Whirlpool

One of the news articles on the front page says this

"And you know what that would mostly enable? More piracy and porn. It is estimated that about 60 per cent of the bit traffic on the internet now is piracy – that is, file swapping of music and videos. Much of the rest is pornography."

Is this an accurate statement? Who does the estimating? How do they know what people are doing? Is it from those tracking cookie things or do they do surveys?

Bit of a conservative estimate in my case.

I'd say 80% of my traffic is torrents, the other 20% gaming/browsing/legit downloads/ a snippet of porn here and there.

front page of what?
What is "that" (which is "enabling"?)
everybopdy knows 79.420% of all internet statistics are made up :P

tekchallenged writes...

Is this an accurate statement? Who does the estimating?

Guessing it was from some kind of survey.

My usage of the internet is 80% download*wink wink* and 20% other stuff

As they say, 75% of statistics are made up on the spot to support an argument.

Given that I've read elsewhere that something like 20% of traffic is spam, I'd treat all of those figures (including the 20% is spam) with a fair bit of scepticism. "It is said..." is an unsourced statement, logically equivalent to "It is said John Howard/Kevin Rudd eats babies"... makes for exciting copy and an attempt to sound authoritative, but not necessarily having any basis in fact.

If someone actually posts a study with some proper traffic analysis that isn't grounded in gratuitous assumptions such as all peer-to-peer and video downloads being piracy (after all, some legitimate software is distributed through peer-to-peer networks to ease congestion on an FTP server), then that might have a bit more credibility.

I remember seeing someone announcing that a significant percentage of the net traffic coming into Australia (back in the pre-web days, when pretty much all the internet traffic from/to Australia did travel through one pipe) was taken up by the usenet group alt.binaries.pictures.erotica, but that was done by someone who actually had access to that pipe to do traffic analysis.

g0dd3ss writes...

front page of what?
of Whirlpool, in the Friday roundup – sorry, I should have said.

What is "that" (which is "enabling"?)
Faster internet speed

so where is all this porn everyone keeps talking about :-)

tekchallenged writes...

that about 60 per cent of the bit traffic on the internet now is piracy

Possible. I'm not sure about it though.

How do they know what people are doing? Is it from those tracking cookie things or do they do surveys?

They can do, but also those page hit things and also the amount of links that pop up on google when you search.

sandiessg writes...

so where is all this porn everyone keeps talking about

I don't know. I don't think you can actually get to the location, you can view it though.

sandiessg writes...

so where is all this porn everyone keeps talking about :-)

LoL, I wonder.. Not too long ago my I.T. teacher said that the internet was 69% porn :P

TheLaminator writes...

They can do, but also those page hit things and also the amount of links that pop up on google when you search.

But I would have thought that anyone swapping "pirated" material wouldn't be keen to send in their traffic statistics to some central authority (if there is one). Maybe google keeps tabs, but just because you click a link doesn't mean you are using a site – sometimes you click and back straight out when it isn't the right thing you were looking for. And as someone else has said, if you are swapping files, they could be work documents or school essays or something innocuous, not pirated stuff.

It is an interesting comment though, because to me it seems so high a figure.

Redwan writes...

Not too long ago my I.T. teacher said that the internet was 69% porn
Your IT teacher has an interesting sense of humour perhaps???

Porn is very true, and its one of the major aspects that made the internet what it is. I don't think people understand how much money the porn industry invested in the early 90's in web technology. And then in the mid to late 90's invested even more in DVD technology.
The porn industry probably gets no where near as much credit for what it helped create, though I doubt they care as long as the profits keep coming in.

Lets just think about this, if you surf the web downloading small videos and browsing for most of the day, i would guestimate you could possibly use around 350-400mb. Thats just hard, flat out, web surfing fully enabled watching vids etc.

This is what we would consider 'normal usage'. But lets face it, real users are getting anywhere from 10-100GB on their HOME accounts. Why all the extra space, well no body sits on the interet 24/7 surfing as described above. We therefore conclude it is mainly torrents, gnutella and all the gang. This includes downloading 700mb to 1.4GB movies which can be downloaded in around 2 hours. Not that i would do that.

Hopefully you can see how easy it would be to consider that the majority of the TRAFFIC is torrents. However much of the data on private servers could be considered to be porn, this subject is far more debatable...

tekchallenged writes...

Your IT teacher has an interesting sense of humour perhaps???

yeah he is a bit weird

Sira(WA) writes...

Hopefully you can see how easy it would be to consider that the majority of the TRAFFIC is torrents.

Yes, I can understand that point and I think I was reading it as 60% of users/usage, rather than of traffic. You'd have to be downloading big things to get through those big download amounts. I really don't know anything about torrents, though – can't you buy movies and things as well? If so, determining what is legitimate download and what is unauthorised sharing might be more difficult.

Yeah, I think it is mostly piracy and porn. I think if you added up the traffic, it'd be well over 90%.

tekchallenged writes...

Much of the rest is pornography."

Jeezus...dont tell Kevin Rudd.

RickMeOff writes...

dont tell Kevin Rudd.

Well, if the fellow reported in the article is saying that based on some official source rather than talking off the top of his head, the PM should already know....

tekchallenged writes...

piracy and porn

It's certainly what keeps me online........

Why do you think the internet was invented? It was for the transfer of porn, all porn. Unfortunately only ASCII porn back then but still porn.

(yes I know it was not for porn but thats what I like to believe) =D

hayythere writes...

Why do you think the internet was invented?
Scientists and mathematicians used to use it.... ?

tekchallenged writes...

"And you know what that would mostly enable? More piracy and porn. It is estimated that about 60 per cent of the bit traffic on the internet now is piracy – that is, file swapping of music and videos. Much of the rest is pornography."

I would think piracy is the highest now with torrents of TV shows, movies, music and software.

Five years ago I would have said mostly porn but now with Youtube, Facebook and podcasts etc I am afraid that legitimate usage is starting to increase it may even pass Porn soon.

Piracy will remain high for a while though, we are still in the "Wild West" phase of the internet revolution.

VeeP writes...

I would think piracy is the highest now with torrents of TV shows, movies, music and software.

Well, if that is right, then the fellow in the article has a very good point – faster internet would help transmission of that type of stuff.

Wasn't the old joke something like, the internet was invented in case of loss of connectivity through a link in a war, the generals could still get their porn?

I can imagine it would be a pretty big figure :)

tekchallenged writes...

Scientists and mathematicians used to use it.... ?

for their pornographic predilections ....?

tekchallenged writes...

It is estimated that about 60 per cent of the bit traffic on the internet now is piracy – that is, file swapping of music and videos. Much of the rest is pornography.

Whilst we're doing the broad generalisations ...

If the "rest" of the traffic is porn, wouldn't that also be piracy? I don't see too many home users distributing their own porn so clearly it must be copied from somewhere.

Is this an accurate statement?

Of course not. Its like saying that "all reporters who write for Business Spectator couldn't find an effective use for bandwidth if their lives depended on it".

Its a cyclic thing – every few years someone pipes up and says "the internet is just for porn", or "for gambling", or ....

James writes...

Of course not.
Well, it came across to me as somebody "mouthing off", but it could have been supported by census data or something that would make it a reasonable thing to say.

tekchallenged writes...

but it could have been supported by census data or something that would make it a reasonable thing to say.

Sure and if it was it'd be interesting to see the stats. But I really think its conjecture on the authors part.

James writes...

But I really think its conjecture on the authors part.

It's probably not that important an issue, but it'll be interesting to see whether any later articles challenge his statements. If he's got it wrong and there are some official stats floating around, those who know might pipe up to say he's wrong, and why.

Interesting topic i have considered before.

At the end of the day, if an accurate study WAS conducted, and it turned out that 60%ish piracy, 20%ish porn were accurate figures, i would NOT be at all surprised.

Sad i guess, but i am in no way discounting the phenomonal other uses the internet has for our society.

tekchallenged writes...

about 60 per cent of the bit traffic on the internet now is piracy – that is, file swapping of music and videos. Much of the rest is pornography."

Don't forget useless banner ads, email spam, antivirus updates and bloatware drivers downloads (yes you, Mr HP!!!)

James writes...

I don't see too many home users distributing their own porn so clearly it must be copied from somewhere.

Then you aren't looking. A lot of amatuer porn is available on the internet. I would say it makes up 20% of all porn on the net.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-TA57L0kuc

Rupe writes...

Sad i guess, but i am in no way discounting the phenomonal other uses the internet has for our society.

Why is it sad at all? They are basing their numbers on data transferred.

If you looked at it by amount of time it would take a person to go through (read/watch) it all then I am sure you would get a different result.

You can transfer hundreds of books using the same amount of data as a single movie.

tekchallenged writes...

Who does the estimating?

From my own browsing history, I have found the following to be the most populated areas of the internet:

1) Cyber Squatters
2) Piracy
3) Pornography
4) Phising

With those four points in mind, I would be happy to say that 50% of the internet is made up of that content. Unless your typing in web addresses directly (knowing what they are) and have good email spam protection you will more often then not end up at a site or receive an email containing this rubbish.

I think the number is bigger than that. Like over 85% has to be either Cyber Squatted, Pirated, Pornographic or Phishing. I absolutely hate Cyber Squatters and think it is ridiculous the amount of cyber-squatted sites.

But, back on topic, the internet IS full of mostly pirated and pornographic content, but hey that is just what people look at the most on the internet.

JBL writes...

Don't forget useless banner ads,
Aargh – if they had that faster internet speed, they'd probably give you whole ads, like on tv.

Phaethon writes...

They are basing their numbers on data transferred.
I really think you are right – it could be that 99% of the internet users are doing routine things and using 1Gb a month, and 1% are downloading movies like mad and using 60% of the traffic (that may not make sense arithmetically, but hopefully you get the picture.)

I think the porn and piracy argument is ignoring the move to fancy, flashy websites with embedded video etc etc. I must admit, I dislike a lot of the 'flash and sizzle'. In most cases, when I go to a site I'd like to read the information, see relevant pictures and leave, not watch pointless animation and have to wait for pretty, but pointless pictures to appear on the screen. Then there is the 'piracy' on YouTube (et al), some of it is against what the owners would want, but I suspect more of it is what the owners would want, effectively free advertising, after all, no one would consider a 10 minute YouTube video equivalent to watching something on TV, or DVD.

tekchallenged writes...

Aargh – if they had that faster internet speed, they'd probably give you whole ads, like on tv.

Well, we're certainly heading that way and I'm sure that's what they want to do, whether we want it or not ... Just look at all the trash on Bigpond's home page. If I go there to download the latest Next-G connection manager app, I've got to wade through tons of garbage (mostly Hollywood gossip) just to get to where I want to go. Of course, bookmarking what I'm looking for minimises the traffic. These days I rarely 'surf' the net ... I just stick to my bookmarks and leave it at that.

Darkr writes...

Wasn't the old joke something like, the internet was invented in case of loss of connectivity through a link in a war, the generals could still get their porn?

The internet was indeed conceived, funded and built as a military experiment for just that reason (except the porn ;)

These days it's very easy for ISPs to identify what percent of their traffic is p2p, torrents etc, because most of them have or will soon purchase the equipment that will let them prioritise this traffic (it IS the majorityof internet traffic)

They want the internet to ba capable of much faster speeds so they can get into serious moneymaking from stuff like HD video (& TV)-on-demand.

ColPeters writes...

it's very easy for ISPs to identify what percent of their traffic is p2p, torrents

But it isn't all piracy, is it? They don't know whether it is legitimate/illegitimate??

Yes, Porn, Piracy and SPAM – maybe only 10% left for the rest of us ; )

My guess is 60% piracy 30% porn 20% spiced ham and the rest is normal surfing.
_{Yes I know thats more than 100% :)}

I remember this statistic existing before youtube became popular. I wouldn't be surprised if legal video services like youtube haven't skewed these statistics to some degree.

Hon Senator Richard Alston, former IT and the Arts Minister, once said that AU does not need all these broadband speeds cos it would be used mainly to download pron. He was nicknamed Senator Luddite after that. Good to see that his ideas are well alive :)

Well last time i saw a majory line report for an ISP nearly 50% of the traffic coming in was email spam and about 25% was between non DNS's IP (peer to peer). There is a surprising massive amount of email spam, like a 50 billion per day.

IceFrogg writes...

O.m.g, the rumor that the internet is 70%, 50% or even 20% porn is totally false.

That was in the old days.

There was no P2P TV shows as they were too big, Mum and Pop were not on the Internet. There was a bit of Music swapping but that's it. Even SPAM was minor, now it's a flood.

I think in the 90's most traffic was porn. The only sites making money then were porn sites.

God bless the internet for porn and piracy.

I remember the days you had to swap tapes with mates, link up 2 VCRs, bring 10 diskettes to swap games etc.

Now its 2 clicks of a mouse away.

If I believed in Christianity I would attend Church to pay homage to the gods for this superb offering.

Yes the internet is 99% porn, and piracy for me. I love it. I'm proud of it.

The inventor of the internet should be Nobel lauded.

tekchallenged writes...

"And you know what that would mostly enable? More piracy and porn. It is estimated that about 60 per cent of the bit traffic on the internet now is piracy – that is, file swapping of music and videos. Much of the rest is pornography."

Yes it seems everyone is worried about this statistic being so high, but I feel that the higher it is the better. I believe that if the rampant piracy and porn figures were much lower, then there would be more reason to capitalise on it and stamp out any such use of resources. Nowadays, people are hooked; if they wont get it from their ISP, then they'll go elsewhere.

Face the facts, with a higher percentage of corrupted traffic there is more economic business is at stake if it were ever questioned. Hence it would be fair to say that the whole consumer based ISP economy is dependent on the peoples needs rather than what is legal/just. The more abuse and piracy performed the more power/freedom is maintained on our front.

Could you imagine a law that is passed to censor all pornographic and piracy traffic? ISPs will lose out on current business not to mention the reason for infrastructure whose investors put in more millions. At the end of the day, the all ordinaries will fall :P

tsunamisurfer writes...

Yes the internet is 99% porn, and piracy for me. I love it. I'm proud of it.

Yep. If the internet wasn't mostly piracy and porn we'd all be demanding our money back surely?

lordmule writes...

Could you imagine a law that is passed to censor all pornographic and piracy traffic?

If such a law was passed, I would simply cancel the internet.

There IS no internet without piracy, pron, passwords etc.

lordmule writes...

The more abuse and piracy performed the more power/freedom is maintained on our front.
Nobody has the "power" to break the law, nor the "freedom" to steal.

Could you imagine a law that is passed to censor all pornographic and piracy traffic?
There are already plenty.

The more abuse and piracy performed the more power/freedom is maintained on our front.
Whose "front"?

At the end of the day, the all ordinaries will fall :P
If you are suggesting that the stock market depends on criminal enterprise then it deserves to fall when those enterprises are stamped out.

tekchallenged writes...

More piracy and porn

You can't get porn on the internet. John howard deleted it all didnt he???

;oP

tekchallenged writes...

Nobody has the "power" to break the law, nor the "freedom" to steal.
Usually its the people who are content with where they are who can easily say that.

There are already plenty.
any truly enforced ones?

Whose "front"?
overcharged citizens.

If you are suggesting that the stock market depends on criminal enterprise then it deserves to fall when those enterprises are stamped out.
I am trying to suggest that such legitimate businesses knowingly foster illegitimate activity. So I wouldn't call it a criminal enterprise in any way. Think about it this way, had there been no illegitimate usage of the internet, would the technology have advanced in the same way to make things faster and cheaper for general user and businesses alike?

perhaps a tad overzealous :P

lordmule writes...

any truly enforced ones?
Yes.

that such legitimate businesses knowingly foster illegitimate activity.
That makes that business' conduct criminal. If you knowingly assist somebody to break the law you are a party to the offence.

Think about it this way, had there been no illegitimate usage of the internet,
or other piracy, then I wouldn't have to put up with such ridiculous and intrusive (so-called) "DRM", "registration" "activation" nonsense and could just use my own computer as I please.

tsunamisurfer writes...

The inventor of the internet should be Nobel lauded.

amen brother....We should harass the pope on thursday to make a saint of the internet...LOL

When man invented fire, he didn't say, "Hey, let's cook." He said, "Great, now we can see naked bottoms in the dark." As soon as Caxton invented the printing press, we were using it to make pictures of, hey, naked bottoms! We have turned the Internet into an enormous international database of naked bottoms. So you see, the story of male achievement through the ages, feeble though it may have been, has been the story of our struggle to get a better look at your bottoms.

- from "Coupling"

tekchallenged writes...

or other piracy, then I wouldn't have to put up with such ridiculous and intrusive (so-called) "DRM", "registration" "activation" nonsense and could just use my own computer as I please.

Yes you would. Everyone knows that DRM, registration and activation only hurts legitimate users. They are only used to restrict the customers access to what they legally and morally have the right to. E.g. Region encoded dvds. Region locked dvds were just intended to force us to pay more for our movies.

Phaethon writes...

E.g. Region encoded dvds. Region locked dvds were just intended to force us to pay more for our movies.

But most of us have region-free DVD players now, anyway.

lordmule writes...

Usually its the people who are content with where they are who can easily say that.

He is wrong anyway. If the law is unjust it is imperative that we do something about it.

diddledumsticks writes...

But most of us have region-free DVD players now, anyway.

Yeah now it isn't much of a problem however it was when DVD players were new. A more up to date example is Blu-ray protection making it hard to create backups of a movie you own. It doesn't stop piracy at all, just have a look at all the high def stuff available on torrent sites. It does stop me from legally backing up my disks. If they take my rights away I don't feel any guilt not buying their product.

Another example is steam games purchased overseas can't be played in Australia. This has nothing to do with stopping piracy. It is a money grab.

tsunamisurfer writes...

Yes the internet is 99% porn, and piracy for me. I love it. I'm proud of it.

Big :D for you! I cannot see the problem either!!

A bit off topic, but a bit relevant too, so I'll tell a little story.

Many years ago, at school, we were having a demonstration of the intenet – which was still kinda new – dial up days etc. We had a thearter full of about 60 boys and several teachers including the principal, with the screen being projected on to the theater screen.

So, the I.T teacher talked us through the wonders of the Internet, and to proove it he was going to go into a chat room and 'talk' with someone from overseas. It went something like thiis:

IT Teacher: Hello there, we are from Australia
Responder: Hello, I am from England
IT Teacher: What is your name?
Responder: My name is Rebecca. What is your name?
IT Teacher: Well, there is a few of us here?
Responder: A few?
IT Teacher: We are a school. Right now you are talking to about 60 boys!
Responder: 60 eh, too bad, I've only got 3 holes!

Following was absolute Chaos, as 60 boys roared at the top of their lungs, only to be drowned out by the Principal screaming SHUT IT OFF. SHUT IT OFF and a red-faced IT Teacher scrambling for the reset button.

I think the net has been downhill ever since!!

Cobretti1818 writes...

A bit off topic, but a bit relevant too, so I'll tell a little story.

That was one of the most brilliant posts I have ever read. That deserves to be in a sketch comedy. Or a scene in a movie about the internet.

I laughed myself to tears lol.

Cobretti1818 writes...

I think the net has been downhill ever since!!

LOL! a :D for you my friend!

Cobretti1818 writes...

A bit off topic, but a bit relevant too, so I'll tell a little story.

Haha, that's quite a good story.

Cobretti1818 writes...

Many years ago, at school, we were having a demonstration of the intenet ... snip... Following was absolute Chaos, as 60 boys roared at the top of their lungs... snip...SHUT IT OFF. SHUT IT OFF and a red-faced IT Teacher scrambling for the reset button.

LOL...

I spilt my coffee grr :D

rotlmao

GOLD GOLD GOLD!!!

oh that post is the best ive read for a long time on WP.

:D to you!!

...now to TPR to point out a post.

:)

Cobretti1818 writes...

A bit off topic, but a bit relevant too, so I'll tell a little story.

OMG...That has got to be the funniest thing I have read on WP in a long time!!!

Mused! writes...

LOL! a :D for you my friend!

+1

hahaha.

Cobretti1818 writes...

the Principal screaming SHUT IT OFF. SHUT IT OFF

Bwahahaha. I'm giving you a :D also! I've been laughing all morning at that one! You've got my vote for post of the year!

The problem with movies and music today, its just about greed.
Iv got no problem paying for my item, but what I hate seeing is some actor or artist sitting on more money than most countrys complaining about piracy and they dont have enough money.

Just look at the price of how much more we have to pay for things in Australia, or we get them 6 months later.....
Any wonder illegal downloads flourish here.
The movie/music industry is its own worst enamy.... and why, because of greed!

tekchallenged writes...

Scientists and mathematicians used to use it.... ?

... so they could find new ways to say "hello world!" ;)

The problem is quality content.

Most tv shows and movies have a rewatch value of zero and you can't bring yourself to buy the dvd or watch the show with ads as you feel like you are getting ripped.

Most games are crap. Even online. So you play the game, get bored and shelve it then watch it collect dust.

Most music sucks. 99.99999% of it will never be heard again after its promo/shove down your throat time.

As a communication medium, whether it be news, chat, discussion, socialising, or video conferencing; the internet is king.