CYBERSPACE – According to a recent study released by the Cambridge-based research firm CacheLogic, eDonkey has surpassed BitTorrent for the top share of online file-sharing traffic.BitTorrent, which had grown more popular in recent years due to its ability to transfer large files more efficiently than other networks, accounted for slightly over 50 percent of file-sharing traffic, according to CacheLogic’s reporting last year. In the new study, BitTorrent’s share has dropped to 34%, with eDonkey snaring 51%, Kazaa’s FastTrack taking 10% and Gnutella accounting for 6%.

CacheLogic’s study, conducted over a six week period beginning in June, is based on the volume of data transferred over Gnutella, BitTorrent, eDonkey, and Kazaa’s FastTrack file-swapping networks, not the number of individual users or files they had, according to Nicholas Fraka, marketing manager for CacheLogic. Basing the study on data volume favors eDonkey and BitTorrent, due to a higher average file size being shared on those networks.

“This is almost assuredly a result of the increased legal action toward the once-ignored BitTorrent; a game of P2P hide-and-seek,” said CacheLogic’s chief technology officer Andrew Parker. Parker calls the usage shift “proof that legal pressure from industry groups results in the mass migration of file sharers to an alternative network, whether old or new. This cat and mouse game will continue.”

The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in MGM v. Grokster, which held that Grokster could be held liable for copyright infringement for the movies and music traded on its network because the company’s intent was to encourage copyright infringement, led some to expect a reduction in online file-sharing. According to CacheLogic’s study, however, such a decline has not taken place; the traffic has simply shifted between various P2P networks.

“The Grokster case did not result in a rapid decline in P2P usage,” Parker said.

According to CacheLogic’s study, approximately 60 percent of total internet bandwidth consists of P2P traffic. Since P2P networks aren’t reliant on a centralized server to distribute data, they are very difficult to shut down.

In the CacheLogic analysis, which utilized direct packet monitoring of data streams from internet service providers, video files, which tend to be larger, made up 61 percent of the data volume. MP3 files remain the most common form of shared audio files.