August 30, 2005
Thomas Mennecke
| Just a few months ago, the situation appeared grim for the file-sharing community, at least from a mainstream point of view. During the latter months of 2005, the MPAA began shutting down eDonkey2000 and BitTorrent indexing sites in earnest. The RIAA was suing music traders left and right, and the Supreme Court decision loomed like Hurricane Katrina. |  |
And finally the Supreme Court decision hit. On June 27, 2005, in a rare 9-0 decision the Supreme Court remanded the case back to the lower courts. Specifically, the Supreme Court ruled, "We hold that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties."
As is typical by the mainstream media, the Supreme Court decision was heralded as an RIAA/MPAA victory. But the coming months would prove a much different situation.
Outside the P2P and file-sharing world yields two very different realities; the reality anti-P2P entities such as the RIAA/MPAA wish to portray, and the reality the P2P/file-sharing world wish to portray. Very rarely, if ever, do these two realities ever agree.
The significantly better publicized message anti-P2P entities portray is readily swooped up by the mainstream media. Well-written press releases often provide a significant chuck to an article for journalists unfamiliar with the file-sharing world. Headlines such as “P2P Use in decline”, “iTunes More Popular than Most P2P networks” and “File-Sharing Companies Defeated by RIAA/MPAA” have become all too common.
Yet such headlines are plastered on high traffic media sites despite being readily debunked. In particular, the NPD Group released a study which concluded, “iTunes was more popular than most P2P sites.” Although the study was ripped to shreds, it still managed to be taken as gospel by a majority of technology and mainstream sites.
However, it appears the tide of the propaganda war may be changing.
In a change of pace from the typical headline news which portrays P2P in decline, CacheLogic’s study has a very pro file-sharing angle. According to CacheLogic’s study, the recent enforcement actions against file-sharing have done nothing to stem the rise of P2P networking. Instead, it has only encouraged file-traders to migrate to alternative networks. In addition, CacheLogic discovered that P2P continues to represent the most heavily used Internet medium, as it consumes in excess of 60% of an ISP’s bandwidth.
Whether or not you take CacheLogic’s latest study with a grain of salt, there’s little denying the power it is having over the media. In addition, several more headlines in Slyck's "More News From Around the Web" also portrays a changing attitude. Perhaps with some time, the mainstream will finally realize P2P's true condition.
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