Perhaps you've heard - peer to peer file sharing is inherently evil. Or so it would seem based upon recent coverage in the international media. What is this mysterious technology and why is everybody so up-in-arms about it?
File sharing on the internet is not new. It burst onto the scene in the late 90's through websites such as napster.com where users would share music files with one another over the internet. Needless to say, the music industry was not pleased that their copyrighted content could be distributed to such a massive audience without so much as a penny's worth of income into their ledger, so they brought lawsuits against the file sharing sites and eventually won. Napster (now owned by Best Buy) still exists, but solely as a way to purchase and download music files, not for file sharing. Napster worked by keeping track of which computers on the internet had what files. When you wanted a music file, napster would search the directory for the file and instruct your computer where to find/download it.
Today's peer-to-peer networks function largely the same way. Torrent sites, however, include a twist. The peer-to-peer network is not one-to-one. In other words. you don't download a file from a single "peer" computer on the internet. When you request a torrent download, your computer is made aware (by the torrent server) of many computers that have the file, or even just a part of the file that you want to download. Your computer (using a torrent client), then downloads several pieces of the file from many different locations and re-assembles them as a single file.
There are several problems with peer-to-peer file sharing. Most obvious is that it is used to distribute illegal content, such as movies or software. The illegal distribution of copyrighted content is what draws the most attention to P2P. Big companies with big money and big lawyers see the revenue slipping away as old business models struggle to keep up with new delivery mechanisms. If P2P file sharing is ever squashed, this will be the reason.
Secondly, it is very easy to unleash a malicious file, such as a virus, into "the wild". The one-to-many model of torrents allows malware to spread quickly, increasing it's reach exponentially as more users share an infected file. Apple's OSX was recently hit with a botnet thanks to P2P file sharing. Security professionals will tell you never to open an attachment or run a file from somebody you don't know. P2P file sharing violates that principle by it's very nature, since you don't know where any of your downloaded files originated.
Third, P2P file sharing creates network traffic. This is kind of a "duh" statement since everything you do on the internet results in network traffic. However, recently telecommunications companies have pointed to the use of P2P traffic as a primary reason for tiered pricing models being introduced. They claim that a very small percentage of P2P users hog up a large chunk of the available bandwidth, leaving the rest of the customer base to foot the bill. Their solution: charge higher amounts for the privelage of higher monthly usage. I'm not buying this one, personally. I might be pursuaded if my ISP actually came to me and told me that they were lowering my monthly bill becuase I'm not in that small percentage using a majority of the bandwidth, but that's not how it will work. No, I'll still be paying my same monthly amount but my monthly usage (which used to be unlimited) will be capped at a certain amount which I will be penalized for exceeding. But, it's all for my benefit. *exit soapbox*
For all of the bad press, there actually are some legitimate uses for P2P file sharing. How many of us have lost - or were never provided - our Windows XP install CD? I was in that boat. I had an HP that I bought in 2002 that did not come with an OS disk of any kind. After 6 years of use, I desperately wanted to re-load my OS to clean everything up and start from scratch. I even contacted HP and offered to buy the media (the license was attached to my case...all I needed was the disk!). They informed me that they were only provided a limited number of disks and since I purchased my computer so long ago I was not eligible to recieve one. Microsoft would not provide one; they want you to buy their new OS, instead. All the "proper channels" exhausted, I turned to torrents. Lo and behold, my CD was out there. I now have a clean, snappy, legal XP load thanks to this avenue.
How can you get your hands on that lost XP CD? First, proceed with caution due to the malware mentioned above. Second - seriously, don't be tempted to grab the one that says "hacked" or "keygen". It's illegal, but most of all it's wrong. Third, you need a torrent client. Bittorrent and uTorrent seem to be a couple of the most popular. Here's a nice guide for installing and configuring Bittorrent. Pay special attention to the section on setting up your firewall to allow Bittorrent traffic through. Once you've got your torrent client installed, you'll need to visit a torrent website, such as The Pirate Bay, My Bittorrent, or Sumo Torrent. There are many others, as well. Once you click on a torrent file to download, your torrent client software should launch and start downloading the file from several peers. Next, be patient. P2P takes awhile.
While P2P tends to find itself associated with pirates and bandwidth hogs, there is great potential for legitimate use of this technology. Be cautious, but not dismissive.
Got an idea for a topic? E-mail me at toptoad@techonadime.net.
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