Why it is so damn hard to catch illegal downloaders?

Answer 1

Because downloading is not necessarily illegal. What is illegal is letting people upload copyright material from you. So, the person downloading is not the one actually committing a crime, but rather the person letting them.

Answer 2

There are several reasons:

First, as a previous answer explained, downloading is not the crime...uploading is. This can create problems since one file can have a multitude of uploaders with most P2P programmes. And there have been several costly errors for attempting to prosecute persons who had nothing to do with the process.

Second, many file sharers use proxies located in foreign countries which do not either have, or do not enforce, the copyright laws. Any files (or portions of files) uploaded by these sharers appears to come from the proxy's locale and so the real IP address is anonymous.

Three, there is a multitude of people sharing files, and already the music industry is suffering from massive bad PR. Continuing on their course of suing everyone they can will not only be a financial drain (no matter how much money they have), but will also alienate potential customers. Even acquaintances of persons who have been prosecuted for file sharing have ceased purchasing music simply because their friend got sued. This is about the worst PR for any company to pursue no matter how much the law is on their side.

Unfortunately the current copyright laws do not reflect the level of technology in place at this time. I'm sure there is a equitable solution, but whether the music industry will discover it before shooting itself in both feet is another matter entirely.