24% Of Britons Find It Hard To Identify Pirate Sites

According to a new survey, more than two in 10 adults in the UK are not capable of distinguishing a piracy website from a legitimate one, with over a third confessing that they have visited an entertainment site that contained pirated content.

YouGov, the market research firm, polled more than 2,000 adults and established that 21% of those who admitted to using pirate websites have encountered viruses that infected their PC, The Drum reported. Another 27% said that they were bombarded by an endless stream of pop-ups after opening a piracy website, while 7% complained about being shown offensive or indecent material instead of the movie, TV or music they were looking to play.

Britons in the 18-24 age group, who are perceived to be more tech-savvy than older people, were the ones most likely to be able to tell a piracy website from a legitimate page. Meanwhile, 36% of parents found it hard to differentiate websites featuring pirated content from legal sites.

In order to help parents and those people failing to properly determine a website’s credibility, actress and model Keeley Hawes has agreed to work together with Internet safety charity Childnet International. The idea behind the campaign is to prepare an online guide offering tips for parents and teachers. The Music, Film, TV and the Internet guide is intended to inform adults about the measures they could take to help children use content in a safe and legal way online or via a mobile device.