Anti-piracy campaigns can actually cause more piracy — if you’re a man. So say the cybercrime experts at the University of Portsmouth, who investigated efforts to deter illegal torrenting, streaming, and file-sharing. To test the techniques, the researchers exposed 962 adults to threatening messages used in anti-piracy campaigns. They then evaluated potential changes in behaviour. They discovered a cavernous gender gap. The messages led piracy intentions to decline by 52% in women, but they increased by 18% in men. “The research shows that anti-piracy messages can inadvertently increase piracy, which is a phenomenon known as psychological reactance,” said lead study author…

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