BLOG: P2P

 File sharing is exactly what its words suggest, the sharing of computer files. File sharing occurs between people by one person create a file of some sort and then sharing it with his/her friend or family by either attaching it as an email, posting the files on a website that has a download link, sharing the file visibly as in a picture through a website, and so on so forth. This is the less controversial way of sharing files because you are sharing with someone you know and more than likely you are not sharing it to many different users. You could be sharing legal or illegal material, but on the other hand it is to a very limited amount of users. 

 P2P file sharing is the technological innovation of sharing files of any type (.mp3,.avi,.docx...etc) amongst users on the internet. Anyone can share their files by using a torrent software and a website that supports it such as btjunkie.org. Then anyone who accesses the website and comes upon the link to the file can download it and during the download this person will be uploading it to other users, which allows for a faster download time. This in contrast to the old days file sharing is the sharing of legal or illegal material to a wide range of practically limitless amount of users.

Some examples of P2P file sharing are dvd movies, music, textbooks, software, and the list is only limited to all the types of files out there. This leads to the legal aspect of P2P filesharing, which according to $1.5 Million Fine for Downloading 24 Songs http://baruchnewmedia.com/w/images/3/35/IllegalMusic.pdf may lead to an exorbitant amount of fine. However in the case aforementioned, the defendant was given three opportunities to have a significantly reduced fine in comparison to the $1.5 million fine. The point of the case though is that there are severe penalties associated with illegal P2P file sharing.