German investigators charged 3,500 people with illegal music sharing, in the biggest single sweep of its kind, the International
Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said Tuesday.
The file sharers face criminal and civil prosecution and may be asked to pay damage claims of several thousand euros each.
On average, file sharers are being charged €2,500 ($3,193), said the IFPI.
German authorities helped identify the file sharers, who were using the eDonkey network to share thousands of music files. EDonkey software allows users to find and share files with other eDonkey users.
German police searched 130 premises for evidence in the investigations.
The IFPI blames file sharers for a drop in music sales. In Germany, sales of music CDs fell by a third over the last five
years, the IFPI said. However, recent research revealed that legal sales of digital music worldwide tripled in 2005.
The German lawsuits follow the IFPI's announcement last month that within about five months it had sued 2,000 illegal file sharers, mainly in Europe.
In addition to music associations like the IFPI, movie organizations are also stepping up their campaigns against illegal
file sharing. In February, Belgian authorities arrested the operator of a server hosting and sharing millions of files, including
movies, software and music.
Despite the increase in suits against illegal file sharers, the bulk of Internet use continues to be by P-to-P (peer-to-peer)
file sharing platforms. Late last year, CacheLogic said that such platforms account for 60 percent of all Internet traffic
and that eDonkey is the most popular P-to-P file sharing software.
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