26% of Canadians access pirated content, new report shows

A government-commissioned report is shedding light on the extent of copyright infringement in Canada, with data showing about a quarter of online Canadians consume infringing content, and 10 per cent report having received notice-and-notice letters — which led about a quarter to stop infringing activity. The report, commissioned jointly by Innovation Canada and Canadian Heritage, was received at the end of March and released this month. It noted that there is currently “little available data about online copyright infringement in Canada or the effectiveness of existing copyright infringement prevention tools in the Copyright Act.” It found that 26 per cent of Canadians who consume content online reported having consumed “at least one illegal file” over the previous three months, while five per cent reported consuming all of their online content illegally. However, not all the respondents may have been clear on what is and is not illegal — 83 per cent of all Canadians internet users said they were confident to some degree “in knowing what is legal and what isn’t in terms of downloading, streaming/accessing and sharing content online.” The report looked at content including TV shows, movies, music and video games. The report comes as the CRTC is weighing a controversial proposal by an industry coalition of Canada’s largest telecoms and broadcasters and content creator groups that wants the regulator to set up a website-blocking regime to combat piracy. The House ethics committee has said that if the CRTC decides in favour of the proposal, the government should block it. The survey found that Canadians were more likely to use websites that collect links to free streams, with 23 per cent of all Canadians who access content online using them in the past three months, while BitTorrent software was used by 13 per cent. In comparison, 64 per cent reported using Netflix Inc.’s streaming service, nine per cent BCE Inc.’s CraveTV, and five per cent accessed its CTV content online. Overall, 31 per cent used “a variety of peer-to-peer, cyberlocker, or linking sites,” the report said. Those who infringed also outlined their motivations. Just over half said they did so because the content is free, 40 per cent because it’s easy/convenient, and 34 per cent because it’s quick. The same number, 11 per cent, each cited one of two reasons: legal content being too expensive, and content not being available on the legal services they already subscribe to and pay for. Slightly less, 10 per cent, said the content they want to access is not available legally in Canada. They were also asked what could make them stop accessing content illegally. More than half, 58 per cent, said they would stop if legal services were cheaper, and 47 per cent said they would if everything they wanted was available legally. A smaller percentage said the threat of legal action would be enough to change their ways — 26 per cent if they thought they might be sued, eight per cent said they would stop if there were media articles about people getting caught, and 19 per cent said they would if their internet service provider (ISP) sent them a letter telling them their account had been used to infringe. The report outlined that 10 per cent of Canadians over the age of 12 who consume content online have received a letter under the notice-and-notice regime. While 24 per cent of those said getting the notice led them to stop illegal downloading or streaming, the same proportion said they ignored the letter. Thirteen per cent responded by starting to use a virtual private network (VPN), while two per cent said they “made a payment to the copyright owner to settle the allegation of infringement.” The federal government said last month it wants to forbid including demands for settlements in the letters. Overall, 21 per cent of all internet users reported using VPNs, and 10 per cent using TV set-top boxes. Among VPN users, 32 per cent said they used the technology to “access content from other countries that is not available in Canada,” and 27 per cent to access content “at a reasonable price.” Most TV set-top box users said they used them for legal content, with 16 per cent admitting to using them to access content “that is not legal or they are unsure if it is legal,” and 11 per cent to watching live sports they either know or suspect might be illegal. That’s despite an April report that found 71 per cent of households with Kodi media players have them configured so they can access unlicensed content. The report also had some potentially surprising demographic data. The five per cent who consumed only illegal content skewed older — 42 per cent were between 35 and 54 years old — than those who consumed both legally and illegally, 51 per cent of whom were between 18 and 34. Those who only consumed infringing content were also wealthier, with a higher proportion reporting household incomes of above $100,000 a year, than those who consumed at least some legal content. Canadians who consumed only legally-obtained content reported spending half as much on content in the previous three months than those who also accessed some infringing content, at $151 compared to $317. The government paid Kantar TNS, a market research company owned by United Kingdom-based WPP Plc, $94,920 to conduct the study. The company completed online surveys with 3,048 Canadians, between 12 and 64 years of age, and surveyed 253 additional respondents older than 65 by phone. Because the online respondents were drawn from a proprietary panel, a margin of error doesn’t apply, the report said. The margin of error for the phone surveys was plus or minus 6.2 per cent, 19 times out of 20. The survey was conducted in November 2017. — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Ahmad Hathout at ahathout@thewirereport.ca

26% of Canadians access pirated content, new report shows

Broadcast | May 30, 2018

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