Liberal Education Today

A major study of online copyright infringement, one which influenced several years of national and campus policies, turns out to have grossly overestimated one crucial statistic. The 2005 study commissioned by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) claimed that 44% of the film industry's losses to copyright infringement were caused by college students. But the MPAA now admits "human error" misstating the statistic, which should be... 15%.

Moreover, even that 15% may be too high:

Mark Luker, vice president of campus IT group Educause, says it doesn't account for the fact that more than 80 percent of college students live off campus and aren't necessarily using college networks. He says 3 percent is a more reasonable estimate for the percentage of revenue that might be at stake on campus networks.

"The 44 percent figure was used to show that if college campuses could somehow solve this problem on this campus, then it would make a tremendous difference in the business of the motion picture industry," Luker said. The new figures prove "any solution on campus will have only a small impact on the industry itself."

(via InsideHigherEd)