The year 2003 saw the Recording Industry Ass. of America (RIAA) bring lawsuits against grandmothers, 12-year old children, hapless mac users, and even people without computers. According to some pollsters, the sue first and settle later strong arm tactics of the RIAA have actually led to a sharp decline in music downloads (which they dub "music piracy"). Personally, I think the findings are dubious, and sound more like a marketing ploy for the RIAA to justify their legal tactics.

The number of American Internet users who say they download music fell from 29 percent (about 35 million users) in the spring of 2003 to 14 percent (about 28 million users) in November and December, according to the phone survey of 1,358 Internet users age 18 and over.

I'm sorry, but I just don't think it is as cut and dry as they think. Has music downloading really declined, or has there been a chilling effect on people's willingness to admit to it? Taken at face value, I would conclude exactly what their statement says. The number of people willing to admit to "music piracy" has dropped.

What with all the multi-million dollar lawsuits, and stories of the RIAA cleaning out people's savings accounts, would you be as candid about music downloading? Especially to some anonymous telephone pollster? Sure, I often wonder how accurate telephone polls really are. Still, when pollsters are asking about potentially illicit activity, I almost never trust the findings.