Microsoft Surveys Teen Attitudes Toward Illegal Downloading

REDMOND, February 13:
Microsoft Corporation has released the results of a new online survey that
found American teenagers between 7th and 10th grades are less likely to
illegally download content from the Internet when they know the laws for
downloading and sharing content online.

According to the results,
49 percent of respondents said they are not familiar with the rules and
guidelines for downloading images, literature, music, movies and software from
the Internet. Only 11 percent said they understood the rules "very
well." However, among teenagers who said they were familiar with the laws,
82 percent said illegal downloaders should be punished. In contrast, 57 percent
of those unfamiliar with the laws said violators should be punished.

In general, teenagers
regard illegal downloading over the Internet as less offensive than other forms
of stealing. Less than half of the teens surveyed (48 percent) indicated
punishment was appropriate for illegal downloading, while 90 percent indicated
punishment was appropriate for stealing a bike.

Teens who were familiar
with downloading rules credited their parents, TV or stories in magazines and
newspapers and websites—more so than their schools—as resources for
information about illegal downloading. Additionally, the survey found that
teens are challenged by peer pressure and their wallets. Among this group, peer
pressure and cost also have a strong influence on attitudes toward illegal
downloading.

Among teens who download
or share content online, boys are more likely than girls to say that they would
not continue after being told the rules to download or share content over the
Internet without paying for it or gaining the owner's permission (76 percent
vs. 68 percent respectively).

In addition, Microsoft has
enlisted Topics Education, a developer of custom curricula, to help launch the
pilot of a broad-based curriculum for middle-school and high-school educators
titled "Intellectual Property Rights Education." The curriculum is
focused on preparing students for the digital age, helping them understand how
intellectual property rights affect their lives and sparking discussion to
clarify the "gray areas" in protected and shared content. To
complement the curriculum and enhance the learning experience, Microsoft is
also launching an interactive website, www.mybytes.com, where kids can develop
their own intellectual property and assign usage rights by mixing music online
to create a custom riff that they can download as a ringtone.

"Widespread access to
the Internet has amplified the issue of intellectual property rights among
children and teens," said Sherri Erickson, the global manager of the
Genuine Software Initiative for Microsoft. "This survey provides more insight
into the disparity between IP awareness and young people today and highlights
the opportunity for schools to help prepare their students to be good online
citizens."

The online survey of 501
teenagers attending 7th through 10th grades was conducted by KRC Research on
behalf of Microsoft. The interviews were conducted between January 14 and 17.

—By Irene Lew