Half Of Youngsters Ignore ‘Illegal Downloading Is Stealing’ Comparison

File under: “Unsurprising Research Conclusions”. Research firm TNS finds 51 percent of young adults consider downloading music and movies illegally online is nothing like as bad as stealing from the high street (via NMA). That drops to just 28 percent of 55-to-64-year-olds. In other words, the notion that music should be paid for has tanked for half of all kids – and is only going to tank further as younger audiences come to the fore. So how to nip illegal downloading in the bud? Tricky question – TNS found 74 percent of its 1,000-strong sample opposed to government-mandated traffic monitoring. But then, the government hasn’t proposed monitoring – it’s encouraging ISPs to volunteer to warn customers the BPI is monitoring. One which point – separate March research found just one warning from an ISP would be enough to stop 70 percent of illegal file sharers in their tracks.