How do you turn 3.9million internet pirates into 7million? A lesson in statistics.

Posted on by

Where the British Government’s official figure on the level of illegal filesharing in the UK came from:

  • Survey 1,176 people
  • 136 admit of filesharing – that’s 11.6%
  • Beef that up a bit, some must have been lying: 16.3% sounds good.
  • Let’s assume there are 40million people in the country with net access
  • (Actual figure according to the ONS: 33.9m)
  • That’s a shocking 7million pirates in the UK!
  • (Actual figure: 3.9million)

And guess where the figure came from: Government > Forrester Research > Jupiter Research > Commissioned by the BPI, the music trade body. This stuff drives me batshit.

Advertisement