P2P

File sharing is allocating, public or privately, computer data or space in a network. The levels of access privilege can vary amongst people and allows the convenience of multiple people to view the same data. This allows them to modify it, write to, read, copy or print the information on the shared network. Users are allowed personal space for them to store data that they do not want other users to have access to.

            P2P, or peer-to-peer file sharing is the sharing of digital content such as eBooks, music, movies, and video clips between two people over the P2P network. The person who hosts the content shared is called the seed and the receiver is called the leech. The two roles can interchange and allow you to “give and take” during the process. However, there has been a lot of controversy and trouble that comes along with P2P file sharing. In an article in the New York Times, written by Eric Pfanner, he discusses the ongoing criminal violations of copyright law that occur over these networks. There has been an increase in piracy among popular file-sharing services such as the Pirate Bay and RapidShare. In an effort to try to stop piracy, some sites have been starting to charge users if they want access to these digital files, so they can track down the users.

            A popular P2P file sharing client program is called LimeWire, which allows users to share music to other people and download songs they don’t already have. Another example is called iMesh, which allows the sharing of media and files, available in nine languages. Lastly, Kazaa has been a P2P file sharing application that allows the sharing of MP3 music files and other types, such as videos, applications, and documents.