Are Industry Lawsuits Against File-Sharers Having an Effect?
Industry lawsuits seem to be slowing the use of peer-to-peer networks. According to Ipsos-Reid, 41% of Canadian downloaders agreed in May 2004 that the lawsuits in the United States targeting music file-sharers caused them to download less often then they used to, and 43% agreed that warnings by CRIA in early 2004 of lawsuits against individual music uploaders caused them to download less often than they used to. Another effect of the lawsuits has been a shift in popularity of different P2P services. For example, between November 2003 and February 2004, when the record industry was launching lawsuits in the USA, the number of Kazaa users (who have been heavily targeted by lawsuits) dropped by five million. However, the use of eMule and BitTorrent (other file-sharing services) increased. While the effects of file-sharing on the music industry and the sale of CDs are being debated, CD sales have increase since the lawsuits were filed. In 2003, overall sales of CDs in the US were down 2%
