Illegal downloading 'costing jobs'

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Shared content on one network was worth about £12 billion per year according to the research commissioned by the Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property (SABIP).

The peer-to-peer network had 1.3 million users sharing files at midday on a weekday. If each of them downloaded only one file per day this would amount to 4.73 billion items being consumed for free each year.

The ability to download or share content is continually getting easier with faster technologies and greater storage space.

The new 50 megabytes-per-second broadband access can deliver 200 mp3 music files in five minutes, a DVD of Star Wars in three minutes and the complete digitalised works of Charles Dickens in less than 10 minutes.

David Lammy, Minister for Intellectual Property, said: "As SABIP's report shows, illegal downloading robs our economy of millions of pounds every year and seriously damages business and innovation throughout the UK. It is something that needs tackling, and we are serious about doing so."

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) estimates that there were 890 million illegal free music downloads through file sharing in the UK in 2007 compared with 140 million paid downloads. This puts unauthorised access at a ratio of six to one, before off-line sharing like disk burning is even considered.

The SABIP report found music downloading had "become part and parcel of the social fabric of our society despite its illegal status".

Creative industries provide about 8% of British GDP. Digital copying of their products resulted in the estimated loss of 4,000 jobs in 2004.

Mr Lammy said: "The report helps put the scale of the problem into context and highlights the gaps in the evidence which need to be filled. It is important that we understand how online consumer behaviour impacts on the UK economy and the future sustainability of our copyright industries."