Pirate Bay Takes Survey About Sharing

ThePirateBay, the notorious file-sharing site consistently accused by opponents of file-sharing of being the source of much of the piracy and deviltry in the world, launched an online survey trying to measure the habits and opinions of file sharers worldwide as part of an effort to counter what it calls entertainment-industry propaganda.

That "propaganda" includes surveys, industry research and claims about the impact of content piracy consistently found by courts to be unsubstantiated, misleading and designed only to support the anti-piracy goals of sponsors such as RIAA and MPAA rather than reflect results of legitimate research.

The Pirate Bay survey is a follow-up to one last year that polled 75,000 users about how they use file-sharing sites as well as how, when and why they use pirated content. It also compared respondents' use of pirated content with their media-buying habits, finding that those who download the most pirated content also tend to be the ones who buy the most content through paid file-sharing services, iTunes, and through other means.

ThePirateBay is outsourcing the actual research to the Cybernorms research group at the Lund University Internet Institute, which did last year's survey and has published a series of studies and analyses on the changes in behavior caused by online file sharing as well as the ongoing battle between file sharers and groups trying to stop it.

ThePirateBay survey is another designed to map what kinds of file-sharing behaviors can be considered "normal" on the Internet, as well as various efforts by file sharers to protect their anonymity, location or activities.

:story: PC World