Jeremy wrote:
] Decius wrote:
] ]] Internet audience measurement service Nielsen Net Ratings
] ]] said traffic on Kazaa, the leading filesharing platform,
] ]] fell 15 percent in the week ended July 6 from the
] ]] previous week.
]
] This couldn't possibly have anything to do with the
] fact that it's summertime in the Northern hemisphere,
] could it? I would imagine that most teenagers think of KaZaA
] as more of an indoor sport.

Summertime has traditionally been slow for online services, going back to the BBS days. However, the last week of June is just as much summer as the first week in July. It could be argued that the 4th of July holiday would have an additional impact.

I wish MemeStreams statistics offered some insight, but unfortunately we seem to be impacted by the wax and wane of particular google searches as much as internet interest in general. For the record, the last week in June was the best week in June. The first week of July was about the same. The second week was better the first.

Having said these things, I think that it is realistic that some people will back off in face of suits. However, that will only last until P2P systems mutate into more anonymous systems, at which point they will begin to approach the sort of eternity services we were thinking about in school; capable of supporting full service data havens which charge by the kilobyte hour and as they mature will become secure against all but the most determined attackers.

Censorship is the tactic of the past. Spin is the tactic of the future.

RE: CNN.com - Traffic to filesharing sites drops - Jul. 14, 2003