The war on downloading has gone international.. Our neighbors to north's court system decided that downloading music was legal, while uploading music is illegal. That decision will do little to stop the efforts of the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA), to launch lawsuits against individual uploaders. In a statement, the CRIA said "We invested in excess of one million dollars to date in an effort to educate young people on the issues of Internet piracy and we will continue to do so," the association's head, Brian Robertson, said in the release. "For the hardcore group, however, it appears that education has and will not make any impression. They are killing the music they profess to love. They should be aware that they may face legal consequences for their actions."

In a recent study, the RIAA has won the physcoligcical battle. A survey held by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, approximately 14% of Internet users downloaded music over the Internet from programs like "Kazaa" from the middle of November to the end of December, which is down over 50% from May, when it was originally 29%. The Director for the project, Lee Rainie, said recently, "We have never seen another internet activity drop off to this degree. The drop-off was just striking, particularly since overall internet activity goes up and up." The report might be misleading though, some people might just say don't download music anymore, when they still do.

In a huge development with regards to the fight against downloading music, The RIAA suffered a huge loss in the courts. It was decided last Tuesday that an appeals court in Washington D.C. dismissed the RIAA's subpoenas for internet IP addresses. Over the last year, 3000 subpoenas have been issued, this court decision has found that they aren't authorized by the Digital millennium Copyright Act. A spokesman for the RIAA said the recent developments were a setback, but only a "technicality". It unfortunately means we can no longer notify illegal file sharers before we file lawsuits against them to offer the opportunity to settle outside of litigation. Verizon is solely responsible for a legal process that will now be less sensitive to the interests of its subscribers who engage in illegal activity," RIAA President Cary Sherman said.