General

Canadians love their Freeconomy

Angus Reid has an interesting poll out today: Even as various online content-providers are taking an increasingly hard look at swtiching to a subscription or other sort of pay model, the Canadian people are asserting their right to do what comes natural on the internet:

In the online survey of a representative national sample, nearly half of respondents (45 per cent) say those who use peer-to-peer file sharing services to download music and movies are “just regular Internet users doing what people should be able to do on the Internet.” An additional 27 per cent admit these people are “doing something they shouldn’t be doing” but say “it’s not a big deal.”

In contrast, only three per cent agree with what has often been the music industry’s position that file sharers “are criminals who should be punished by law.” As for an appropriate remedy, one quarter of Canadians (25 per cent) feel that “technology should be developed to stop this.”

The survey also indicates that an attempt to recoup lost revenues by imposing a levy on ISPs would meet stiff resistance. Nearly three-quarters (73 per cent) of online Canadians believe such a levy would represent “an inappropriate and/or unnecessary levy that would be passed down to consumers.

Business passing costs on to consumers — heavens! That’s no way to run a freeconomy.

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