A poll has found New Zealanders rate watching online porn as more morally acceptable than illegal downloads.

Downloading music and videos is considered less acceptable than watching online porn.
A UMR Research poll shows three times more New Zealanders think it is morally okay for a single person to view pornography on the Internet, than those who agree with downloading copyrighted videos.
Thirteen percent of those surveyed see downloading copyrighted video as acceptable, while 18 percent consider downloading copyrighted music acceptable. However many who believe illegal downloading is morally wrong still admitted doing so.
Although 69 percent think that it is acceptable for someone who is single to flirt with another Internet user, just six percent think it is fine for a married person to flirt without their spouse’s knowledge.
The survey shows up substantial gender differences, with more men than women accepting online porn.
It is based upon questions asked of 1,000 New Zealanders from November 20 to 26.

These 1000 New Zealanders must have been asked at the 2009 Music and Film Industry awards because the 4,348,851 (as at Tuesday, 12 Jan 2010 at 01:30:00 pm) are busy downloading everything that they can – and without too much knashing of teeth, conscience wresting or tearing of hair. I note that the ‘many who believe illegal downloading is morally wrong’ but who still do it, were unable to be quantified into a percentage…

Fortunately these aren’t stats upon which any great and momentous decisions are likely to be based…