The RIAA campaign against music downloaders has apparently had an effect according to news sources like, Slyck News – The State of Music Downloading. Something like a third of the people who used to download have stopped or lessened because of the suits launched by the RIAA and the associated publicity.
What does this mean for the Internet and P2P sharing?
Some of the conclusions one could draw:
1. Sustained and public harassment of illegal downloading activity will change behaviour in some people.
2. A lot of us avoid illegal acts if there is a chance we could get caught, but are willing to do them if there is no chance. In other words ethics is enforced not decided. Leaving aside the question of whether downloading music is really unethical, people do what is convenient and the chance of getting sued changes the ethical calculation.
3. The availability of convenient and legal alternatives like iTunes may also have had an effect. A lot of people can afford to buy tunes if it is convenient. With iTunes it was made easier than pirating.
4. Claims that the Internet can bypass censorship and control by powerful organizations are overstated. In this and other cases we can see determined and powerful organizations affecting behavior.
The story also mentions counter arguments:
However, many have questioned arguments about file-sharingís negative impact on sales. Some argue that multiple factors might have contributed to the current slump, such as fewer releases, higher prices, and a struggling economy. Moreover, a newly released two-year economic study published by Felix Oberholzer-Gee of the Harvard Business School and Koleman S. Strumpf of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill argues that peer-to-peer file-sharing has had no measurable effect on music sales. Source: http://www.unc.edu/~cigar/papers/FileSharing_March2004.pdf. Some recent news articles have reported that some music labels regularly pay for and use detailed tracking information gleaned from peer-to-peer networks for targeted marketing aimed at boosting sales. Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/8318571.htm.