At least 7 million people in Britain use illegal downloads, costing the economy billions of pounds and thousands of jobs, according to a report.Shared content on one network was worth about £12bn a year according to the research commissioned by the Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property.The peer-to-peer network had 1.3 million users sharing files at midday on a weekday. If each of them downloaded only one file a day this would amount to 4.73bn items being consumed free each year.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/may/29/british-economy-free-downloads-costAlso see:7m in UK ‘use illegal downloads’
Around seven million people in the UK are involved in illegal downloads, costing the economy tens of billions of pounds, government advisors say.Researchers found 1.3m people using one file-sharing network on one weekday and estimated that over a year they had free access to material worth £120bn.The Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property (SABIP) warned it may be hard to change attitudes.The government says work must be done internationally to tackle the problem.Intellectual Property Minister David Lammy said the report put into context the impact illegal downloads had on copyright industries and the UK economy as a whole.But he added: “This is not an issue confined by national boundaries and I am sure that other [EU] member states and their copyright industries will find this report of use in the development of policy.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8073068.stm
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