Britons Confused By Legality Of Downloads, Finds Report

The report's authors suggest that "unauthorised downloading has become a simple reflex for some digital consumers."

"To the digital consumer the economic 'message' of 'Internet choice' is either confusing or a growingly accepted norm," says the report. It notes that internet users can access free email, word processing, internet telephony and social networking services that historically would have a cost attached.

"The vast availability of this kind of 'free content' changes existing perceptions of 'ownership' and utility," it says. "One of the great concerns of industry from these perceptions is the ease with which digital content can be de-coupled by digital consumers from its original platform (and the advertising that supports it) and from its real-world revenue stream. Perhaps a Rights Agency will help in this area."

The establishment of a digital rights agency to encourage compliance with copyright law was proposed in the Government's Digital Britain report earlier this year.

"However, we would argue from the empirical evidence, that when the digital consumer also gains access to all types of unauthorised digital content through file sharing mechanisms of various kinds to use in any number of ways, they are doing so within an environment where the idea of choosing 'free' is confusingly commonplace," it says. "This changes not only perceptions about 'ownership' and 'sharing' but – perhaps most crucially – 'value'."

Another finding of the report is that attitudes and behaviours towards property in the online and physical worlds are very different.