Thousands of Students Illegally Download Texts, Posing a 'Major Dilemma' for the Publishing Business

Explore the impact of university students accessing piracy sites to download book content and the resulting billions lost by the publishing industry.

on Oct 09, 2023

Thousands of Students Illegally Download Texts, Posing a 'Major Dilemma' for the Publishing Business | Frontlist

According to Perlego, there were 300,000 searches in September for piracy sites that permitted downloading text from books.

According to a new study, tens of thousands of university students are accessing unlawful sites to steal chunks of material from books, costing the publishing industry billions of pounds.

According to academic publisher Perlego, as students returned to university in the UK, there were 300,000 searches to piracy sites that allow you to download text from books in September alone.

It comes as the rising cost of living puts a strain on students' wallets.

According to the Office for National Statistics, more than 90% of higher education students reported that their cost of living has grown since last year.

According to Perlego, which operates an online library of academic, professional, and non-fiction eBooks, the highest statistic for unlawful downloads in 2023 occurred in January, with more than 530,000 pirate searches in the UK.

So far this year, there have been three million illicit searches across many sites.

The company stated that it is collaborating with over 250 universities in the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as other educational institutions in over 190 other countries, in order to make necessary publications more accessible to universities and their students.

"Piracy is becoming a huge problem for the textbook publishing industry globally," said Gauthier Van Malderen, founder and CEO of Perlego. "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."

"The rising cost of living is putting pressure on universities and students, while the rise in illegal text downloads is putting pressure on publishers."

"We are working with all three groups to make life easier for them with our subscription service."

"The Perlego model is unique," stated a representative for the University of West London, "with students and academic staff finding the system intuitive and the content relevant and up-to-date for subject areas."

"Perlego has worked with us closely to meet our local needs and to integrate the platform into our systems and ways of working."