The number of peer-to-peer file sharers has dropped dramatically, according to a recent study conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
The trend is considered a result of the Recording Industry Association of America's recent series of lawsuits. Since the advent of peer-to-peer file sharing, the RIAA has been engaged in lawsuits against alleged illegal file sharers on the Internet.
Published in January, the nationwide phone survey measured the number of online Americans who downloaded music files from mid-November to mid-December. The project surveyed 1,358 people in total.
The percentage of online users downloading music files fell sharply from 29 percent to 14 percent from last spring.
Women, adults with some college education and parents with children at home represent the demographics whose music-sharing habits have declined the most.
The numbers of those who actively engaged in sharing files online -- including music, movie and picture files -- had also decreased significantly during the time period.
Though Penn officials acknowledge that there is file sharing on campus, they have not taken steps to collect data.
University Information Security Officer David Millar said that Penn does not keep track of file-sharing statistics at all, and therefore has no way of measuring whether traffic has increased or decreased.
"We have never seen a broad phenomenon like this," said Lee Rainie, the Pew Internet Project director.
"Obviously, [the lawsuits are] generating change in the online world as well as the policy world."
These findings were consistent with data found by comScore Media Matrix, a separate market research company, which cited an overall recent drop in the number of people using the file-sharing applications Kazaa, BearShare, Grokster and WinMX.
The PIP has paid close attention to file sharing since the advent of the Napster program in 1999 and has been conducting random nationwide phone surveys since 2000.
"This is such a huge drop -- we usually see a change of about two percentage points," PIP research specialist Mary Madden said of the January results.
Rainie cited "seasonal variations" as a factor in the survey outcome.
"There is a peak period for peer-to-peer use, and it is often during winter. Towards the summer, it drops off, as fewer people are online."
However, this survey was taken during the winter, and Rainie emphasized the influence of the RIAA.
"The suits have changed some people's approaches. People told us that they thought it was OK 'if it doesn't affect me.' Then their calculation of risk changed dramatically."
The PIP "tries to be an impartial, unbiased voice in this debate," Madden said.
"We don't benefit in one way or another from the findings. We are trying to present them in the most honest way so that data can be shared apart from the RIAA's or file sharers'."
Rainie emphasized the ever-shifting nature of research on file sharing.
"The marketplace is drastically changing," he said. "Things are going to be in flux ... we'll keep looking at it. It's an ongoing study."
