Sunday, April 20, 2014
P2P File
Sharing
In the
digitalized world that we live in, file sharing deals with sharing the digital
information with people inside or outside a network. The shared information
could be in any form such as books, movies, documentaries, entertainment shows,
presentations and on a sophisticated level the software programs. It could be
either a public source of data or through other private sources that facilitate
in sharing the information with users who have different privileges for sharing
the information.
There are
certain websites that are completely free and one can upload as much as data as
possible but the security and quality of the information is not monitored by
the service providers that can put one’s system on risk of getting affected by
a malware when visiting or sharing information on such websites.
Other than
websites, file sharing could be done through installations of servers on
networks. On a network there is a centralized server where the information is
available for concerned people customized for fulfilling the needs of a
particular organization. In this way, the hassle of going to each person
individually to get the required information is pretty much avoided. As the
documents of common interest can readily be accessed from server, therefore,
one just needs the access rights to get to a particular file and view or edit
it online or download it for later use.
The term P2P is
an abbreviation for ‘peer-to-peer’. A peer-to-peer network allows the file
sharing between computers without the need of installing the special servers
that could be afforded only by large organizations. Whereas P2P networking
benefits the individuals who have limited resources and need to share the data
through their computers.
The P2P acronym
is used as an alternative for people-to-people. Taking any meaning from the P2P,
it provides usefulness to individuals who otherwise are restricted to use
web-based file sharing alone. P2P is becoming famous. Its users are expanding
and more and more P2P technologies are coming on the surface. Popular examples
of P2P technology are Morpheus, 4shared, uTorrent and Kazaa. These technologies
are quite helpful in assisting the P2P client applications in uploading and
downloading files over the networks that are customized for P2P technologies.
Other than these small websites, Microsoft also provides peer-to-peer
technology that was first introduced in Microsoft service pack one with the
name of ‘Microsoft Peer-to-Peer Networking’.
In promoting the
open-source software, P2P had a significant role to play. Using this technology
people are able to share their information with others. People team with one
another to keep on working the open-source software codes. Thus developing the
software and providing businesses an opportunity to grow using the free-ware.
When P2P networking starts engaging the public, it is also termed as social
networking.
The biggest
limitation on P2P file sharing is that it becomes unavoidable to get somebody’s
hand on a copy right material. Later on, that person further spreads the
information without giving a benefit to the original idea developer. It results
in violation of copy right law because of which file sharers and downloaders
are vulnerable to commit a crime. Every P2P technology provider put the lines
in their terms of service and gets a confirmation from their users about using
the technology for uploading material that doesn’t violate copy right laws (CIO14) . But in a world
turned into a global village because of hyper connectivity of internet, seldom
is the case when a user reads those terms and conditions let alone using the P2P
networking service as per instructions.
References
Peers Find Less Pressure
Borrowing From Each Other May 10, 2013 http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/05/10/182651552/peers-find-less-pressure-borrowing-from-each-other
File sharing joins the mainstream
by CHRIS NUTTALL. Financial Times. Oct 17, 2007. p. 2.
http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto101720070502178864
P2P [Online] / auth. Mitchell Bradley //
About.com. - 6 4 2014. -
http://compnetworking.about.com/od/p2ppeertopeer/g/bldef_p2p.htm.
