P2P

File sharing is as the name implies, a way to transfer data digitally. This can be applied for the smallest files to the biggest. Whether you share the notes you took the other day in class, or a two hour documentary, you're participating in file sharing. P2P file sharing stands for person to person file sharing. The P2P implies that a user is sending the data to another user. Consider the difference between P2P file sharing and buying a song off of iTunes. When you buy a song from iTunes, you aren't interacting with anyone, you're just downloading a song. If you P2P file shared that same song, you, the uploader would send the file directly to the receiver.

An example of P2P file sharing is the open source project BitTorrent. According to The BitTorrent Effect, in April 2001 Bram Cohen quit his job and created BitTorrent. BitTorrent overcomes a problem with P2P file sharing: the bottle neck. ISPs will allow users to download files at high speeds but they only let them upload them at a fraction of the speed. This makes the sharing of large files tedious and slow. Bit torrent overcome this problem by breaking up the files into many small parts. This way a downloader (leech) can download many small parts from different uploaders (seeds). Since only small parts of the file are being uploaded from individual users, BitTorrent has effectively over come the bottle neck on P2P file sharing. BitTorrent has changed the way media and data can be distributed. Eliminating the need to have vast production and marketing resources.