eDonkey Benefits From BitTorrent Crackdown

A new study by research firm CacheLogic suggests that the recent crackdown on BitTorrent P2P sites has merely shifted illegal file trading to eDonkey, which now has as many users as BitTorrent in the United States, China, Japan, and Britain. It is the leading P2P service in South Korea, Italy, Spain, and Germany. CacheLogic estimates that as much as 60 percent of global Internet traffic is attributable to P2P file sharing, and before the crackdown, BitTorrent represented up to one third of total Internet traffic. Andrew Parker, chief technology officer of CacheLogic, said the recent upswing of activity on eDonkey “is almost assuredly a result of the increased legal action toward the once-ignored BitTorrent.” Parker also noted that the recent U.S.

Supreme Court decision against Grokster has not resulted in a decline of file sharing. Parker said, “This cat and mouse game [between P2P services and entertainment industries] will continue.”

CNN, 29 August 2005