Have you ever shared anything with someone else before? It can be food, clothes, pencils, pens, CDs and pretty much anything. Yes? Great, you’ll understand what file sharing is easily. No? Really? Well, no problem. You’ll still be able to understand the gist of file sharing, specifically, peer-to-peer file sharing.
First, let’s define a few terms.
File sharing: As the name implies, this a term to share digital files electronically. These files could be music, video, games and anything really.
Peer-to-Peer: Peer-to-peer (P2P) is a method of “file sharing that allows normal users (“peers”) to connect directly to other users to share files.
Copyright Infringement: This is the act of “violating the exclusive rights of copyright owner” (oit.utk.edu). Simply, this is the act of sharing other people’s works (music, books, movies) without their permission.
Now that you know what file sharing is, I’d like to specifically discuss peer-to-peer sharing in more detail. For P2P file sharing, you use a software program instead of your web browser to find a computer that has the file you are looking for. This diagram gives you a good idea of what happens with P2P file sharing.
- With the P2P software you are running on your computer, you send out a request. In the diagram, the request is “Baby go home.mp3”.
- The software then queries other computers that are running the software and are connected to the internet.
- When the file is found, the download begins.
This sounds like a great way to share content with other people, right? Sure! However, there are some negative aspects with P2P sharing.
- Leeching. Some people download the files they are looking for and immediately disconnect the software, not allowing others to obtain files from their system. One of the solutions to this problem is a method called tit-for-tat. BitTorrent, “a protocol that offloads some of the file tracking work to a central server (called a tracker)", uses this method where in order to receive file, you also have to give them (computer.hostuffworks.com).
- Copyright Infringement. It’s no secret that file sharing consists of not only sharing legal content but illegal content. You can visit www.copyright.gov to learn more about it.
- Personal Dangers. Many P2P software applications that you install on your computer may often come with spyware and other programs that can put your computer at risk.
I’ve only given a basic overview of P2P file sharing but there are many resources to learn about P2P file sharing. Just remember, there are consequences to sharing copyrighted materials without the permission of the creator. I briefly mentioned BitTorrent and if you would like to learn more, the article HowBitTorrent Works is great. If you want to learn more about file sharing, the article "What is File Sharing?' is great.
Works Cited
Hello Sindhu Pothireddy. This is my second comment on your blog as far as I remember. It was a pleasure to read your post on file sharing. I actually also wrote on the P2P file sharing specifically on Torrent and its copyright issue, so I can easily understand your points of copyright infringement and personal danger. Your post additionally mention covers leeching, and I learned what leaching is about. Thanks for your post.
ReplyDeleteHi Sindhu,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, you did a very good job on your file sharing post! You showed a lot of details for letting your blog readers to understand the concepts of file sharing. I really like how you enlist the definitions of file sharing, P2P, and copyright infringement. This taught me how to understand the basics of file sharing with your fellow peers, so thank you for that.
I especially like how you demonstrated the flow of P2P file sharing. Good thing you mentioned about the negative aspects in the numbered list. That is what a blog reader needs to know about the limits for sharing files with his/her peers.
All in all, good work on your post. Keep blogging!
Hi Sindhu,
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job on this post. It is well-organized and professional. Everybody knows that we can get huge benefits from sharing files. But it also involves some copyright issues. On the other hand, same item will have different properties with different usages. Offenders make use of this path to do some crimes.
Hi Sindhu
ReplyDeleteThe post contains acceptable definitions of what file sharing is as well as what the term p2p is. The definitions would definitely explain what those terms are to some who was not as informed in such matters. The matter of copyright infringement is well defined as well. The numbered organization of how p2p works is short, clear, and to the point. The post is well cited and linked.
Hello! Wow, your post was so informative and well-organized. In your P2P description, you forgot to mention Seeders, which help share bits of the file once they have completed downloaded the file. In my experience of using P2P sharing, I've found that there are more risks than the traditonal client-server downloading. There are also a lot of copyright-infringement; there are always downloads for music, movies, etc. However, software programs like BitTorrent are legal even though the files they share may be illegal. I'm a big fan of BitTorrent so I hope they never shutdown!
ReplyDeleteHi Sindhu,
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting article about P2P file sharing, it covers quite a few basic knowledge about what is file sharing, what is P2P, and how does P2P file sharing works, and also the downside of it. This is a great post. The post is organized properly, and the definition of terms in the beginning gives me better understanding of the topic. Also the references are complete and informative, I like the "HowBitTorrent Works" one most.
Thank you!