Earlier this week the National Post ran a story titled Video Theft May Rise in Canada.  The story is interesting as it demonstrates that the headlines on peer-to-peer may not be changing, but the underlying story certainly is.  The article is not what you might think – rather than yet another story alleging Canadian movie piracy or weak copyright laws, it is actually focused on how Canadians may not immediately benefit from the push to online video in the U.S. since many U.S. broadcasters will block out Canadian users.

What does that have to do with "video theft"?  Other than the unnecessary use of a sensational headline based on the mistaken premise that this is a piracy issue, there is a brief reference in the article that notes that more Canadians will download television shows through peer-to-peer networks if they are blocked out of U.S. streams.  Of course, the same shows are freely available on television, so this form of "piracy" is merely device shifting freely available content from one screen to another.

Leaving aside questions about whether this is actually a concern, I think it is noteworthy that the article flips around the conventional approach to business and peer-to-peer.   For years, the media has invoked a cause and effect with respect to P2P that amounts to people engage in P2P (the cause) which results in diminishing revenues and challenges for online services (effect).  While the data contradicts this meme, its been dominant for years.  This article flips this around by focusing on the lack of online streaming services (the cause) resulting in greater P2P use (the effect).  This is consistent with what many critics have long maintained – P2P's popularity was due in large measure to the lack of any sort of viable commercial alternative. 

Moreover, the article is also noteworthy for what it does not say – there is nothing about the absence of copyright reform (or more particularly anti-circumvention legislation) representing an impediment to offering these shows in the Canadian market.  Indeed, the barriers are all based on licensing concerns and the high costs associated with splitting revenues with a Canadian broadcast partner.  Now if only we can get headlines that reflect the actual content of the story…