Peer-to-peer file sharing is the distribution and sharing of digital media using peer-to-peer (P2P) networking technology. P2P file sharing allows users to access media files such as books, music, movies, and games using a P2P software program that searches for other connected computers on a P2P network to locate the desired content.^[1] The nodes (peers) of such networks are end-user computers and distribution servers (not required).

Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application. They are said to form a peer-to-peer network of nodes.

Peer-to-peer file sharing technology has evolved through several design stages from the early networks like Napster, which popularized the technology, to the later models like the BitTorrent protocol. Microsoft uses it for Update distribution (Windows 10) and online playing games (e.g. the mmorpgSkyforge^[2]) use it as their content distribution network for downloading large amounts of data without incurring the dramatic costs for bandwidth inherent when providing just a single source.

1. Traditional downloading of programs and application from a website has become outdated as well as there are not many website providing free softwares for download.The another medium for downloading and sharing of files is peer to peer file sharing Networks & Programs and it has grown to tremendous level with many networks having more then millions of users to share software’s, Music files.
2. Top 10 Best File Sharing Software for Peer to Peer File Sharing. There are dozens of P2P file sharing software to choose from, but it is essential to choose the best P2P file.

Several factors contributed to the widespread adoption and facilitation of peer-to-peer file sharing. These included increasing Internet bandwidth, the widespread digitization of physical media, and the increasing capabilities of residential personal computers. Users are able to transfer one or more files from one computer to another across the Internet through various file transfer systems and other file-sharing networks.^[1]

• 1History
• 2Economic impact
• 4Communities in P2P file sharing networks

History[edit]

Peer-to-peer file sharing became popular with the introduction of Napster, a file sharing application and a set of central servers that linked people who had files with those who requested files. The central index server indexed the users and their shared content. When someone searched for a file, the server searched all available copies of that file and presented them to the user. The files would be transferred directly between the two private computers. A limitation was that only music files could be shared.^[3] Because this process occurred on a central server, however, Napster was held liable for copyright infringement and shut down in July 2001. It later reopened as a pay service.^[4]

After Napster was shut down, the most popular peer-to-peer services were Gnutella and Kazaa. These services also allowed users to download files other than music, such as movies and games.^[3]

Technology evolution[edit]

Napster and eDonkey2000, which both used a central server-based model, may be classified as the first generation of P2P systems.^[5] These systems relied on the operation of the respective central servers, and thus were susceptible to centralized shutdown. The second generation of P2P file sharing encompasses networks like Kazaa, Gnutella and Gnutella2, which are able to operate without any central servers, eliminated the central vulnerability by connecting users remotely to each other.^[6]

The third generation of filesharing networks are the so-called darknets, including networks like Freenet, which provide user anonymity in addition to the independence from central servers.^[7]

The BitTorrent protocol represents a special case. In principle, it is a filesharing protocol of the first generation, relying on central servers called trackers to coordinate users. However, it does not form a network in the traditional sense. Instead new, separate networks of coordinating users are created for every set of files, called a torrent. Newer extensions of the protocol removes the need of centralized trackers, allow the usage of a decentralized server-independent network for source identification purposes, referred to as the Mainline DHT. This allows BitTorrent to encompass certain aspects of a filesharing network of the second generation as well. Users create an index file containing the metadata of the files they want to share, and upload the index files to websites where they are shared with others.

Peer-to-peer file sharing is also efficient in terms of cost.^[8][9] The system administration overhead is smaller because the user is the provider and usually the provider is the administrator as well. Hence each network can be monitored by the users themselves. At the same time, large servers sometimes require more storage and this increases the cost since the storage has to be rented or bought exclusively for a server. However, usually peer-to-peer file sharing does not require a dedicated server.^[10]

Economic impact[edit]

There is still ongoing discussion about the economic impact of P2P file sharing. Norbert Michel, a policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, said that because of 'econometric and data issues, studies thus far have produced disparate estimates of file sharing's impact on album sales.'^[11]

In the book The Wealth of Networks, Yochai Benkler states that peer-to-peer file sharing is economically efficient and that the users pay the full transaction cost and marginal cost of such sharing even if it 'throws a monkey wrench into the particular way in which our society has chosen to pay musicians and re-cording executives. This trades off efficiency for longer-term incentive effects for the recording industry. However, it is efficient within the normal meaning of the term in economics in a way that it would not have been had Jack and Jane used subsidized computers or network connections'.^[12]

As peer-to-peer file sharing can be used to exchange files for which the distribution right was granted (e.g. public domain, Creative Commons, Copyleft licenses, online games, updates, ...).

Especially startups can save massive amounts of money compared with other means of content delivery networks.

A calculation example:

with peer to peer file sharing: ${\displaystyle \text{total cost}=\frac{\text{filesize}}{\text{customers}}\times \text{cost-per-byte}}$

with casual content delivery networks: ${\displaystyle \text{total cost}=\text{filesize}\times \text{customers}\times \text{cost-per-byte}}$

Music industry[edit]

The economic effect of copyright infringement through peer-to-peer file sharing on music revenue has been controversial and difficult to determine. Unofficial studies found that file sharing had a negative impact on record sales.^{[13][14][15][16][17]} It has proven difficult to untangle the cause and effect relationships among a number of different trends, including an increase in legal online purchases of music; illegal file-sharing; drops in the prices of CDs; and the extinction of many independent music stores with a concomitant shift to sales by big-box retailers.^[18]

Also many independent artists choose a peer-to-peer file sharing method named BitTorrent Bundle for distribution.

Film industry[edit]

The MPAA reported that American studios lost $2.373 billion to Internet piracy in 2005, representing approximately one third of the total cost of film piracy in the United States.^[19] The MPAA's estimate was doubted by commentators since it was based on the assumption that one download was equivalent to one lost sale, and downloaders might not purchase the movie if illegal downloading was not an option.^[20][21][22] Due to the private nature of the study, the figures could not be publicly checked for methodology or validity,^[23][24][25] and on January 22, 2008, as the MPAA was lobbying for a bill which would compel universities to crack down on piracy, it was admitted by MPAA that its figures on piracy in colleges had been inflated by up to 300%.^[26][27]

A 2010 study, commissioned by the International Chamber of Commerce and conducted by independent Paris-based economics firm TERA, estimated that unlawful downloading of music, film and software cost Europe's creative industries several billion dollars in revenue each year.^[28] Furthermore, the TERA study entitled 'Building a Digital Economy: The Importance of Saving Jobs in the EU's Creative Industries' predicted losses due to piracy reaching as much as 1.2 million jobs and €240 billion in retail revenue by 2015 if the trend continued. Researchers applied a substitution rate of ten percent to the volume of copyright infringements per year. This rate corresponded to the number of units potentially traded if unlawful file sharing were eliminated and did not occur.^[29] Piracy rates of one-quarter or more^[vague] for popular software and operating systems have been common, even in countries and regions with strong intellectual property enforcement, such as the United States or the EU.^[30]

Public perception and usage[edit]

In 2004, an estimated 70 million people participated in online file sharing.^[31] According to a CBS News poll, nearly 70 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds thought file sharing was acceptable in some circumstances and 58 percent of all Americans who followed the file sharing issue considered it acceptable in at least some circumstances.^[32]

In January 2006, 32 million Americans over the age of 12 had downloaded at least one feature-length movie from the Internet, 80 percent of whom had done so exclusively over P2P. Of the population sampled, 60 percent felt that downloading copyrighted movies off the Internet did not constitute a very serious offense, however 78 percent believed taking a DVD from a store without paying for it constituted a very serious offense.^[33]

In July 2008, 20 percent of Europeans used file sharing networks to obtain music, while 10 percent used paid-for digital music services such as iTunes.^[34]

In February 2009, a Tiscali UK survey found that 75 percent of the English public polled were aware of what was legal and illegal in relation to file sharing, but there was a divide as to where they felt the legal burden should be placed: 49 percent of people believed P2P companies should be held responsible for illegal file sharing on their networks, 18 percent viewed individual file sharers as the culprits, while 18 percent either didn't know or chose not to answer.^[35]

According to an earlier poll, 75 percent of young voters in Sweden (18-20) supported file sharing when presented with the statement: 'I think it is OK to download files from the Net, even if it is illegal.' Of the respondents, 38 percent said they 'adamantly agreed' while 39 percent said they 'partly agreed'.^[36] An academic study among American and European college students found that users of file-sharing technologies were relatively anti-copyright and that copyright enforcement created backlash, hardening pro-file sharing beliefs among users of these technologies.^[37]

Communities in P2P file sharing networks[edit]

Communities have a prominent role in many peer to peer networks and applications, such as BitTorrent, Gnutella and DC++. There are different elements that contribute to the formation, development and the stability of these communities, which include interests, user attributes, cost reduction, user motivation and the dimension of the community.

Interest attributes[edit]

Peer communities are formed on the basis of common interests. For Khambatti, Ryu and Dasgupta common interests can be labelled as attributes 'which are used to determine the peer communities in which a particular peer can participate'.^[38] There are two ways in which these attributes can be classified: explicit and implicit attributes.

Implicit values means that peers provide information about themselves to a specific community, for example they may express their interest in a subject or their taste in music. With explicit values, users do not directly express information about themselves, albeit, it is still possible to find information about that specific user by uncovering his or her past queries and research carried out in a P2P network. Khambatti, Ryu and Dasgupta divide these interests further into three classes: personal, claimed and group attributes.^[38]

A full set of attributes (common interests) of a specific peer is defined as personal attributes, and is a collection of information a peer has about him or herself. Peers may decide not to disclose information about themselves to maintain their privacy and online security. It is for this reason that the authors specify that 'a subset of...attributes is explicitly claimed public by a peer', and they define such attributes as 'claimed attributes'.^[38] The third category of interests is group attributes, defined as 'location or affiliation oriented' and are needed to form a...basis for communities', an example being the 'domain name of an internet connection' which acts as an online location and group identifier for certain users.

Cost reduction[edit]

Cost reduction influences the sharing component of P2P communities. Users who share do so to attempt 'to reduce...costs' as made clear by Cunningham, Alexander and Adilov.^[39] In their work Peer-to-peer file sharing communities, they explain that 'the act of sharing is costly since any download from a sharer implies that the sharer is sacrificing bandwidth'.^[39] As sharing represents the basis of P2P communities, such as Napster, and without it 'the network collapses', users share despite its costs in order to attempt to lower their own costs, particularly those associated with searching, and with the congestion of internet servers.^[39]

User motivation and size of community[edit]

User motivation and the size of the P2P community contribute to its sustainability and activity. In her work Motivating Participation in Peer to Peer Communities, Vassileva studies these two aspects through an experiment carried out in the University of Saskatchewan (Canada), where a P2P application (COMUTELLA) was created and distributed among students. In her view, motivation is 'a crucial factor' in encouraging users to participate in an online P2P community, particularly because the 'lack of a critical mass of active users' in the form of a community will not allow for a P2P sharing to function properly.^[40]

Usefulness is a valued aspect by users when joining a P2P community. The specific P2P system must be perceived as 'useful' by the user and must be able to fulfil his or her needs and pursue his or her interests. Consequently, the 'size of the community of users defines the level of usefulness' and 'the value of the system determines the number of users'.^[40] This two way process is defined by Vassileva as a feedback loop, and has allowed for the birth of file-sharing systems like Napster and KaZaA. However, in her research Vassileva has also found that 'incentives are needed for the users in the beginning', particularly for motivating and getting users into the habit of staying online.^[40] This can be done, for example, by providing the system with a wide amount of resources or by having an experienced user provide assistance to a less experienced one.

User classification[edit]

Users participating in P2P systems can be classified in different ways. According to Vassileva, users can be classified depending on their participation in the P2P system. There are five types of users to be found: users who create services, users who allow services, users who facilitate search, users who allow communication, users who are uncooperative and free ride.^[40]

In the first instance, the user creates new resources or services and offers them to the community. In the second, the user provides the community with disk space 'to store files for downloads' or with 'computing resources' to facilitate a service provided by another users.^[40] In the third, the user provides a list of relationships to help other users find specific files or services. In the fourth, the user participates actively in the 'protocol of the network', contributing to keeping the network together. In the last situation, the user does not contribute to the network, downloads what he or she needs but goes immediately offline once the service is not needed anymore, thus free-riding on the network and community resources.^[40]

Tracking[edit]

Corporations continue to combat the use of the internet as a tool to illegally copy and share various files, especially that of copyrighted music. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has been active in leading campaigns against infringers. Lawsuits have been launched against individuals as well as programs such as Napster in order to 'protect' copyright owners.^[41] One of the most recent efforts of the RIAA has been to implant decoy users to monitor the use of copyrighted material from a firsthand perspective.^[42]

Risks[edit]

In early June 2002, Researcher Nathaniel Good at HP Labs demonstrated that user interface design issues could contribute to users inadvertently sharing personal and confidential information over P2P networks.^[43][44][45]

In 2003, Congressional hearings before the House Committee of Government Reform (Overexposed: The Threats to Privacy & Security on File Sharing Networks)^[46] and the Senate Judiciary Committee (The Dark Side of a Bright Idea: Could Personal and National Security Risks Compromise the Potential of P2P File-Sharing Networks?) ^[47] were convened to address and discuss the issue of inadvertent sharing on peer-to-peer networks and its consequences to consumer and national security.

Researchers have examined potential security risks including the release of personal information, bundled spyware, and viruses downloaded from the network.^[48][49] Some proprietary file sharing clients have been known to bundle malware, though open source programs typically have not. Some open source file sharing packages have even provided integrated anti-virus scanning.^[50]

Since approximately 2004 the threat of identity theft had become more prevalent, and in July 2008 there was another inadvertent revealing of vast amounts of personal information through P2P sites. The 'names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers of about 2,000 of (an investment) firm's clients' were exposed, 'including [those of] Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.'^[51] A drastic increase in inadvertent P2P file sharing of personal and sensitive information became evident in 2009 at the beginning of President Obama's administration when the blueprints to the helicopter Marine One were made available to the public through a breach in security via a P2P file sharing site. Access to this information has the potential of being detrimental to US security.^[51] Furthermore, shortly before this security breach, the Today show had reported that more than 150,000 tax returns, 25,800 student loan applications and 626,000 credit reports had been inadvertently made available through file sharing.^[51]

The United States government then attempted to make users more aware of the potential risks involved with P2P file sharing programs^[52] through legislation such as H.R. 1319, the Informed P2P User Act, in 2009.^[53] According to this act, it would be mandatory for individuals to be aware of the risks associated with peer-to-peer file sharing before purchasing software with informed consent of the user required prior to use of such programs. In addition, the act would allow users to block and remove P2P file sharing software from their computers at any time,^[54] with the Federal Trade Commission enforcing regulations. US-CERT also warns of the potential risks.^[55]

Nevertheless, in 2010, researchers discovered thousands of documents containing sensitive patient information on popular peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, including insurance details, personally identifying information, physician names and diagnosis codes on more than 28,000 individuals. Many of the documents contained sensitive patient communications, treatment data, medical diagnoses and psychiatric evaluations.^[56]

Copyright issues[edit]

The act of file sharing is not illegal per se and peer-to-peer networks are also used for legitimate purposes. The legal issues in file sharing involve violating the laws of copyrighted material. Most discussions about the legality of file sharing are implied to be about solely copyright material. Many countries have fair use exceptions that permit limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders. Such documents include commentary, news reporting, research and scholarship. Copyright laws are territorial- they do not extend beyond the territory of a specific state unless that state is a party to an international agreement. Most countries today are parties to at least one such agreement.

In the area of privacy, recent court rulings seem to indicate that there can be no expectation of privacy in data exposed over peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. In a 39-page ruling released November 8, 2013, US District Court Judge Christina Reiss denied the motion to suppress evidence gathered by authorities without a search warrant through an automated peer-to-peer search tool.^[57]

See also[edit]

• File sharing timeline (peer to peer and not)
• Friend-to-friend or F2F

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abCarmack, Carman (2005-03-26). 'How Bit Torrent Works'. computer.howstuffworks.com/.
2. ^'Heads up if you're installing Skyforge - The downloader is a P2P client and by default starts with Windows. • /r/MMORPG'. reddit. Retrieved 2016-03-03.
3. ^ ^abTyson, Jeff (2000-10-30). 'How the Old Napster Worked'. howstuffworks.com.
4. ^'Copyright and Peer-To-Peer Music File Sharing: The Napster Case and the Argument Against Legislative Reform'. murdoch.edu.au. March 2004.
5. ^Gong, Yiming. 'Identifying P2P users using traffic analysis'. Symantec. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
6. ^Watson, Stephanie (2005-02-10). 'How Kazaa Works'. computer.howstuffworks.com.
7. ^Peer-to-peer systems and applications. Steinmetz, Ralf., Wehrle, Klaus, 1972-. Berlin. ISBN9783540320470. OCLC262681429.CS1 maint: others (link)
8. ^Babaoglu, Ozalp (2012). 'Introduction to Peer-to-Peer Systems'(PDF). Complex Systems. Universitá di Bologna. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
9. ^http://ijcsits.org/papers/vol3no22013/1vol3no2.pdf
10. ^Winkelman, Dr. Roy. 'Software'. Florida Center for Instructional Technology College of Education, University of South Florida. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
11. ^J. Michel, Norbert. Internet File Sharing and The Evidence So far, heritage.org, August 23, 2004.
12. ^Yochai Benkler (2006). Wealth of Networks. Yale University Press. ISBN978-0300127232.
13. ^Alejandro Zentner, 'File Sharing and International Sales of Copyrighted Music: An Empirical Analysis with a Panel of Countries', The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, Vol. 5, Issue 1 (2005)
14. ^Liebowitz, Stan J. (2006). 'File Sharing: Creative Destruction or Just Plain Destruction?'. The Journal of Law & Economics. 49 (1): 1–28. CiteSeerX10.1.1.320.601. doi:10.1086/503518. ISSN1537-5285. JSTOR10.1086/503518.
15. ^Rob, Rafael; Waldfogel, Joel (2006). 'Piracy on the High C's: Music Downloading, Sales Displacement, and Social Welfare in a Sample of College Students'. The Journal of Law & Economics. 49 (1): 29–62. CiteSeerX10.1.1.505.4843. doi:10.1086/430809. ISSN1537-5285. JSTOR10.1086/430809.
16. ^Zentner, Alejandro (2006). 'Measuring the Effect of File Sharing on Music Purchases'. The Journal of Law & Economics. 49 (1): 63–90. CiteSeerX10.1.1.571.6264. doi:10.1086/501082. ISSN1537-5285. JSTOR10.1086/501082.
17. ^Stan J. Liebowitz in a series of papers (2005, 2006)
18. ^Smith, Ethan. March 21, 2007. 'Sales of Music, Long in Decline, Plunge Sharply: Rise in Downloading Fails to Boost Industry; A Retailing Shakeout', Wallstreet Journal Website
19. ^'SWEDISH AUTHORITIES SINK PIRATE BAY: Huge Worldwide Supplier of Illegal Movies Told No Safe Harbors for Facilitators of Piracy!'(PDF). MPAA. 2006-05-31.
20. ^Gross, Daniel (2004-11-21). 'Does a Free Download Equal a Lost Sale?'. The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
21. ^Oberholzer, Felix; Strumpf, Koleman (March 2004). 'The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales: An Empirical Analysis'(PDF). UNC Chapel Hill.Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
22. ^Schwartz, John (2004-04-05). 'A Heretical View of File Sharing'. The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
23. ^Fisher, Ken (2006-05-05). 'The problem with MPAA's shocking piracy numbers'. Ars Technica. Retrieved 2007-07-15.
24. ^'Movie Piracy Cost 6.1 Billion'. Torrent Freak. 2006-05-03. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
25. ^'Hollywood study examines costs of film piracy'. ZDNet (Reuters). 2006-05-03. Archived from the original on 2007-04-17. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
26. ^Anderson, Nate (2008-01-22). 'MPAA admits college piracy numbers grossly inflated'. Ars Technica.
27. ^Anderson, Nate (2008-01-15). '2008 shaping up to be 'Year of Filters' at colleges, ISPs'. Ars Technica.
28. ^Mundell, Ian. Piracy in Europe costs $13.7 billion, Variety. March 18, 2010.
29. ^Geoffron, Patrice. Building a Digital Economy, iccwbo.org, March 17, 2010.
30. ^Moisés Naím (2007). Illicit: How smugglers, traffickers and copycats are hijacking the global economy, p. 15. Arrow Books, London. ISBN1-4000-7884-9.
31. ^Delgado, Ray. Law professors examine ethical controversies of peer-to-peer file sharing. Stanford Report, March 17, 2004.
32. ^Poll: Young Say File Sharing OKCBS News, Bootie Cosgrove-Mather, 2003-09-18
33. ^Solutions Research Group - Movie File-Sharing Booming: StudyArchived 2012-02-17 at the Wayback Machine
34. ^17:41 GMT, Thursday, 3 July 2008 18:41 UK. Technology: 'Warning letters to 'file-sharers', BBC NEWS.
35. ^MarkJ - 24 February 2009 (1:46 PM). 'Tiscali UK Survey Reveals Illegal File Sharing Attitudes', ISPreview UK News.
36. ^TT/Adam Ewing. 8 Jun 06 09:54 CET. 'Young voters back file sharing', The Local.
37. ^Ben Depoorter et al. ' Copyright Backlash', Southern California Law Review, 2011.
38. ^ ^abcKhambatti, Mujtaba; Ryu, Kyung Dong; Partha, Dasgupta (7 September 2003). Structuring Peer-to-Peer Networks Using Interest-Based Communities. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. 2944. p. 48. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-24629-9_5. ISBN978-3-540-20968-3.
39. ^ ^abcCunningham, Brendan; Alexander, Peter; Adilov, Nodir (28 October 2003). 'Peer-to-peer file sharing communities'. Information Economics and Policy. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
40. ^ ^abcdefVassileva, Julita (January 2002). Motivating Participation in Peer to Peer Communities. Engineering Societies in the Agents World III. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. 2577. pp. 141–155. doi:10.1007/3-540-39173-8_11. ISBN978-3-540-14009-2.
41. ^'EBSCO Publishing Service Selection Page'. eds.a.ebscohost.com. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
42. ^Banerjee, Anirban; Faloutsos, Michalis; Bhuyan, Laxmi (2008-04-24). 'The P2P war: Someone is monitoring your activities'. Computer Networks. 52 (6): 1272–1280. CiteSeerX10.1.1.76.9451. doi:10.1016/j.comnet.2008.01.011.
43. ^Good, Nathaniel; Aaron Krekelberg (5 June 2002). 'Usability and privacy: a study of Kazaa P2P file- sharing'. HP Labs Tech Report. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
44. ^Good, Nathaniel; Aaron Krekelberg (2003). Usability and privacy: a study of Kazaa P2P file- sharing. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. pp. 137–144. doi:10.1145/642611.642636. ISBN978-1581136302.
45. ^Markoff, John (June 7, 2002). 'Security Hole Found in KaZaA File-Sharing Service'. New York Times. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
46. ^'Overexposed: The Threats to Privacy & Security on File Sharing Networks'(PDF).
47. ^'The Dark Side of a Bright Idea: Could Personal and National Security Risks Compromise the Potential of P2P File-Sharing Networks?'.
48. ^By M. Eric Johnson, Dan McGuire, Nicholas D. Willey The Evolution of the Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Industry and the Security Risks for Users
49. ^Håvard Vegge, Finn Michael Halvorsen and Rune Walsø Nergård (2009). 'Where Only Fools Dare to Tread: An Empirical Study on the Prevalence of Zero-day Malware'. 2009 Fourth International Conference on Internet Monitoring and Protection.Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
50. ^Open source file sharing software with integrated anti-virus scanning
51. ^ ^abcGreg Sandoval. April 21, 2009 10:41 AM PDT. 'Congress to probe P2P sites over 'inadvertent sharing', CNET News
52. ^'P2P File-Sharing Risks'. OnGuardOnLine.gov. 2011-09-24.
53. ^'Hearing on Barrow P2P Legislation Held on Tuesday'. Congressman John Barrow. May 2009.
54. ^'Text of H.R. 1319: Informed P2P User Act', GovTrack.us
55. ^'Risks of File-Sharing Technology'. US-CERT.
56. ^Jaikumar Vijayan. May 17, 2010 'P2P networks a treasure trove of leaked health care data, study finds', ComputerWorld
57. ^ComputerWorld.[1] ' Don't expect data on P2P networks to be private, judge rules'.

External links[edit]

Sharing files online isn’t that much easy as it should be, especially, if you have large files with size in GBs. Thankfully, we can use P2P (peer-to-peer) file sharing software to easily share files with anyone online of no matter what size. You can easily upload or download TBs of data without any restrictions.

P2P file sharing software can be quite handy, but at the same time, they also have some negative points. These p2p file sharing software also host illegal downloads so that it may lead to any action against you. Furthermore, these peer to peer file sharing software are also known to spread viruses and malware; you will have to be careful about downloading too.

Check out:Top 10 Best Malware Removal Tools for Windows

Contents

• The Pro Review From TechReviewPro

Top 10 Best File Sharing Software for Peer to Peer File Sharing

There are dozens of P2P file sharing software to choose from, but it is essential to choose the best P2P file sharing software that is safe and features rich. To help you find the best file sharing software for your needs, we have compiled a list of best file sharing software. You can just select the one that seems right for your needs.

1. uTorrent

Even after being acquired by BitTorrent.inc and becoming closed-sourced with ads, uTorrent is still the leader when it comes to P2P file sharing software. Although you need to subscribe for a premium membership to take full advantage of the client, even its free version offers all the required features to upload and download files without limitations.

It has an extremely light client with a very intuitive interface, and there are no limits on how much large files you can upload or download. You will have to bear ads with the free version, but you can opt for a paid version to remove ads and get more features like the virus scan, instant streaming, and file conversion.

Peer-to-peer Software Programs Are

2. Ares

Ares is a powerful open-source P2P file sharing software that is light and very feature rich. Like many advanced file sharing software, it offers fast downloading using more than one shared file. You can stream audio/video while download to preview them (a paid uTorrent feature), and also chat with other users who are sharing files online.

The software is also very good at managing your files with dedicated categories, like documents, videos, images, and music, etc. You are also able to sort your files according to type and change preferences according to your requirement. It will also scan the files to ensure they are free from any malware.

3. qBittorrent

qBittorrent is an open-source P2P file sharing software that is created to replace uTorrent for people who still want open-source software. qBittorent has an interface similar to uTorrent, and many of its features are adopted from uTorrent. It lets you easily share files of any size and also manage uploaded and downloaded files.

You will have full control over files being shared with the ability to prioritize files and set limiters. You can automatically download content, add filters, set up port forwarding and remotely control client. Extensions can also be added to increase functionality such as encryption, peer exchange, and Magnet URIs, etc.

4. Vuze

Vuze is another paid P2P file sharing software that offers loads of features has a free version with almost all the required features. It has two free versions, Leap (light) and Vuze (feature rich). Leap comes online with basic features like bundles, playback, and search, but it is very light on resources. Vuze offers all the advanced features such as torrent control, remote access, converter and plugin support.

The free version of Vuze should be more than enough for most users, but you can opt for Vuze+ if you want more features. With Vuze+ you can burn DVDs right from the client, stream media, remove ads and scan files for malware.

5. Deluge

Deluge is another open-source file sharing and downloading client that offers optimum protection to your files. Deluge comes with the built-in encryption system that will encrypt all the files being downloaded and uploaded, offering complete protection to your files. The client itself can be protected with a password to ensure no one could access your data.

You can share files privately, and its built-in encryption compliments private file sharing. It gives full control over files with the ability to set speed limiters for individual files. Some of its other features are, Web UI, Local Peer Discovery, proxy, bandwidth scheduler, Mainline DHT and plugin support.

6. BitComit

Another completely free P2P file sharing software with tons of advanced features. It has a really simple interface, making it perfect for people with less tech knowledge. However, behind its simple interface, it hides tons of advanced features that would be loved many users.

It speeds up downloads to up five times by separately downloading different parts of the file. The files can also be streamed while downloading to preview them, and it also automatically renames the files. Its other features include Magnet URI, DHT network, Cross Protocol, Share torrents, speed limiter, and RSS tracking.

7. GigaTribe

With GigaTribe you don’t upload the file like with other P2P file sharing software; instead, you share files to view, and the receiver can choose which files to download. It is a private file sharing system where you can share files with up to 500 people for free.

You will just create a username and invite people to your room where you have shared all your files. Other users can see the files in real-time, and then they can select which files to download without any limitations. You will have to be online to let other users download your files. You can also chat with other people while sharing files.

Peer To Peer File Share

8. Sharest

Sharest is a P2P file sharing software that offers advanced features of standard torrent clients but focuses most on file sharing. It comes with “Share with friends” option to share files directly with friends. It has many advanced security features to protect your files from malware and viruses and also protect your connection with other users.

Its other features include proxy support, BitTorrent integration, faster speed, control of shared data, firewall to firewall transfer and much more.

9. File Transfer

File Transfer is a simple software that is only capable of creating a secure connection between two computers to share files of any size. It uses a direct P2P connection and requires a little bit of configuration before making a connection.

Peer To Peer Software Programs Are

The connection is encrypted, and the transfer speed is enhanced with NAT traversal protocol. The connection is stable, and even if one party goes offline, the transfer will start from the same point where it was left.

10. Tixati

Tixati is a simple yet powerful P2P file sharing client that uses advanced methods to share files within a simple interface. It has a very light client, but it is still capable of downloading files at high speed and encrypts both outgoing and incoming connections.

It also holds other advanced features, such as Magnet URI, peer management, bandwidth management, NAT, RSS, IP filtering, and download scheduling.

Peer-to-peer Software Programs

Also Read: 11 Best Online PDF to Word Converters & Word to PDF Converters

The Pro Review From TechReviewPro

Sharing your data with other people is a common task and not always you will be able to use Flash storage device to share data. If you are looking to share large data online, then the above mentioned P2P data sharing software will help you easily share files online.

Most of these p2p file software will let you download both legal and illegal content, so be very careful about what you download. Furthermore, there is also a chance of malware distribution via these p2p file sharing software, so it is best to check all the files with your PCs antivirus program to ensure they are safe.

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