A study shows a direct link between certain personality types and the propensity to pirate content on the Internet or not. This could guide awareness campaigns against the phenomenon.
By streaming Or direct download, piracy is on the rise. As a result, governments sometimes take drastic measures to combat the phenomenon. At the same time, the issue of awareness is regularly brought up again. Originally, campaigns of this type combined hacking and theft by pointing the finger at those who indulge in it. The bad guy is you. Little by little, the vision evolves and if technically you are still the bad guy, the emphasis is placed on the IT risks involved: themalware infection.
The people behind these campaigns did not choose this angle of attack at random. Intuitively, they tell themselves that it is more likely to work. And a recent study could well prove them right. Researchers from 3 universities wanted find out what determines whether or not people will use “risky” pirate sites. To do this, they had the participants pass various tests, before confronting them with fake pirate sites. From the most “clean” to more dubious, displaying popups or malware alerts.
Some personalities are more likely to hack than others
For each site, people were asked to rate the perceived level of risk and their propensity to use it. In other words, taking risks. The final results are in line with the hypotheses put forward. First of all, the more cyber-dependent a person is, the less he/she will be reluctant to use a pirate service seen as dangerous. The relationship is the same for those who present a dark personalitytheory developed in 2002. It is characterized by the predominance of narcissismof Machiavellianism or the psychopathywithout reaching a pathological level.
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The study also shows that if someone is warned about possible malware, or if they already have knowledge about computer risks, they will be less inclined to use a risky pirate site. Vasilis Katos, professor of computer science and co-author of the research, concludes: “in order to reduce the likelihood of a person consuming illegal IPTV content, we can address their digital addiction and/or improve their behavior and hygiene in matters of cybersecurity”. On the other hand, no solution has been put forward for “the part of the population which takes risks and perhaps seeks thrills […]”.
Source: TorrentFreak