"Robin Hood effect" makes you download a pirated video
About 32 million Americans, or 18% of the country's population, have downloaded full-length videos from the Internet at least once in their lives. These are the results of a sociological survey ( PDF ) conducted by Solutions Research Group in September 2006. Characteristically, the vast majority of files (80%) were obtained from file-sharing networks, and only 6.4 million people used legal services.
The face of a typical "pirate" who downloads films from the Internet: a 29-year-old guy (girls make up only 37% of P2P network users), on whose computer 16 films are stored.
The study also found that Americans' home computers have almost universally turned into entertainment media centers. So, 56% of users watched a DVD-ROM from a computer, and 25% watched TV shows. If we add the number of those who watch amateur videos on the Internet, it becomes clear that a home PC is a real center of entertainment.
Ordinary Americans do not consider downloading unlicensed content from the Internet a serious offense. The opposite opinion was expressed only by 40% of respondents. For comparison, the theft of a CD or DVD from a store is almost all considered a serious misconduct (78%). But downloading a file from the Internet is not at all.
Most people attribute their behavior to the fact that movie stars, as well as movie studios, are already rich enough, so downloading a file for free does not bring them much damage (the “Robin Hood” effect). However, at the same time, they never steal a CD from the store. Therefore, according to analysts, the true causes of anti-legal behavior are not at all moral, but economic. From an economic point of view, when downloading pirated content, the ratio of risk and reward is much more attractive than when buying a legal file in an online store.
The face of a typical "pirate" who downloads films from the Internet: a 29-year-old guy (girls make up only 37% of P2P network users), on whose computer 16 films are stored.
The study also found that Americans' home computers have almost universally turned into entertainment media centers. So, 56% of users watched a DVD-ROM from a computer, and 25% watched TV shows. If we add the number of those who watch amateur videos on the Internet, it becomes clear that a home PC is a real center of entertainment.
Ordinary Americans do not consider downloading unlicensed content from the Internet a serious offense. The opposite opinion was expressed only by 40% of respondents. For comparison, the theft of a CD or DVD from a store is almost all considered a serious misconduct (78%). But downloading a file from the Internet is not at all.
Most people attribute their behavior to the fact that movie stars, as well as movie studios, are already rich enough, so downloading a file for free does not bring them much damage (the “Robin Hood” effect). However, at the same time, they never steal a CD from the store. Therefore, according to analysts, the true causes of anti-legal behavior are not at all moral, but economic. From an economic point of view, when downloading pirated content, the ratio of risk and reward is much more attractive than when buying a legal file in an online store.