Half of millennials stream pirate content -- and see nothing wrong with it

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Most people alive today have seen the evolution of the internet over the course of a couple of decades, and can remember life before it was so integral. But there is a growing proportion of the population that has never lived without internet access, and such people have developed something of a different outlook on things.

Millennials, in particular, have been able to reap the benefits of being permanently connected, and have no experience of what it was like before. One of the side-effects of the always-on, always-available nature of content is that piracy has become second nature. Not only are most millennials streaming pirate content, they do not see it as wrong -- although downloading the same content is viewed differently.

A survey conducted by LaunchLeap (and shared by TorrentFreak) shows that over half of millennials (53 percent) enjoy streaming media from illegal platforms. This may not sound great, but 70 percent also stream content from legal sources -- clearly there is something of a crossover, and there are plenty of people indulging in a mix of legal and illegal content. Nearly half of millennials (47 percent) who subscribed to a legal service said they also use illegal streaming services.

The cord-cutting has definitely taken hold -- although many millennials may not have had a cord to cut -- with television enjoyed by just 24 percent of respondents, and the likes of DVDs and Blu-ray trailing with just 13 percent.

With such large numbers of millennials apparently adopting a laissez faire attitude to the consumption of pirate material, it's interesting to see how such content is viewed legally. Asked to compare "illegal downloading" and "illegal streaming," just 33 percent of respondents thought that they were both equally wrong. Six percent thought illegal downloading was "less wrong," while a staggering 61 percent were unconcerned with the rights and wrongs of illegal streaming. 93 percent admit to feeling no guilt when watching a movie illegally.

The main motivation for illegal streaming? "It's free therefore more beer for me!" was the response of 55 percent of survey participants.

Image credit: pixeldreams.eu / Shutterstock

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