P2P File Sharing

File sharing is sharing files that are digitally stored such as music, movies, documents, photos, games, etc. over a network. While file sharing is not illegal, what is being shared may be due to copyright issues. P2P file sharing also known as peer-to-peer file sharing refers to sharing files between one computer to another and each peer is an end-user’s computer connected to the other peer via the Internet without going through an intermediary server. It allows users to upload and download files directly to or from a P2P network. Some examples of P2P file sharing include pirate bay, napster, uTorrent, and BitTorrent.The article titled "The BitTorrent Effect" written by Clive Thompson talks about BitTorrent. Bram Cohen created BitTorrent and it is referred to as "one of the most successful peer-to-peer programs ever." It allows users to upload and download large amounts of data. BiTorrent is so successful that it accounts for more than one-third of all data sent across the Internet. P2P file sharing is very popular but can be illegal due to copyright issues.