P2P File Sharing

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According to Wikipedia, File Sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digitally stored information, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents, or electronic books. It may be implemented through a variety of ways. P2P File sharing (Peer-to-Peer file sharing) is the distribution and sharing of digital documents and computer files using the technology of peer-to-peer networking.  Users can use software that connects in to a peer-to-peer network to search for shared files on the computers of other users connected to the network. Files of interest can then be downloaded directly from other users on the network. The following are some of the P2P file sharing programs:

·      Shareaza   (http://www.shareaza.com/)

·      BitTorrent   (http://www.bittorrent.com/)

·      Ares   (http://aresgalaxy.sourceforge.net/)

·      BearShare   (http://www.bearshare.com/)

·      Kazaa   (http://www.kazaa.com/)

·      Limewire   (http://www.limewire.com/)

·      eMule   (http://www.emule.com/)

·      isoHunt   (http://isohunt.com/)

·      The Pirate Bay   (http://thepiratebay.sx/)

BitTorrent is one of the most successful programs. On the article BitTorrent effect, Clive Thompson writes, “Bit Torrent, one of the most successful peer-to-peer programs ever. BitTorrent lets users quickly upload and download enormous amounts of data, files that are hundreds or thousands of times bigger than a single MP3”.

People used P2P file sharing to share movies, music, digital books, PDF documents, and videos.