This subject brings up a common problem for any ethical surveys: peoples' real opinions may often differ from the politically correct replies they 'ought to' give.

For example, if you stop people on the street and ask them to publicly state whether or not they think copyright infringement is wrong, most will probably say yes. However, the reality is that P2P is overwhelmingly used to exchange copyrighted material. This is an entirely visible social phenomenon that has been written about extensively in respected publications.

The fact that the major record labels:

a) have declared war on their potential customers with anti-copy , anti-P2P measures

b) have made no attempt to reduce CD prices and at the same time spend more and more money promoting a smaller and smaller number of artists.

c) still take the vast majority of profits

d) are making little or no attempt to use the Internet to their advantage or revolutionise music distribution

makes it even easier for users to justify piracy with the "I'm just rebelling against the bad guys" argument.

One should never underestimate the influence of peer pressure. This use of P2P has reached such a massive degree of acceptance that the computer users I know (almost without exception) regularly download and copy music without the slightest hint of guilt and without making any attempt to hide their activity. And here I'm talking about people from about 14-55 years old , both male and female, of a wide variety of professions and social backgrounds. Still ....if you asked these people "Is it wrong to steal?" in a street survey I'm sure almost all of them would still say yes.

But let's imagine that the mainstream recording industry wised up a bit and decided to set up their own servers with instant, high-bandwidth access to a large catalogue of high-quality music....for a small subscription fee. I reckon some 'renegade' P2P users would be prepared to sign up. This would, at the very least, be a better option (both finacially and in terms of public relations) than the current 'pay up or else' legal battles and sabotage attempts. Of course it would require a radical change in philosophy on the part of the major labels.