P2P File Sharing

File sharing is sharing data via the web, like sending emails, videos, programs, documents and any types of information. File sharing is simply providing access to the stored information in our computer. Some file sharing is illegal, like copies of songs, Microsoft Office programs, decoding files etc. Brian Stelter and Brad Stone in the article “Digital Pirates Winning Battles with Studios” write “People have swapped illegal copies of songs, television shows and movies on the Internet for years. The slow download process, often using a peer-to-peer technology called BitTorrent, required patience and a modicum of sophistication by users. Now, users do not even have to download.” Peer to peer (P2P) file sharing means that people can use software that connects to peer-to-peer network to search for shared files and they can be acquired by many users. Peer to peer users use BitTorrent technology which, as Clive Thompson writes in “The Bit Torrent Effect” article: “quickly upload and download enormous amounts of data, files that are hundreds or thousands of times bigger than a single MP3. More than 20 million people have downloaded the BitTorrent application. If any one of them misses their favorite TV show, no worries. Surely someone has posted it as a "torrent."