Download data: which movies get pirated?

• Author: Suderman, Peter
• Position: Citings - Brief article

What do movie pirates look for in an illegal download? Something they can't get elsewhere. According to information collected by the website PiracyData. org, online pirates are drawn to films that aren't available for sale in any other digital format.

PiracyData.org is run by tech policy researchers at the Mercatus Center, a pro-market think tank at George Mason University. Matt Sherman, a New Yorkbased software developer, and Jerry Brito, who runs the Mercatus Center's tech policy program, told The Washington Post they got the idea from watching a hearing in which copyright owners complained that online search portals such as Google don't work hard enough to stamp out piracy.

The data that Sherman and Brito have been collecting suggest that content providers could do more as well. The website matches the piracy data published by TorrentFreak, a popular hub for downloading movies and...