The US Senate Committee of Governmental Affairs will today begin a hearing into the continuing downloading problem. With the catchy title of 'Privacy & Piracy: The Paradox of Illegal File Sharing on Peer-to-Peer Networks and the Impact of Technology on the Entertainment Industry' representatives from the record and music industries will try to persuade government they need financial, educational and legislation support in their ongoing battle against illegal downloading. Recording Industry Association of America boss Mitch Bainwol, Motion Picture Association of America's Jack Valenti, Chuck D, LL Cool J and RIAA subpoena recipient Lorraine Sullivan will all participate in the hearing.
The hearing coincides with another report questioning the effectiveness of the RIAA's ongoing litigation campaign against downloaders. The report in Rolling Stone points out that while the number of people illegally sharing music did fall about 35% the week after the RIAA launched its legal action against individual downloaders, some 4 million people continue to use Kazaa each week. The report points out that nearly half of those users are outwith the US and therefore beyond the RIAA's reach. With trade organisations in even 'US friendly' markets like Australia and the UK saying they will not peruse their own legal campaigns against downloaders it seems Kazaa will maintain a large membership globally, which some reckon will strengthen its position in the US too.
The report also questions the thinking behind the RIAA's litigation campaign that by targeting those who share 'substantial' numbers of tracks (i.e. over 1000) those who share less music would stop downloading - either because of the fear they will next, or because their key music supplies are cut off. New research suggests that many of the file sharers with less than 200 songs in their Kazaa databases (which accounts from 86% of users) don't feel threatened by the current litigation and, because there are so many such members, the loss of a few hundred 'major file sharers' has not affected the supply of music available via Kazaa.
Rolling Stone reckon the threat of lawsuits is also failing to push illegal downloaders onto legit download services - as the RIAA had hoped. They argue after the initial hype Apple's iTunes service has plateaued at an average of 500,000 downloads per week while the Windows download site BuyMusic.com has yet to take off in any serious way.