In the United States, two organisations - the RIAA and the MPAA - have become widely disliked for their use of lawsuits and scare tactics to stop people from pirating music and movies.
One of the most targeted groups by both organisations is the 18-25 demographic; more specifically, college students. For years, the MPAA has said that college students are to blame for 44 per cent of the motion picture industry's piracy losses each year, accusing them of being the largest group of pirates.
Human error to blame
But, in a surprise announcement that could have a significant impact on the future of the MPAA, it announced on Wednesday that this data was factually incorrect, saying that college students represent only 15 per cent of the movie industry's piracy losses each year.
The MPAA claims "human error" is to blame for the foul up. The organisation takes "this error very seriously and has taken strong and immediate action to both investigate the root cause of this problem as well as substantiate the accuracy of the latest report," it said.
Now, how about someone tells the movie makers that most of those losses really come from awful films?