RIAA suits jam file-sharing traffic
Reuters
October 1, 2003, 5:14 AM PT

LOS ANGELES--Lawsuits launched against individuals for illegal file-sharing appear to have tempered activity on the more popular peer-to-peer networks, new U.S. research released this week shows.

Nielsen//NetRatings, which tracks Internet usage, said on Tuesday it found a 41 percent drop over the last three months in the audience for Kazaa, the leading music file-sharing service.

On Sept. 8, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), a group representing big labels like AOL Time Warner's Warner Music and Vivendi Universal's Universal Music Group, sued 261 people for illegal file-sharing.

The RIAA is clearly sending a strong message to American Web users and the message appears to be working, said Greg Bloom, an analyst with Nielsen//NetRatings.

With hundreds of individuals facing real lawsuits, the threat to music file-sharers is very serious, he said.

Since the week ended June 29, traffic to Kazaa has fallen 41 percent to about 3.9 million unique visitors from 6.5 million in the week ended Sept. 21.

Traffic to Morpheus fell to 261,000 unique visitors in the week ended Sept. 21 from 272,000 in the week ending June 29.

Meanwhile, the RIAA this week reached settlements with 64 people, including 12 with people not yet sued.

On Monday, several peer-to-peer networks unveiled a code of conduct to encourage responsible behavior among the millions of users and asked Congress to figure out a way record labels and other copyright holders can be reimbursed for the material traded online.

Meanwhile, other data released on Tuesday showed that as of August a vast majority of teens believed downloading music for free was morally acceptable.

The August 2003 Gallup Poll Tuesday Briefing Youth Survey, a premium service offered by the Gallup organization, found 83 percent of 517 teens, aged 13 to 17, found downloading free music was morally acceptable.

Gallup officials noted the RIAA's lawsuits in September may have raised awareness of the issue.

We have to be a little cautious in interpreting this, but it does show that off the top of their heads in August, the vast majority of teenagers said, 'Sure, why not? It's perfectly moral to download, said Frank Newport, editor-in-chief of the Gallup Poll Tuesday Briefing.

We do poll teenagers regularly and I think we'll use exactly the same question again soon and see if things have changed, he said.


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