Nearly half of Russians do not mind piracy – poll

(Interfax – MOSCOW, August 13, 2013) Russians are not unanimous about the need to protect copyright owners, sociologists told Interfax.

Some 48% of 1,600 respondents polled in 130 towns and cities in 45 regions in late July said it was possible to buy “pirated” discs and software. Thirty-nine percent argued it was improper and 13% could not answer the question.

The correlation between “piracy” supporters and opponents has not changed much since 2009, 50% vs. 41%, the sociologists said.

Yet 40% of the respondents approved of the anti-piracy law, which allowed the blocking of websites with illegal film and television series content. Thirty-five percent expressed their negative attitude, and 25% were undecided.

Russians admitted that free online viewing of the media content violated copyright laws. Forty-one percent of respondents for the Levada Center said in May they would support administrative punishment of the illegal acquisition of copyrighted objects, 33% opposed that possibility and the others were hesitant to answer.

The law fighting video copyright violations on the Internet came into effect in Russia on August 1.