Entertainment Media Research has just released their 2008 Digital Entertainment Survey results (PDF). Most of the results aren’t too surprising, but there’s a lot of information here. The results are based on interviews with 1608 respondents, and the sample was weighted to reflect the national demographics of the United Kingdom.

• At the top of the list, 73% of people own digital cameras, while 62% own mobile phones that have access to the Internet; while near the bottom, only 27% have cable television and 9% use a Blackberry or PDA

• Additionally, the survey showed that traditional media such as books, radio and newspapers are still the most emotionally engaging. In a related trend, 18% of respondents indicated that video streaming sites on the Internet has resulted in a decrease in traditional TV viewed (while 79% indicated no change).

• There were also some fairly obvious results on the topic of social networks. The survey found that “social networks have the potential to become major content distribution platforms” and that “social networks are an essential place to be for brands.”

RETHINKING PIRACY?

Ben Jones at Torrentfreak has an analysis of the piracy section of the report here. Jones highlights that piracy is occurring because of a lack of choice and accessibility in legal media sources (70% of pirates responded that legal sources for media do not have the same range as illegal sources); and that anti-piracy campaigns are generally ineffective.

However, I think it’s worth also noting that the survey also indicates that 7 out of 10 would stop pirating if they received a warning from their ISP (Internet service providers like Bell, Rogers AT&T or Comcast). This is a significant statistic because it gives weight to the music/entertainment industry’s attempts to lobby governments for legislative changes (instead of independently suing people in the civil law courts) that would compel ISPs to enforce new copyright laws. Changes in criminal law will no doubt impact the ability of ISPs to shield their users from outside surveillance and infringements on privacy.

DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT & COPYRIGHT

A final statistic worth mentioning concerns DRM, or digital rights management.¹ While 1 out of 5 respondents have a good understanding of DRM, 67% have either never heard of it, or have heard of it but don’t know what it is. This may partly explain why consumers who bought Santana’s All That I Am or My Morning Jacket’s Z on CD, could not understand why they weren’t able to put their purchased music on their computer or portable media player. In not adequately explaining the purpose (or even the existence) of DRM on the CD, the music industry effectively alienated a large number of customers, who knew only that the CD didn’t work properly.

This is a particularly out-of-the-ordinary situation where a technology comes under fire on two fronts simultaneously. First, there are the frustrated consumers who have trouble playing the CDs in their computers and media players. And second, there are the anti-DRM and fair copyright advocates, such as Michael Geist, who challenge DRM on the grounds that it is contrary to fair use and fair dealing laws.² These two elements have each had their own effects: the first case has resulted in a steep decline in DRM-protected music, while the second succeeded in delaying new copyright reforms that were to be tabled in December by the Canadian government.

However, these two consequences are not unrelated, nor independent. The problems with DRM have driven the music/entertainment industry towards lobbying the government for stronger copyright protections and the criminalizing of DRM-circumvention. While the Canadian anti-DRM camp has so far been successful at curbing legislative challenges to fair use/dealing, it remains to be seen whether they can hold out much longer due to increased domestic pressure from the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA), the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), and the US government.

Since public knowledge of DRM is low, what happens when the entertainment industry emerges with new forms of DRM that do not malfunction like the previous versions. Where will the public stand on fair use and fair dealing? The growth of surveillance and the decrease of privacy have so far met with little resistance, mainly because the public does not perceive a dramatic change in everyday life. You can still buy the products you want, and use them how you like. The rise of DRM challenged that ability and it was for this reason that public outcry ensued (though they did not necessarily know what DRM is). When and if DRM manages to reemerge in a more subtle form, will the death of fair copyright be far behind?

1. Digital rights management (DRM) is an umbrella term that refers to access control technologies used by publishers and copyright holders to limit usage of digital media or devices: en.wikipedia.org/wik… [↩]
2. The term ‘fair use’ is used in the United States, while ‘fair dealing’ is the term used in Canada: en.wikipedia.org/wik… [↩]

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