P2P File Sharing

File sharing is the process whereby users share or distribute files that they may have including movies, documents, photos, or computer programs through a variety of different methods which include removable storage devices, the internet, or stored on a central mainframe. As noted by Chris Nuttall in a Financial Times article, with so many shows debuting at once its impossible for a person to watch all the shows, but file sharing allows users to catch up on missed shows thereby creating the ratings that producers expect.

P2P File Sharing is short for Peer-To-Peer File Sharing, which as the name suggests is the sharing of files from one person to another without the use of a centralized server. One of the first P2P technologies as noted in a conference paper titled "Online Piracy And The Emergence Of New Business Models" by David Y. Choi and Arturo Perez, was created by Shawn Fanning who introduced Napster, a software program that he created in his dorm room as a method to find music which allows users to copy files stored on someone else's hard drive through the internet. Napster was a huge success and spurred on other ventures by Apple which created what is not iTunes. P2P allows users to download large files at higher speeds than normal. One drawback is that P2P software tracks of how much a user downloads compared to how much he/she shares. A user must download and share at a 1:1 or higher ratio, or run the risk of having their download speed decreased.

Some examples of P2P file sharing include the use of torrents such as BitTorrent, which is one of the most successful P2P programs. These programs allows users to quickly upload and download large amounts of data. They provide a free and quick method of downloading movies which can take up to hours to download in just minutes. Another example of P2P file sharing is the internet in general which allows users to surf the web and search for a file that someone else has uploaded and then save it directly to their own computers.