Despite crackdowns and arrests by US authorities, illegal file sharing still accounts for a large proportion of online traffic: Media analytics firm Tru Optik reports that of the nearly 10bn movies, television shows and other files downloaded globally in the second quarter of 2014, only about 6pc were legal, according to The New York Times.

Attitudes haven’t changed much either: A study by Microsoft Research found that young Internet users tend to not see a problem in lifting images from shows or movies for use in their works (although they become angry when their own works are used without permission), the Times says.

(Source: The New York Times)

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, October 20th, 2014