One of the major arguments of why people pirate is due to lack of access. It is said (most) people aren’t inherently dishonest; rather, people pirate because they don’t have legitimate access to the content they want to view. How accurate this assessment is, the jury is still out, but, personally speaking, I’d like to believe it is true. According to Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos, there is indeed some truth behind lack of access causing piracy.

Stuff interviewed Sarandos and, among other things, asked Sarandos what Netflix is doing to “combat piracy”. Sarandos’ response? He more or less said piracy decreases in countries Netflix operates because people aren’t inherently evil — they just want access to content:

Stuff: What are you doing to combat piracy?

Sarandos: One of the things is we get ISPs to publicise their connection speeds – and when we launch in a territory the Bittorrent traffic drops as the Netflix traffic grows. So I think people do want a great experience and they want access – people are mostly honest. The best way to combat piracy isn’t legislatively or criminally but by giving good options. One of the side effects of growth of content is an expectation to have access to it. You can’t use the internet as a marketing vehicle and then not as a delivery vehicle.

Makes sense to me. Now if only Netflix stops shedding content.

If you are interested, you can read the whole interview from the via link below. Also, be sure to leave a comment below sharing your thoughts on the matter.

[via Stuff]