I don't have industry sales facts and figures in front of me, but I have seen a few references to CD sales actually declining after litigation basically caused Public Enemy #1 - Napster - to shut down. This would fit with the model of how I personally used Napster.
I am not particularly interested in stealing music from the record company or the artist who created it. However, I am interested in getting value for my money. Often times a really great song on the radio prompts me to buy that artist's CD only to find out that it was their only good song. So- for $18 I get one song worth listening to and 10 or 12 songs that are junk.
By downloading more songs on a service such as Napster or Kazaa I could make more informed buying decisions. In the end, I would either buy the artist's CD or I wouldn't. In either case I would delete the song once my "research" was complete.
Obviously there are users who aren't like that. I don't know if its the minority or the majority but obviously some users see P2P networks as a way to acquire all the music, movies and software they want without having to pay for it. Many rationalize the theft away as if they are modern-day Robin Hoods- "these big conglomerate companies make billions anyway and the artists don't make much from CD sales" goes the traditional mantra. That line of thinking conveniently ignores that its illegal whether the record companies are rich or not, and that by stealing the music the artists get nothing- at least they get something from CD sales.
I don't know what they are teaching now, but when I was in high school the RIAA was not in my government class as a part of legislative branch of government. Yet, in recent years the RIAA and the MPAA have exerted what I perceive to be an inordinate amount of influence over the legislative process in getting laws passed that are favorable to them being able to hunt down and prosecute the P2P offenders. I have no problem with the RIAA and MPAA getting the money that is rightfully theirs and / or prosecuting those who steal from them, but I despise lobbyists and lobbying and I believe that they should get their money and prosecute the thieves following the same legal rules and processes as the rest of us.
So, that is the end of my rant and now we can move on to the main topic of this article (consider it a very long introduction). Because of the success of the RIAA and MPAA in influencing the legislative process and their zeal for hunting down and prosecuting offenders recently, they are unintentionally helping to improve Internet security. As users look to find new and creative ways to avoid detection (and hence litigation) by the RIAA or the MPAA- they have taken to adopting encryption.
I don't recommend using encryption as a means of hiding illegal activity- in fact that only helps to support those who feel the interests of "national security" (or bubblegum pop song theft) demand that the government be allowed to hold the keys to all encryption. The more that they can show that encryption is primarily used by terrorists and illegal file swappers the stronger the case will be to outlaw any encryption scheme the government can't break.
But, the other side of this coin is that encryption in general is a good thing. Assuming you're not using it to plot an attack or to hide your download of the latest Lord of the Rings movie or Justin Timberlake song, it is generally wise to ecnrypt communications to hide them from prying (and possibly malicious) eyes. Standard email is sent in clear text so anyone who may intercept the messages will be able to read them. Internet communications as well may be intercepted and read. Anything you can do to scramble your communications so that only the intended recipient can decypher and read it will help you be more secure overall.
You can read more about how the actions of the RIAA and their zeal to spy on and prosecute those who traffic illegal MP3's is driving the adoption of encryption by more and more users in this ReliableAnswers.com article by Clay Shirky: The Recording Industry Is Unwittingly Driving Encryption Adoption.
