P2P

At its simplest definition, file sharing is the transfer of any file, whether it be text, audio, video or project, from one individual to another. In application of the digital age, is the practice of distributing or providing access to media between individuals. (Definition based off of Wikipedia). What makes this idea so controversial in the modern age? The practice has come under scrutiny because the sharing of files can lead to the loss of revenues for many companies and of course, being companies filed litigations against various entities during the maturity of the Internet - the problem being, "Do we have the right to share files that are not 'ours' ". The definition of ownership has come under question, do we own the MP3 files of CDs that we spent our hard earned money on? Companies argue that we only own the privilege of using the files we purchase on an INDIVIDUAL BASIS and thus are not entitled to share the files with other beings. The most heavily attacked form of file sharing is P2P file sharing which during the wild west days of the Internet, was the most popular form of file sharing. P2P, or peer-to-peer, is the combined efforts of multiple computer networks to partition tasks (such as file sharing) for other's consumptions. To put in layman's terms, we can voluntarily allow our computer to be the host of files, for others to download from. This collaborate effort was easily seen with platforms such as Limewire and Bearshare in the early 2000s. Wanted a copy of Crank That by Soulja Boy? or the newest episode of the Simpsons on your computer? Turn to these platforms, to download it from someone else's computer for you to use it however you want. You want to find the file with the most "Seeders" or people who volunteer to help upload the file for consumption so you can get you 1.5GB file to your computer as fast as possible.  



 You see where the issues come in? It was virtually possible to get anything you wanted from these platforms from the newest 50 Cent album to illegal stuff that I don't need to clearly illustrate. These services came under heavy fire and many questioned whether or not these "piraters", people who participate in these file sharing festivities, should be reprimanded by the court of law. In one opinion article "Should Online Scofflaws Be Denies Web Access?", the author paints a vivid example of how content owners take to court, the many offenses of people sharing their content. The closing remarks of the opinion clearly argues the reason for these attacks, “If you put 200 VCRs in your garage and start making and selling copies of films, you will get a visit from the police,” he said. “If you do it from a Web site, everybody says, ‘Hey, freedom of information’ ”.