Movie piracy: problem or advertising?


An article from the New York Times is reporting that a recent study by AT&T shows that almost 80% of the 285 high-quality pirated copies of movies that have been found on the internet actually came from Hollywood insiders, and not the "little guy," as the MPAA and their advertising (in theaters now) would suggest.

The Times correctly brings up the question of whether these are being leaked intentionally by the industry to hype films or whether they are being leaked unintentionally by industry insiders. However, either way, the problem doesn't require the shotgun approach to a solution that some at the MPAA seem to think is in order.

Further, research from Forrester Research shows that although there may be significant number of (especially young) people downloading feature-length films, the low-quality versions result in almost no loss in viewership from either DVDs or Movies.