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What ever happened to torrenting?

In 2006, peer-to-peer file sharing made up 70% of all internet traffic. But ever since, traffic has been on a steady decline. Why have we all gone straight?

Lindsey Quinn
February 13, 2018

Over a decade ago, peer-to-peer file sharing ruled the roost — accounting for nearly 70% of all internet traffic in 2006.

But ever since, torrenting traffic has been on a steady decline: in 2015, it accounted for just 3% of web traffic in North America.

What’s the deal? Have those FBI warnings finally started to sink in?

Probably not. More likely, it’s a rise in cheap, above-board alternatives.

It’s just not worth spending 2 hours torrenting a Russian bootleg of “Inception” recorded on a camcorder, when you could watch that, and thousands of other movies, for less than the price of a movie ticket.

And, when people do want to watch something illegally, it’s streaming, not downloading, that dominates the piracy space. The rise of YouTube, and other pirating-specific streaming sites make it relatively easy to find quality content, without the risk of downloading malware onto your computer.

It’s gotten sad

You may recall when hackers held Netflix for ransom last spring under threat of releasing the new season of “Orange Is the New Black.” Well, the hackers leaked the season, and guess what? Nothing happened…

Yep, these days, torrenting has about as much impact on the streaming market as a Wiggles album on the Billboard Top 40.

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