eco survey shows: Users are clearly challenged by current law
- 24% do not or hardly know copyright law, 40% of Germans are uncertain of legalities
- New services becoming more and more popular: 84% of young users stream music, films or TV series
- Borders should not play a role in the digital age
Over two-thirds of Germans do not know the current legal regulations for dealing with copyright-protected content in the Internet or find them hard to understand. This is the finding of a representative study conducted on behalf of eco – Association of the Internet Industry, which calls for the modernization of copyright law.
40 percent of the Internet users surveyed in February 2016 responded that they were not able to apply the rules of the current copyright law adequately or that they had insufficient or no understanding of them. The reason for this is the insistence on what eco considers to be a far too complex set of rules. “We should all aim at facilitating access to digital content within an easily comprehensible legal framework and to break down potential barriers,” Oliver Süme, eco Head of Policy & Law, comments the survey results and refers to the central goals of the German Federal Government’s Digital Agenda.
“The Federal Government’s goals of making knowledge, culture and education and the diverse entertainment offers in the Internet available to all requires a fair balance of interests between originators, rights holders and Internet users,” Oliver Süme continues. “However, the corresponding laws must be comprehensible and applicable for everyone; otherwise they will just end up in a dead end.”
An examination of the survey results shows that the uncertainty about copyright issues cannot be explained by age nor the user’s level of education. “Even the tech-savvy groups of “Digital Natives” (39 percent) or “Generation Y” (41 percent) consider the complex copyright laws to be non-transparent – regardless of their educational backgrounds.”
New services becoming more and more popular: 84% of young users stream music, films or TV series
The interest in paid, high-quality digital content is growing continually. Already, 84% of young adults between 18 and 24 years of age use the new online streaming services in order to access music, films and TV series. More than half, 54% to be exact, pay for one or more streaming services. “We can safely assume that content and streaming services are not just a one-off trend, but that they have great market potential. They need attractive offers for all target groups as well as moderate and practical regulations for the service providers, both on the national and international level,” Süme demands.
Borders should not play a role in the digital age
A similar development can be seen when it comes to the issue of “geoblocking”. Almost two-thirds (64%) of 18 to 24 year olds and a clear majority (59%) of 25 to 34 year olds would like to be able to access content which is already available in other countries and have little understanding for the policy of geoblocking. Almost a third of 45 to 54 year olds (31%) express similar sentiments.
Not only geoblocking, but also overly complex licensing procedures are the reasons behind why streaming service providers offer customers in different regions somewhat different content.
“Problems often arise for companies facing cross-border licensing procedures for audiovisual content for online use. These procedures are complicated and drawn-out and quite different across Europe,” Süme points out.
According to eco, the survey results show that the current set of rules impact politics, the economy, originators, rights holders and users alike and barely meet the needs of an increasingly digitalized society. “This is why copyright law must at long last be reformed to cover the variety of possible usages, so that it does not become a barrier to innovation and sustainable business models,” Oliver Süme, eco board member, urges.
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