Nevertheless, shutting down the Pirate Bay won't stop file sharing any more than shutting down Napster or Grokster did. New services will emerge, and copyrighted materials will continue to be readily available.

Policymakers need to recognize that prohibition doesn't work. Rather then continuing the hopeless fight against personal file sharing, policymakers should refocus copyright law on its traditional goal of protecting copyright holders' exclusive right to commercial exploitation of creative works.