Repeated transmission of anti-piracy messages may encourage piracy

Studies by economists have pointed out that large-scale anti-piracy (piracy) campaigns may increase the unauthorized use of protected content, contrary to their aims.

Doing more with less: Behavioral insights for anti-piracy messages: The Information Society: Vol 0, No 0

Anti-piracy messaging may just encourage more piracy • The Register
https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/02/antipiracy_messaging_piracy/

Dr. Grolleau Gilles and Dr. Luc Meunier , who teach economics at ESSCA, a top-level business school in France, used the lens of behavioral economics to analyze elements that are repeatedly used in anti-piracy measures.

Piracy undoubtedly affects the economy, for example, according to the BSA, which works to combat fraud in the software industry, 37% of the world's software is pirated, and the International Federation of Record and Video Producers (IFPI) 38% of people obtain music illegally.

For this reason, as an anti-piracy measure, it is recommended to discourage actions by asserting that 'there are so many victims of copyright infringement', 'there are so many acts of copyright infringement', and 'the legality of copyright infringement is so bad'. A campaign is being carried out to repeatedly send a message.

However, Dr. Gilles and Dr. Meunier argue that repetition of such messages is not good.

First, they point out that copyright holders and consumers of content do not see things in the same way. Copyright holders see piracy as theft, but consumers don't see it as theft, using terms like 'digital sharing.' Furthermore, past research has shown that the presence of ``specifically identifiable victims'' rather than ``a large number of victims suffering from hardships'' elicits motivation for action and support. Countermeasure campaigns often focus on 'high numbers of victims' rather than 'victims with stories to sympathize with,' and fail to elicit sympathy from recipients, they say. pointing out.

Doctors also complain about the content of the message. In many cases, when we instruct people to 'take actions that are the opposite of a certain action' and specifically show the content of the 'certain action' that we do not want them to do, in many cases, people who follow the movements of others are called ' It just encourages you to take a certain action. In fact, when putting up a sign saying 'Do not take stones home' in a national park, if you specifically write 'There are people who are taking stones home', the rate of people taking stones back clearly increased. There is a study called. In other words, if you show the number of 'how much piracy has spread', there will be people who follow 'then me too'.

The authors concluded that such anti-piracy measures are not highly recommended, and instead it may be efficient to thank users for their support who have chosen legal means to obtain the desired product. I'm here.