Two out of three American teens oppose file sharer fines

Teen boys (69%) and girls (62%) are equally likely to oppose the
fines, although boys are more likely than girls to strongly oppose the
fines (60% vs. 45%), and girls are more likely than boys to neither
support nor oppose the fines (28% vs. 15%).

In addition, the poll found that most
teens believe that sharing and downloading of copyrighted music should be
legal. Three quarters (78%) of them feel that sharing (letting other
people download music from them) should be legal. Additionally, 74% of
teens said that downloading copyrighted music files from the Internet
without paying for it should be legal.

Downloading music from the Internet is
common among teens (80% have downloaded music in the past year), yet only
one in three teens (34%) who have downloaded music say they have paid for
a music download at some point. Those who download music but have never
paid for a download say they download because:

• They only like one or two songs on a
  CD (59%)


• They want to get music quickly
  (48%)


• They believe that music is too
  expensive to buy (46%)


• They want to get music for free
  (44%)


• They want songs that are not available
  for sale (40%), and


• They believe that music should be
  shared (38%).

"The results of this Harris Interactive
survey show that American teenagers, who account for a significant amount
of the revenue generated by the music industry, do not agree with the
current legal actions that are being enforced against music file sharers,"
said Marc Scheer, Ph.D., senior research associate, Harris Interactive.
"Although they have grown up at a time when music has been available to
them online for free, this poll indicates that getting music for free is
not the primary reason that teens download. Perhaps it may be possible to
develop a music downloading process that is rewarding to both consumers
and the recording industry alike."