Yar had, fiddle dee dee, a pirate’s life is the life for a whole lot of UK citizens as UK piracy has risen by almost 60% since the COVID-19 lockdown.
In the last week of March, The Guardian reports that visits to piracy websites for films and movies has skyrocketed by almost 60% as the UK deals with the restrictions during lockdown.
The report states that visits to film websites were up be 57% compared to February; visits to websites that exclusively allow piracy of TV shows has increased by 29% such the same timeframe.
CEO of the anti-piracy company Muso, Andy Chatterly, said that there’s been “a significant spike in visits to film and TV piracy sites,” as would-be consumers seek free content. With thousands of people facing unemployment as companies refuse to support their employees during lockdown, the demand for free content isn’t unreasonable.
Despite this, streaming services such as Netflix are reporting higher numbers than ever, despite lowering the quality of video during the pandemic. Hell, even Microsoft’s cloud services are taking a hit during the pandemic.