The economic and cultural consequences of file sharing in music, film and games. Last fall, a consortium of research institutes ran a large scale research programme in order to establish the economic and cultural consequences of file sharing. It is well known that the entertainment industries complain about the economic damage caused by downloading of music tracks, films and games. This research evaluates the extent of this damage, both economically and culturally, also taking into account that downloading had several advantages, not only for citizens, but also for the entertainment businesses. Two senior researchers will discuss the conclusions of their report: prof.dr. Paul Rutten (TNO*ICT and Leiden University) and dr. Joost Poort (SEO economic research, University of Amsterdam). Minister of Education Culture and Science mr. R.H.A. Plasterk will be present to formally receive the report.