As we approach the tenth anniversary of the very original Napster, a new report from the cuddly sounding Strategic Advisory Board For Intellectual Property says it reckons that some £12 billion worth of copyrighted material is accessed illegally online each year.
Well, I think that's what it says. I'm a bit confused about all this, which I think is because, as is often the case, there are a lot of assumptions going on in this research report, conducted by the University College London's Centre for Information Behaviour & The Evaluation Of Research.
They say that on one particular P2P network at midday on a weekday there were 1.3 million users "sharing content" - I think they mean 1.3 million users were online with the relevant P2P client switched on. Assuming, as the researchers have, that each of those people download one piece of content a day, and assuming all that content is unlicensed, and assuming each bit of content is worth approximately £2.50, then that's your £12 billion of stolen content. Which is a lot of money, but also a lot of assumptions.
Still, content owners will be pleased to hear that these stats have got the minister in charge of tackling the ever present P2P issue talking tough. Though they may be less pleased to hear he has adopted the usual policy of talking up how important it is to tackle this issue, in a bid to cover up the fact he's not actually proposing any ways to do so. And certainly not the way many content owners would like the P2P problem to be tackled. This is not the time to bring up three-strikes again, thank you very much.
Anywhere, here's what IP minister David Lammy has to say: "As SABIP's report shows, illegal downloading robs our economy of millions of pounds every year and seriously damages business and innovation throughout the UK. It is something that needs tackling, and we are serious about doing so. However, it is also an international problem that needs an international solution through countries working together. We can't expect 12-year-olds to become copyright lawyers before they can switch on a computer, but we can educate people on enforcement and work towards getting the right people caught and punished - wherever they live".
Thanks for that David. Then again, a suitably wishy washy response to some pretty wishy washy research I suppose.