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Students at Private Universities Pirate Much More Than Their Public CounterpartsErnesto Van der Sar, 13 Sep 09:47 PM Two decades ago, piracy was boo

Students at Private Universities Pirate Much More Than Their Public Counterparts Ernesto Van der Sar, 13 Sep 09:47 PM Two decades ago, piracy was booming at university campuses where high-speed Internet access was readily available. This threat was quickly recognized by copyright holders, who swiftly took action in response. The RIAA and MPAA, for example, helped to lobby in favor of more strict legislation including the 2008 Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA). This law requires institutions to issue an annual anti-piracy warning to all students and to create a policy to "effectively combat" infringement. Despite these measures, piracy hasn't disappeared from campuses completely. A new paper published by researchers from Texas Christian University and the University of North Texas shows that it remains a common pastime. Piracy Habits Among Private and Public University Students The researchers conducted a survey among public and private university students and specifically focused on the legal and illegal consumption of movies online. This allowed them to see how common piracy is and if there are any differences between private and public universities. Generally speaking, private university students are believed to have more money at their disposal. As such, they should be less likely to pirate, assuming that cost is a critical factor. "The logic is that students who have more disposable income who come from a more affluent family and can attend an expensive private university should easily be able to legally stream or buy movies," the researchers write. "Conversely, students who come from a lower SES background would be assumed to have less disposable income and therefore piracy would be a good 'free' alternative," they add. A Counterintuitive Finding However, the researchers found the exact opposite. While the data indeed show that students in private universities are tied to wealthier families, they also pirate more. In some cases, twice as much. "This study finds that students sampled from the expensive private university pirated significantly more than from the public university, even when considering different factors," the paper reads. A quick glance at the statistics indeed shows a clear difference. Among the private university students, more than 40% admits to downloading movies from unauthorized sources. For students from public universities, this was just 19%. Similar differences are also observed for streaming movies from unauthorized sources (48% vs. 28%). For movies downloaded through peer-to-peer networks, the difference is smaller (18% vs. 14%) but that question only covered movies that were not yet available for purchase. The paper doesn't give any overall piracy statistics, but it shows that piracy remains prevalent, particularly among private university students. The same students who tend to be wealthier and on average have a higher socioeconomic background. What About Paid Streaming Services? That cost is not a crucial factor becomes clear from the fact that students at the private university also have more access to paid streaming services. More than 94% have access to Netflix, and roughly a third have access to HBO, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. At public schools, fewer students have access to these paid streaming services. However, they are more frequent YouTube users, which is free. The research also found the known gender effect. That is, men are more likely to pirate than women. However, the differences between private and public university students remain intact. In fact, female students at the private university downloaded more than men at the private one. Legal Options Help to Curb Piracy Finally, while piracy remains common at universities, there's also some positive news for copyright holders. As it turns out, legal viewing options do help to lower the piracy rates. "Nearly half of respondents indicated they have to some degree stopped pirating movies due to the availability of inexpensive streaming services compared to only approximately 17% who was relatively not affected." It's worth noting that the data come from two universities, so the results should not be generalized to the entire population without caution. The survey data also can't explain the difference in piracy habits, which is something follow up research may be able to delve into. However, it does confirm that piracy is more complex than most people assume. It's certainly not just about money. — The paper titled: "A comparison of a public and private university of the effects of low-cost streaming services and income on movie piracy" is available here From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. Anti-Piracy Plug-In Spots Pirate IPTV Sales But Also Makes Big Blunders Andy Maxwell, 13 Sep 12:45 PM Online marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon offer an impressive range of products but to the disappointment of various companies, some have the potential to infringe trademarks or copyrights. Rogue sales have traditionally taken the form of counterfeit clothing, perfumes and similar products. These days, however, troublesome listings are increasingly likely to involve piracy-enabled set-top boxes, pirate IPTV subscriptions, or similar tools used to access content without paying for it. New Anti-Piracy Browser Plug-In In an effort to counter this threat, this week Scotland-based Vistalworks announced the launch of a new browser plug-in which, according to its press release, "alerts consumers to illicit internet streaming services" ahead of the new English Premiership season. "Vistalworks has developed the free warning system which tells online shoppers about the risks of opening up their personal data to criminals through cut-price IPTV subscriptions. It is hoped the pop-up warning will discourage people from purchasing illicit IPTV, as well as make consumers aware that this is not a victimless crime," the company says. Does the Plug-In Perform as Advertised? Available for Chrome, the plug-in (available here) demands access to all customer browsing activities on both eBay and Amazon to do its job. In our initial tests it performed reasonably well, spotting pirate IPTV packages on eBay along with streaming devices that have been modified to provide access to content without paying the legal provider. "This listing is associated with illegally streamed content. You won't get your money back if the service ends without warning, your personal data is exposed to criminals and there is an extremely high risk of exposure to malware, phishing and spyware," the warning reads. The warning is absolutely correct that pirate streaming services are prone to going down and not issuing refunds. However, as we've pointed out numerous times before, the claims of malware, phishing, and spyware are far-fetched when it comes to buying a simple username and password subscription (as most listings offer) on eBay or Amazon. Nevertheless, when the circumstances are known, these packages are illegal to sell, illegal to buy, and illegal to use, so the basic warning isn't without some merit. Importantly, the plug-in was effective in spotting the majority of listings we tested, sometimes producing a 'High Risk' alert and sometimes erring on the side of caution with an appropriate 'Caution' alert. In other circumstances, however, the plug-in not only manages to get things wrong but also provides cautionary advice that's detrimental to both consumers, legitimate sellers and official broadcasters alike. The Bad and the Ugly Somewhat ahead of its time, IPTV Crash Course was a book released in 2006 that aimed to educate people on the world of IPTV. Not pirate IPTV, of course, but simply the delivery of TV content over the Internet. It's available on Amazon and gets a big green tick of approval from the plug-in. Search for the same on eBay, however, and users are warned against making a purchase. "Characteristics of this listing are often associated with fake or illicit products. There may be a higher risk of this product being poor quality, faulty or unfit for purpose," the warning reads. While the words "often" and "may" give some room for maneuver, the registered business seller on eBay trying to sell this completely legal paperback book is unlikely to be pleased that his listing has been flagged as poor quality or unfit for purpose. The same goes for a pair of listings on Amazon and eBay, both offering the completely legitimate MAG 322 IPTV set-top box manufactured by Infomir. On Amazon, the product gets a green tick of approval but on eBay, it's flagged as a device connected to illegal streaming. It comes with a warning of personal data being exposed to criminals alongside an "extremely high risk of exposure to malware, phishing and spyware." Not only is device manufacturer Infomir known to work with copyright holders to prevent illegal access to content, but the company is also extremely sensitive when it comes to being associated with piracy. Mentions of malware, spyware, and personal data being exposed to criminals through their product is unlikely to sit well either, not least since it's untrue. Unfortunately, Blunders Can Be Anti-Consumer Too With most people trying to cut costs these days, Amazon and eBay are well-known for their ability to direct consumers to a bargain. As a result, these platforms are often the first port of call for online buyers hoping to save a few dollars, pounds or euros on their purchase. Sadly, the plug-in manages to blunder here too, not only casting doubt over sales of completely legitimate IPTV-related products but in some cases, preferring Amazon over eBay for no good reason. For example, Now TV is a legal IPTV streaming service operated by broadcaster Sky, which is currently going to great lengths to prevent and deter piracy. People searching for its streaming device on Amazon again get a green tick, indicating that sales are legitimate. However, after searching for exactly the same thing on eBay, they are presented with a warning. This 'Caution' warning is a watered-down version of the 'High Risk' version seen earlier. It clearly says that the plug-in "can't yet give a clear answer" on the product, which in isolation is perhaps fair enough. However, the additional advice, to check whether it's plausible that "a seller could be offering legitimate products at this price" is really problematic in this instance. On Amazon, the price for the Now TV device and a free trial is currently £29.85. On eBay, the exact same product is being offered for just £19.99, representing a significant saving. What the caution does here is cast doubt over the validity of the eBay listing for being too cheap when compared to Amazon at £10 more. However, both listings are by exactly the same seller (Boss Deals), with the higher costs on Amazon most likely indicative of the extra charges incurred when selling on the platform. Obviously, if consumers compare these two listings and decide to buy from Amazon as a result of the caution, Boss Deals still gets the order. However, if this was a competitor, the company would be much less pleased. Not to mention, of course, that the consumer would be parting with more money for exactly the same thing, 'thanks' to the plug-in. Conclusion – Word Filters Are Notoriously Untrustworthy It's clear that at some level the Vistalworks plug-in relies on word filters and considering the focus on IPTV, it's obvious that the term is causing some of the issues here, no matter what products are searched for, even when they're legal. The underlying systems currently aren't smart enough to burrow into the details (especially on eBay) since it's even possible to trigger a 'caution' alarm when buying a BitTorrent t-shirt or a Pirate Bay mug. This raises the prospect of plug-in users seeing too many false alarms and simply switching the thing off. For those who still want to test, the plug-in is available here From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. ©2020 TorrentFreak | Office 21338 PO Box 4336 Manchester, North West M61 0BW United Kingdom Web Version   Preferences   Forward   Unsubscribe     Powered by Mad Mimi®A GoDaddy® company