Telefonica Research and Northwestern University have studied the internet use of half a million people from 169 countries during the course of two years. The study report shows that BitTorrent users download more and more data. Remarkably, the researchers found that large ISPs (big backbone transit providers) profit from BitTorrent traffic, while for smaller ISPs, such as smaller regional internet providers and university and corporate networks, BitTorrent traffic is only costing money.

The report also holds some other interesting conclusions. For example, one third of the BitTorrent traffic says local and remains within the country of origin. BitTorrent traffic also doesn’t usually hit the big backbone transit providers. This is partly due to the fact that most of the traffic stays local and partly because the largest amount of BitTorrent traffic stays inside a local area network run by a hosting company or enterprise. In addition, most BitTorrent traffic takes place at the same time as the peak in internet traffic.   

GigaOm wrote a blog based on the research’s findings, asking the question: ‘Who pays for your P2P habit? ISPs or you? With regards to the latter, the blog’s writer seems to refer to possible network management measures ISPs could take to reduce costs and pressure on their network caused by BitTorrent traffic. However let's not forget who in the first place "pays" for illegal file sharing: the artists and publishers whose work is widely distributed, consumed and enjoyed, without any control or compensation.

Sabam and other European collecting societies therefore proposed that ISPs compensate artists with a share of the revenue they earn by selling expensive broadband subscriptions. Regardless of whether this is a fair and proportionate solution, it directly raises another problem, namely how the collecting societies fairly distribute the collected fees amongst international artists.

Source: TorrentFreak, GigaOM