The Associated Press is reporting that in a 2005 study it commissioned, the Motion Picture Association of America claimed that 44 percent of the industry's domestic losses came from illegal downloading of movies by college students, who often have access to high-bandwidth networks on campus.

Previously, the MPAA has used the study to "pressure colleges to take tougher steps to prevent illegal file-sharing and to back legislation currently before the House of Representatives that would force them to do so."

But now the MPAA, which represents the U.S. motion picture industry, has told education groups a "human error" in that survey caused it to get the number wrong, according to the report. It now blames college students for about 15 percent of revenue loss, which kind of takes the fire out of the whole thing.

MPAA Admits Mistake on Downloading Study [AP via 1010 WINS]