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Study: Piracy Now the Norm for Web Users

Posted 03/16/09 at 09:43:51 AM  by Paul Lilly

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See that person sitting in the cubicle next to you? One of you is probably using P2P networks to download music, movies, and software, statistically speaking. According to not one, but two recent studies in Canada and Spain, nearly half of all internet users are doing it.

The results of both studies were pretty much in line with each other with roughly half of the respondants indicating that they regularly use file-sharing software, nearly a third admitting to using P2P for dubious purposes, and as little as just 1 percent saying they find downloading copyrighted files is "not a big deal."

"The results of these two reports clearly show that public opinion is changing in favor of P2P users," writes TorrentFreak.com. "Unlike 10 years ago, people are now used to unlimited access to all kinds of information, much of it thanks to Google."

But while the general public might be coming to terms with P2P, content studios and ISPs aren't as accepting. Other recent studies have shown that P2P is responsible for over 60 percent of internet upstream traffic, while also accounting for half of North American bandwidth. In some cases, using P2P software is forbidden, such as AT&T Wireless, who said its "terms of service for mobile wireless broadband customers prohibit all uses that may cause extreme network capacity issues, and explicity identify P2P file sharing applications as such a use."

Image Credit: Flickr blogpocket

COMMENTS:8
TAGS: Software, piracy, study
COMMENTS
avatarThere are people who use

Submitted by BroadSide on Thu, 03/19/2009 - 12:59pm

There are people who use file sharing software only for legitimate reasons?....mmm...Who are these strange folk?, and which land do they call home? for I have not met one of their kind.

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avatarI'm afraid of P2P. Scared

Submitted by samduhman on Mon, 03/16/2009 - 8:51am

I'm afraid of P2P. Scared every file is wrapped in some malicious code. So how do you know whats safe?

Back in the 70/80s my friends and I recorded music off the radio using cassette recorders and/or just shared copies of our purchased music cassettes.  So what has really changed but the media.

For the record now that I'm old I buy all of my music, games, movies. I feel especially strong in supporting PC game developers. I hate a pirate.

 

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avatarTo me piracy is cracking a

Submitted by comptech08 on Mon, 03/16/2009 - 9:10am

To me piracy is cracking a program where you have to pay to use, and now its free because of the crack.  I don't like that, but don't see the big deal about somebody sharing there music collection which they BOUGHT.  Again i dont P2P, just thats how i feel.

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avatarUsing limewire and other

Submitted by AntiHero on Mon, 03/16/2009 - 11:31am

Using limewire and other equivalent programs are dangerous, most torrents are not. If they are, they get no seeds or leeches (Uploaders and downloaders, the nature reference is simple) Also good to look at the comments of the torrent, i do it all the time for music, and trials of things. I don't even use sites like download.com or ftp servers anymore, it's restricted(or throttled), this is only throttled by your bandwidth, and perfectly legal if used correctly. I lost my Battlefield 2 discs, still had the cd key at the time, torrented the game, installed, used my key, patched and away i went, legally. When you purchase a product, you buy the license key, and only that sequence of letters and numbers..nothing more. Also, look at Pirate Bay's case (Pirate Bay is the leading torrent search engine in the world)...they got off on it because they have NO control over what the users do, they stated that they hosted that in the sense that they want it only used for people who own the product, but have no means of installation, it's common.

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avatarYa by the law pirate bay is

Submitted by comptech08 on Mon, 03/16/2009 - 11:50am

Ya by the law pirate bay is legal. 

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avatarp2p

Submitted by GFC on Mon, 03/16/2009 - 8:17am

<3 p2p, couldn't live without it even for a day..

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avatarWhat i dont get is that we

Submitted by comptech08 on Mon, 03/16/2009 - 8:08am

What i dont get is that we as kids were tought to share share share.  And then all of a sudden we get in trouble for sharing. lol.  If a person buys something and then decides to share, give or let someone borrow it, whats the big deal its theirs.  I know its different with intellectual property because it can be copied multiple times, but the concept of its the owners and he can do what ever he wants with it still applies in my opinion.

 

 

I dont do P2P file sharing, i buy everything, but i do think it is the right of the owner of what ever he has to do what ever he wants to do with it.

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avatarYet somhow the recording,

Submitted by KaylaKaze on Mon, 03/16/2009 - 7:39am

Yet somhow the recording, movie, and software industries continue to be quite profittable, despite the economy. Oh, I know they're not happy about having huge profits when they think they should be having much huger profits.

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