p2pnet.net news:- EMI (Britain), Vivendi Universal (France), Sony BMG (Japan and Germany) and Warner Music’s (US) bizarre anti-p2p, anti-consumers, anti-file sharing campaign isn’t working, their claims to the contrary notwithstanding.

Who says? Six hundred and ninety three of 737 people who answered the question, Have the RIAA sue ‘em all lawsuits persuaded you to stop sharing?, in p2pnet’s week-long, 31-question Sultans of Spin online poll, the first of its kind.

That was where things stood at at 9:15 am PST, when we started building this post. By 9:39, it had hit 757.

“Yeh, Right!” - some will say. “Chances are, most of the people who responded don’t even share online.”

The first question was, Do you share files online? - and, Yes! - emphatically declared 534 (72.2%) of the 740 people who answered.

But, “the answers were for sure posted by the same person over and over again,” will undoubtedly be someone’s come-back. That doesn’t work either, though. Anyone who tried to submit multiple responses simply over-wrote their previous entry.

“Yeh, well, they’re all p2pnet readers and like you, they’re all biased, and so are the questions,” might be another moan. So? Many of the people who read p2pnet are exactly the kinds of folks the RIAA, et al, are trying to terrorize into becoming compliant consumers and from the responses, the efforts are failing miserably. And you think the polls commissioned by the entertainment and software cartels aren’t skewed?

OK, I came up with the first nine questions, but the others all refer to direct quotes from the RIAA site which, on behalf of the Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG, the Big 4 Organized Music cartel, claims industry sales are being seriously diminished, world-wide, by online file sharers.

I can’t say they results accurate to within X number of percentage points, but quite a few sites picked up Sultans of Spin with, in no particular order, Wired’s Listening Post, Zeropaid, Torrentfreak over in Holland, and the Frostwire blog, among them. Thanks, guys.

IMHO, 757 isn’t an insignificant number of responses. But if there are any professional polsters or analysts who see this and who’d like to give an opinion on how valid (or not) these results are, I’d be glad to post them. For obvious reasons, however, they can’t be anonymous. Email me at p2pnet @ shaw.ca, or post a comment.

I’m the first to admit p2pnet is a tiny site. But it and sites like it can, and do, make a big difference. You think the Big 4 don’t notice all us thousands of bloggers are out their gainsaying their outrageous claims?

In the post announcing the appearance of Sultans of Spin, p2pnet pointed out that in Talking With Your Kids About Tough Issues, the RIAA had Hilary Rosen as ‘chairman’ and ceo, even though she’d vanished from the scene close to four years earlier.

Since the p2pnet post, the RIAA folks have deleted mention of Hilary.

I’ll be making Sultans of Spin public as Monday (April 16), and I’ll leave it online until Saturday (April 21) so anyone, anywhere, can use the statistics for their own analyses. It’ll be interesting to see the final results. And there’ll be an added perk.

Meanwhile, in the US, the Big 4 are using their RIAA, American school administrators and mainstream and student media to attack universities and colleges, trying to panic them into paying extortion, at the same time providing them with priceless names and addresses they wouldn’t otherwise be able to get.

Who knows what they’ll do with all this personal information immediately and down the road?

And when you’ve had a look at the results below, I’ve done a follow-up post on the validity (or otherwise of Sultans of Spin.

Cheers!

Jon Newton - p2pnet

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

SULTAN OF SPIN results, as of April 14, 2007

Do you share files online?
Total Responses: 742
Yes - 72.2% (536)
No - 27.8% (206)

Have the RIAA sue ‘em all lawsuits persuaded you to stop sharing?
Total Responses: 739
Yes - 6.0% (44)
No - 94.0% (695)

How do you rate your chances of you becoming an RIAA victim?
Total Responses: 741
Guaranteed, if I keep on sharing - 2.0% (15)
High - 1.8% (13)
Medium - 10.4% (77)
Low - 51.0% (378)
Zero, even if I keep on sharing - 34.8% (258)

It’s been said the likelihood of any on person becoming an RIAA victim is like becoming a Lotto millionaire, or being struck by lightning.
Total Responses: 741
Agree - 68.8% (510)
Disagree - 31.2% (231)

The RIAA claims file sharing is “devastating” the music industry.
Total Responses: 740
Agree - 8.1% (60)
Disagree - 91.9% (680)

The RIAA claims file sharing is causing tremendous hardship to music industry workers, and huge losses to contracted artists.
Total Responses: 743
Agree - 6.6% (49)
Disagree - 93.4% (694)

Does your school give you instruction on IP (Intellectual Property) law?
Total Responses: 712
Yes - 17.1% 122)
No - 82.9% (590)

If it doesn’t, do you think it should?
Total Responses: 695
Yes - 36.1% (251)
No - 63.9% (444)

Do you know anyone who’s received an RIAA subpoena?
Total Responses: 738
Yes - 8.0% (59)
No - 92.0% (679)

The sets of questions below are all based on direct quotes from the RIAA site. Under each is a box for respondents to add their comments, which I haven’t included here> But you’ll be able to see them when I make the survey public on Monday.

For now, click the appropriate comment to read respondents’ thoughts on the given RIAA statement.

Says the RIAA: Though it would appear that record companies are still making their money and that artists are still getting rich, these impressions are mere fallacies.
Total Responses: 738
True - 11.9% (88)
False - 88.1% (650)

Says the RIAA: Each sale by a pirate [or file shared] represents a lost legitimate sale, thereby depriving not only the record company of profits, but also the artist, producer, songwriter, publisher, retailer, … and the list goes on.
Total Responses: 739
True - 10.8% (80)
False - 89.2% (659)

Says the RIAA: To artists, “copyright” means the chance to hone their craft, experiment, create, and thrive. It is a vital right, and over the centuries artists, such as John Milton, William Hogarth, Mark Twain, and Charles Dickens, have fought to preserve that right.
Total Responses: 713
True - 34.4% (245)
False - 65.6% (468)

Says the RIAA: Everything that the RIAA is active on - fostering a viable music marketplace online, preventing piracy, fighting censorship - is based on one premise: It all starts with the music and the music starts with the artist.”
Total Responses: 718
True - 15.7% (113)
False - 84.3% (605)

The RIAA: Supports the First Amendment rights of artists.
Total Responses: 694
True - 20.2% (140)
False - 79.8% (554)

The RIAA: Fights to preserve freedom of speech.
Total Responses: 707
True - 8.9% (63)
False - 88.4% (625)

The RIAA: Works to build a positive environment in which to create and distribute music.
Total Responses: 710
True - 5.4% (38)
False - 94.6% (672)

The RIAA says: RIAA leader Mitch Bainwol has, “helped revitalize a coalition of music organizations that now often work together on variety of industry issues, such as anti-piracy strategies or advocating a level playing field for digital music distribution models”.
Total Responses: 679
True - 19.3% (131)
False - 80.7% (548)

The RIAA says: Bainwol has, “strengthened artist relations and devised programs to promote and recognize emerging digital formats”.
Total Responses: 682
True - 12.2% (83)
False - 87.8% (599)

Says the RIAA: On behalf of its member companies, the RIAA works to protect the value of music.
Total Responses: 698
True - 15.6% (109)
False - 84.4% (589)

Says the RIAA: Technology initiatives of record companies and policy initiatives coordinated by the RIAA are working toward a seamless, interconnected world for music fans.
Total Responses: 691
True - 6.2% (43)
False - 93.8% (648)

Stay tuned, and sincere thanks to everyone who took the trouble to complete this survey, and who’ll continue to add to it. Your time was, and is, well spent.

First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win ~ Mahatma Ghandi

Slashdot it!

If your Net access is blocked by government restrictions, try Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at thIs the endSurvey: How Did Copyright Infringement Become Equated with Robbery? (of the Net) nigh?zze University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies. Go here for the official download, here for the p2pnet download, and here for details. And if you’re Chinese and you’re looking for a way to access independent Internet news sources, try Freegate, the DIT program written to help Chinese citizens circumvent web site blocking outside of China. Download it here.

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Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local politicians. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance. Don’t just complain. Do something!

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