As per Sweden’s Lund University reports, youths nowadays prefer using VPN to remain anonymous over the internet during file sharing activities
May04, 2012: In the recent past, there has been an effectual surge in the use of VPN by the youths all across Europe.
If the report from Lund University in Sweden is to be believed, there has been a significant rise of 40% in the number of VPN users from the age group of 15-25 years since 2009.
Expert speculate stiff measures against online piracy as a strong reason behind such rapidly increasing VPN popularity.
In addition, recommendations by well known file sharing websites such as The Pirate Bay to use VPN for downloading/sharing files has also contributed their bit in this regard.
In its first public statement after five major ISP gave their consent to block file-sharing sites, The Pirate Bay said, “As usual there are easy ways to circumvent the block.
Use a VPN service to be anonymous and get an uncensored internet access, you should do this anyhow,”. However, after coming down heavily on online piracy, experts from the industry believe that the VPN could well be the next target of the publishers.
Why VPN?
Considered to be a sacred facility of elite business people once, VPN has now become a hot property among the ardent internet users to bypass the effects of heavy firewalls.
It is a solid mode to maintain anonymity and to share or download data that is otherwise protected by copyright laws.
It is for this reason that The Pirate Bay recommends it use for all such activities online.
Independent music analyst, Mark Mulligan, has some more to say about the widespread favoritism VPN is gaining in Europe.
He predicts, “VPNs could become the next front in the battle against piracy”.
Pointing towards the high end success of several VPN providers such as BT Guard, HideMyAss and others, he says that these companies adopt extra measures to safeguard the identity of their users and hence are preferred by the masses.
He further maintains, “Some providers have already started putting anonymity systems in place, such as not tracking IP.
Reacting strongly to the frequent incidents of file sharing, the music industry is now prompt to force shutdown of the sites used for this purpose instead of targeting individual file-sharers.
People from music fraternity wish to execute this task by blocking the domain name service that would further restrict the users from accessing torrent sites.
However, they need to come in terms with the internet service provider in this context so as to assure the blockade. Alternatively, they could also force the site ban through courts.
The Pirate Bay, along with many other file sharing sites have received a major set back in the recent times due to such stiff actions by the copyright owners.
A majority of European nations including Britain are now blocking the site over the internet.
However, the efficacy of filtering systems implemented to ban the sites could well be a major concern for the censoring authorities as the VPNs, together with the combination of proxy servers could just toy around with the former’s blocking intentions.
Still a victory for the site owners!
Restriction on The Pirate Bay and similar sites has reared profitable results for the music industry as is revealed by International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).
Whether Italy, UK Belgium, Finland, Denmark, Spain, or almost any other European nation, all have noticed a drastic slide in use of this file sharing website along with other portals of similar nature such as BTJunkie, the torrent site.
Mr. Mulligan says, “The fact that young music fans are moving to VPNs signals something of a victory for the music industry”.
Though VPNs are good to avert the effect of filtering tools but at the same time, the intricacy level that they accompany restrains a large number of younger lots from its use, which is complemented with the amount they have to pay for VPN services.
“VPNs add an extra layer of complexity and young people have to pay £5 or £6 a month to use them, which means some of the reasons for doing it are lost.”, adds Mr. Mark.
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