in General, Ramblings, Tech

Sneakernet reborn?

There’s a new Pew Internet report out from yesterday on the topic of music and movie downloading.

Particularly interesting is the rise of iPods and other portable media players as a file swapping mechanism. 19% of those surveyed have used the method.

While on the surface all the RIAA lawsuits seem to have cut down on use of Kazaa and its ilk, I wonder if the real result is just the pushing of file sharing further underground and into more personalized spaces. 28% have gotten music and/or videos through e-mail and instant messages.

And then there’s usenet. I haven’t seen it covered at all in the file sharing press bonanza of recent months. It takes a bit more technical savvy to find what you’re looking for, but there’s more copyright infringing materials on usenet (not to mention being a haven for child pornographers) than you’d believe.

Ah well, just some thoughts.