P2P

File sharing is the act of sharing files with other parties online. File types can include documents, media files, and electronic books. P2P file sharing is just an extension of that. P2P file sharing is file sharing that occurs over P2P networks. Members will join networks and have access to download certain files that other members over the network have. Downloads may become faster over some networks when more than one peer has the file. The success of P2P networks lies in the peers sharing the files they download from others, constantly improving the rate at which members afterwords can download files.

There are currently many P2P file sharing networks. One of the most popular is BitTorrent. BitTorrent was estimated to have as many active users as YouTube and FaceBook combined in 2009. BitTorrent allows for P2P file sharing of large files such as movies, through computer files known as torrents. These torrents contain metadata, or data about other data, on files and folders that are meant to be shared over P2P networks.

One very popular P2P networking file is movies. Although popular, it's illegal and very costly for the movie and entertainment industry. In an article called "Digital Pirates Winning Battle With Studios" in the New York Times, the authors describe just how costly P2P sharing of movies and show episodes can be. They use the example of series called Heroes. Each episode gets an estimated 10 million views. Through P2P sharing, viewers online view it 5 million times illegally.

Although very helpful, P2P can be dangerous and harmful as well.