Illegal film downloads have increased by 30 per cent in the last five years in the UK, according to new research from consultancy firm Envisional.
These lawless ways, it seems, are down to the rise of faster broadband and an insatiable eagerness to get immediate access to movies, rather than waiting for their legitimate release.
The research showed that torrenting films is still far more widespread than illegally nabbing TV episodes, games, software or music albums, with the top five box office hits of last year (including Toy Story 3, Inception and Harry Potter) illegally downloaded 1.4 million times.
High price to pay
The film industry claims that pirating films is costing it £170 million every year, putting 'thousands' of jobs at risk.
Then again, that's only about half of what Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End cost to make and we could live without a few of these dodgy sequels if you want to recoup your losses, Hollywood.
Dr David Price, who led the research team, blamed the rising piracy on technological advancements, "We've seen increases in technology like faster broadband. The methods of piracy have become easier, with quicker downloads and easier to find content.
"We have a generation online now who aren't really bothered about downloading things illegally.
"Finally it's an issue of availability - there's a lot of American content which a lot of people are desperate to download that they can't get hold of legitimately."
Via BBC
