Off the Radar.(swapping songs through file-sharing services)

Why is the global music industry going after Americans only? Of the 261 people sued last week by the music giants of the United States (AOL Time Warner), Germany (Bertelsmann), France (Vivendi), Britain (EMI) and Japan (Sony) for pirating music, none lives outside the United States. Turns out the rage for swapping songs through file-sharing services like Kazaa and Grokster is a largely American phenomenon. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) estimates that as much as 90 percent of all illegal music uploading occurs in North America. Its general counsel, Allen Dixon, says file sharing in Europe "certainly isn't anywhere near the scale of the United States."

Europeans are just not as well connected. File sharing works best with good broadband connections, but only 8 percent of European households have broadband, compared with 15 percent in the United States. Surfers in the United States are also more likely to download music, and do it in much greater volume, according to Forrester Research. Most of the people sued last week had amassed huge music libraries. And one of the driving forces behind file sharing is college-dorm broadband connections, which are much more common in the States than in Europe.

All this is changing fast, however. In 2002, the number of broadband users rose 92 percent in Europe. Grokster says that as many as 30 percent of its estimated ...