I read a very interesting article by Jesse Brown on Macleans today which brought some very good insight as to the validity of a recent statement made by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. Hastings asserted in a press event that since Netflix’s launch in Canada three years ago, piracy from Bittorrent websites has reduced by 50%. Brown did some investigating and found out that Hasting’s statement does not exactly paint a completely accurate picture.
Aside from the validity of the statement, I have to wonder, once again, whether or not legal alternatives are in fact effective when it comes to combating piracy. There is no doubt that Netflix is a huge success in Canada, in fact around 20% of households in Canada are supposedly subscribed to the service. I did some research, and about the same percentage of the American households have a Netflix subscription. For a while, a good vocal portion of the digital community have protested that the only reason piracy is rampant is because of the lack of legal alternatives. However in the last couple of years we have seen a surge in the availability of legal alternatives to digital piracy. In music alone some regions have: iTunes; Spotify; Google Play; and even Youtube may be considered a legal alternative in certain situations.
Even with these alternatives Piracy is still a significant issue. Further, it seems that Piracy can not be fought simply by offering legal alternatives and that some criminal sanctions will be needed. I know I’ve concluded this many different times, and it may seem as though I am redundantly stating the obvious- but I really feel like I have to drive the point home. If I’m being honest, It’s kind of annoying when companies like Netflix try and portray themselves as the clear cut solution to piracy.
Sources:
http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/09/17/netflix-ceo-says-torrent-piracy-in-canada-down-50-per-cent/
http://www.ibtimes.com/netflix-other-digital-tv-more-half-us-will-be-watching-2014-1360707
