Report proves pirates are great consumers

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29 points·thomas··6 comments

The study states that it is much more typical for a pirate to download an illegal copy of a movie to try it before purchasing.

Hard to believe this is true at all based on my own personal experiences. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but better than 50/50? Sounds like something you'd get asking people about behavior they're embarrassed by. Imagine a poll "Are you a good person" and "Study proves 100% of people are good!"

It's kind of a moot point anyway since we're asked to believe "proof" that will never be supplied for review.

I find it hard to believe to. How was the study done? If you ask me, and if I'm a pirate, I say that I download illegal to try. But my actions may not reflect that reality. They really need data based on behavior, not surveys (I don't know if they used a survey, but not sure how'd they do it otherwise).

They probably asked them how many dvds they had purchased in the last month. It should at least give an indication of their purchases.

The quote seems to be missing the ending, i.e. "much more typical for X to do Y than some_other_thing_or_some_other_person".

And I agree wholeheartedly with your final sentence.

About time this info starts to come out! While I agree with other commenters that this may not be the most scientific report, I definitely feel that many piraters I know contribute just as much if not more to the Hollywood cash machine. Pirating is less a reaction to price, IMO, and more a reaction to failing formats.

I expected to see a lot more correlation/causation pedantry show up in an HN post that uses the term "proves" followed by a subjective claim.

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