The war over Internet piracy: fearing lawsuits, college officials crack down on illegal downloading of music and videos on campus

Black Issues in Higher Education, March 11, 2004 by Peter Galuszka

Among the survey's findings:

* The percentage of music file downloaders has fallen to 14 percent (about 18 million users) from 29 percent (about 35 million) when the project last reported on downloading from a survey conducted during March, April and May. On an average day during the spring survey, 4 percent of Internet users said they downloaded files. In the November-December survey just 1 percent said they were downloading files on any given day during the survey period.

* The percentage of Internet users who say they share files such as music, video, picture files or computer games with others online dropped from 28 percent in a June 2003 survey to 20 percent in the November-December survey.

* Steep drops in downloading were recorded among students, broadband users, young adults (those ages 18-29) and Internet veterans. The groups that recorded the steepest plunges in the percentage of downloaders were women (58 percent decrease in the size of the downloading population), those with some college education (61 percent decrease) and parents with children living at home (58 percent decrease).

Source: The Pew Internet & American Life Project <www.pewinternet.org>.

Music Downloading Demographics

The percentage of each group of Internet users who download music

                               July-    February   March-   November
                               August     2001      May     December
                                2000                2003      2003

All adults                      22%       29%      29%        14%
Men                             24%       36%      32%        18%
Women                           20%       23%      26%        11%
Whites                          21%       26%      28%        13%
Blacks                          29%       30%      37%        25%
Hispanics                       35%       46%      35%        20%

Age cohorts
18-29                           37%       51%      52%        28%
30-49                           19%       23%      27%        13%
50                               9%       15%      12%         6%

Household income
Under $30,000                   28%       36%      38%        22%
$30,000 - $50,000               24%       31%      30%        15%
$50,000 - $75,000               20%       29%      28%        12%
$75,000                         15%       24%      26%        16%

Educational attainment
Less than high school           38%       55%      39%        24%
High-school graduate            25%       31%      31%        18%
Some college                    25%       32%      33%        13%
College degree or more          15%       21%      23%        11%

Internet-user experience
Less than 6 months              20%       27%      26% *      16%
6 months to 1 year              20%       25%      26% *      16%
2 to 3 years                    24%       28%      29%        12%
3 or more years                 22%       33%      30%        15%
Home broadband users             NA        NA      41%        23%
Full- and part-time students     NA       44%      56%        24%

SOURCE: PEW INTERNET & AMERICAN LIFE PROJECT SURVEYS, NOVEMBER-DECEMBER
2003. N=1,358. MARGIN OF ERRORS IS  /- 3%. THE FIGURES NOTED WITH (*)
REPRESENT MUSIC DOWNLOADERS WHO HAVE BEEN ONLINE FOR LESS THAN 1 YEAR;