Have you ever downloaded illegal digital content online?

Except a very few, we all love watching movies either at the cinemas or at home, depending on the mood and the schedule. Personally I prefer to watch them at the cinema if they are blockbuster films; otherwise I watch them at home later. Although I am a subscriber to Foxtel on T-Box and Quickflix, I am still tempted to download movies online illegally. The current studying ISYS100 at SIBT have made me think about ethical issues relating online infringement.

Is downloading movies online illegal in Australia? What about the music or TV programmes? Has anyone been prosecuted for such conducts? … The curiosities just kept on growing.

Just a few weeks ago, Australia government has released the results of new research. In short, it is a survey conducted for Department of Communications and it shows the levels of online copyright infringement in Australia and why people download digital content illegally.

According to a survey by TNS Australia, 43% of content consumers downloaded at least some content illegally and we are ahead of UK (21%). Four main content types were movies, music, TV programmes and video games with 48%, 37%, 33%, and 22% respectively. Why we do it? The main reasons were because it is free, convenient, and quick. Other reasons were ‘You can try before buying’, and ‘Legal content is too expensive’. In addition, a lot of internet users (43%) are not quite sure what content is legal and illegal online.

The new Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill 2015 has passed in the House of Representatives and it will soon become law. What is this new law about and how could it affect some of us who consume illegal digital content online? That’ll be the next topic.