The Ups And Downs Of File Sharing

from the do-you-admit-to-something-illegal? dept

The latest Pew study says that 14% of American internet users claim they've stopped downloading music, but that the number of people downloading has been steadily growing again over the last few months. The study has a few problems, however. First, it's all based on asking people about their activities, and considering the publicity campaign, it's easy to imagine a heavy file sharer saying they don't download any music because they don't want to risk opening themselves up to a lawsuit. Furthermore, the study does not appear to distinguish between what kind of music is being "downloaded." They seem to lump together downloading unauthorized files, using paid download stores like iTunes, or even legitimate downloads directly from a musician's own website.

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