P2P (Peer to Peer)

Over the years the utility and function of the internet have expanded which has allowed online users the ability to take advantage of new media technology for a variety of tasks, purposes, and reasons. Additionally, for most online users it’s a great place for gathering important information, posting comments, opinions, reviews and doing research. Even more, it has also become the main place for entertainment for many people who enjoy playing games, listening to music, watching movies or even reading books to name a few actives that are now being done online. Furthermore, with the low cost of technology and the increased power of broadband, the internet has become more widespread across the globe, giving people in many remote locations access to the world outside of their local communities. However, it has also become a double-edged sword for artists, publishers, and studios when customers and users feel that they no longer want to pay for the content or be bounded by any form of contract, terms or limitations. This is why more people are using Peer to Peer file sharing and other different kinds of modern file-sharing platforms and technology.

What is file-sharing? In the article titled ‘P2P File Sharing’ by James King (2016), he had stated that “File Sharing is a sharing and transmitting computer data in a network or internet with various access levels. Through file sharing, one can access and transmit data from one computer to another, making it efficient for the users to work on documents regardless of their location or computer access” (para. 1). 

While Peer-to-Peer or P2P file-sharing means the distribution of software, programs, and digital content like electronic books, files, and multimedia such as music, movies, video clips, and even games through either a direct connection between two peers or over a P2P network with the use of a client software which allows a computer to get connected to the network that searches and locates computers that have the file that the user want without the assistance or interference of a central server (Tiwari, 2016, para. 1).

Classic client-server distribution vs. BitTorrent distribution

There are a few types of P2P filesharing technology such as Gnutella which allows a computer to connect to the network and send out a request for a file that an individual wants to download and when the software locates the computer that has the particular file that an individual wants them can download it to their own personal computer (King, 2016, para 1). Another even more popular and successful peer-to-peer filesharing program with more than 20 million application downloads in 2005, is BitTorrent which was created by Bram Cohen (Thompson, 2005, para. 2). In the article ‘The BitTorrent Effect’ by Clive Thompson (2005), he had said that “BitTorrent lets users quickly upload and download enormous amounts of data, files that are hundreds or thousands of times bigger than a single MP3” (para. 2). Even though it was intended as an open source project that was designed for programmers to inexpensively swap Linux software online, it is now mainly being used for sharing TV shows, movies, and even games and where they can be downloaded in minutes instead of hours (Thompson, 2005, para. 2).

Currently, on the Wikipedia page BitTorrent (2019) the contributors have stated that “As of 2013, BitTorrent has 15–27 million concurrent users at any time. As of January 2012, BitTorrent is utilized by 150 million active users. Based on this figure, the total number of monthly BitTorrent users maybe estimated to more than a quarter of a billion” (para. 5). BitTorrent is a communication protocol for peer-to-peer file sharing but to send or receive files, an individual uses a BitTorrent client on their Internet-connected computer where the client computer program then implements the BitTorrent protocol (Wikipedia, 2019, para. 3). Some of the more popular BitTorrent clients include μTorrent, Xunlei, Transmission, qBittorrent, Vuze, Deluge, BitComet and Tixati and also BitTorrent trackers provide a list of files available for transfer that allow the client to find peer users who transfer the files (Wikipedia, 2019, para. 3).

The ugly side of P2P filesharing technology is that it has become a treasure trove for online piracy which was one of the main causes for the collapse in the music industry and which are now having a major impact on the movie and gaming industry as well. In the article titled ‘Digital Pirates Winning Battle with Studios’ by Brian Stelter and Brad Stone (2009) they have said that the movie industry was now having its Napster moment which had crippled the music industry and as they have stated “the culprits, in this case, are the anonymous pirates who put the film online and enabled millions of Internet users to view it. Because of widely available broadband access and a new wave of streaming sites, it has become surprisingly easy to watch pirated video online — a troubling development for entertainment executives and copyright lawyers” (para. 3). For this reason, as Thompson (2005) had pointed out that with so much illegal trafficking of movies, it's no surprise that the Motion Picture Association of America began clamping down by suing downloaders of movies in order to avoid the fate of the music industry" (para. 3).

References:

King, J. (2016, April 13). P2p File Sharing. Retrieved from

https://margomin.wordpress.com/2016/04/13/p2p-file-sharing/.

Stelter, B., & Stone, B. (2009, February 5). Digital Pirates Winning Battle with Studios. Retrieved

from https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/business/media/05piracy.html.

Thompson, C. (2018, July 26). The BitTorrent Effect. Retrieved from

https://www.wired.com/2005/01/bittorrent-2/.

Tiwari, A. (2016, November 28). What Is P2P File Sharing and How It Works? Retrieved from

https://fossbytes.com/what-is-p2p-file-sharing-and-how-it-works/.

Wikipedia.org. BitTorrent. (2019, November 13). Retrieved from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent#cite_note-7.