WASHINGTON, May 18 (UPI) -- Most U.S. youth know that downloading copyrighted material is a crime -- but that has little effect on those determined to steal such material.
A Harris Interactive poll conducted for the Business Software Alliance found that a majority of youth are aware that digital media files are copyrighted, 91 percent of young people are aware that books are copyrighted, 88 percent know movies and music are protected, 86 percent, software; 83 percent, games and 64 percent, Web sites.
However, many of them admit to downloading files anyway. Just over half say they download music, and a third download games.
The nationwide opinion poll asked more than 1,100 youth, ages 8 to 18, about their attitudes toward copyright law and Internet behavior, including uploading and downloading copyrighted files through online peer-to-peer sites.
The survey was conducted online within the United States between April 14 and 20, 2004, among a nationwide cross section of 1,183 respondents aged 8-18 years old. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
