High speed broadband and piracy

There was an interesting article in the Sunday Times today (p.B7) suggesting that there is a potential link between online piracy and high speed broadband. In 1995, the South Korean government pledged over a £1 billion to rollout high speed broadband throughout the country. Today, it is not unusual for households have broadband connections in the region of 100Mb/s.

At these speeds, it is possible to download a full length movie in a couple of minutes. So it will be no surprise to find that online piracy has become a significant issue. This coupled with the fact that DVD players haven't been that popular in South Korean (only 20% of households have a DVD player compared to 80% in the UK), further fuelling online piracy. You will find more information here on boing-boing.

There is concern that the uptake of high speed broadband in the UK might drive a corresponding rise in piracy. While music has been subject to piracy for some time, the increases in connection speed are making movie piracy more practical.

So the question is how do we provide high speed Internet access without driving piracy?

I think the key to this is providing legitimate access to this content. For example, I have been a great fan of the series "24" - you know, the one with Keifer Sutherland as the government agent. I have watched every series to date, but although series 7 is currently playing on TV in the US, you will not be able to get it in the UK until later this year (it is released on October 19). Unless, of course, I download it illegally. It is possible to download it via a number of bit torrent sites. If I could buy it online, I would. But I can't. Who knows? I might even pay a premium.

Why not take an opportunity to convert a potential pirating opportunity into an opportunity to make money?

Otherwise, you can pre-order your copy of Series 7 here.