As the academic year commenced in the UK, a surge in illicit downloads by university students has been reported. This, as standard.co.uk stated, is causing significant financial implications for the publishing industry amounting to billions of pounds.
Perlego, an academic publisher, revealed that in September alone, 300,000 searches were recorded on piracy sites facilitating the unauthorized download of textbooks. This concerning trend coincides with heightened financial stress on students due to the escalating cost of living.
With over 90 percent of higher education students expressing an increase in their living expenses compared to the previous year, as reported by the Office for National Statistics, the appeal of free, albeit illegal, resources is understandable.
Highlighting the severity of the issue, Perlego reported that January 2023 witnessed the highest number of illegal downloads, surpassing 530,000 piracy searches in the UK alone. Cumulatively, for the year, there have been three million illicit searches across various platforms.
“Piracy is becoming a huge problem for the textbook publishing industry globally and I do not think students realise the danger they are exposing themselves to in terms of their data being hacked when they access these illegal sites,” said Perlego founder and chief executive officer, Gauthier Van Malderen.
In response to this challenge, Perlego is actively collaborating with more than 250 universities in the UK and the US, along with educational institutions in over 190 countries worldwide. Their goal is to enhance the accessibility of essential publications for universities and students, thereby curbing the prevalence of illegal downloads.
“The cost of living is hitting universities and students while publishers are being hit by the rise in illegal downloads of text,” said Gauthier Van Malderen.
“We are working with all three groups to make life easier for them with our subscription service.”
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.