned a study to find out who was pirating, and where they were.

The study claimed the typical pirate, which the MPAA describes as anyone who sells, acquires, copies or distributes copyrighted materials without permission, was a 16 – 24 year old male. The study also claimed that 44 percent of the movie industry’s domestic losses came from illegal downloading by college students.

The results from the study prompted the MPAA to push college campuses nationwide to crack down on illegal downloading within their campuses in hopes that such measures would help reduce internet piracy and stop a major source of lost revenue.

Earlier this year, however, the MPAA announced that the percentage of illegal downloads from college campuses was inaccurate. The Association admitted that the actual number was much closer to 14 percent, an overestimation by almost 300 percent.

The MPAA says the mistake was due to a “human error,” and claims that the rest of the study remains accurate, though it plans to hire a third party to validate the numbers – just to be sure.

Some experts, however, say the numbers may still be inaccurate. Mark Luker, Vice President of campus IT group Educause, said that the actual number may be as little as three percent. Luker says this is because many college students live off-campus and might not be using college networks. If this were true, colleges could do little to help stop their students from pirating.

For now, despite the correction to the study, the MPAA maintains that the percentage is still signficant and that it will continue to urge college campuses to crack down on illegal downloading and file-sharing.

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