P2P File Sharing

With the widespread availability of the internet, the possibilities can be endless.  One thing that that the internet has brought about is file sharing.  File sharing is simply the distribution of digital information through web links, servers, other individuals (peers), and etc.  Examples of what are commonly shared are music, videos, games, computer programs, e-books, documents, and others as such.  A type of file sharing is P2P File Sharing or Peer-to-Peer File Sharing in which users/individuals have the ability to download/pirate copyrighted content through a P2P network such as Napster, RapidShare, and BitTorrent.  Probably the most relatable examples that we are all familiar with (and may have been guilty of ourselves) are the pirating of music, movies, and for us students online textbooks.  Although, we may see it as harmless and something of the norm, it actually hurts their respective industries as shown in Eric Pfanner's article, "Should Online Scofflaws Be Denied Web Access?", "the growing problem of piracy accounts for the loss of $20 billion a year in sales".  Even though we download a few songs and movies here and there on sites like BitTorrent or RapidShare or stream pirated movies, it deeply affects the owners of the material and especially the related company and industry by costing them billions in losses and what could have been sales.  In Brian Stelter's article, "Digital Pirates Winning Battle With Studios", when Warner Brothers tried to prevent the pirating of their highly rated movie "The Dark Knight", they failed and was not able to stop people from downloading it over 7 million times.  No matter how much effort or money they put into trying to stop the sharing of illegal content, they are simply unable to because of the fact that so many people are doing it and it is impossible to track down every single one of them who is downloading the movie or watching it illegally.  In fact, the article even quotes "Young people, in particular, conclude that if it's so easy, it can't be wrong".  Now the explanation provided can be debatable, but the quote is right when it indicates that it is easy.  These sites nowadays easily allow for the download or streaming of content with a click of a button.  Not only that, but they can be easily found, especially when others share links to it.  For instance, on YouTube, when you search a full movie, there are many videos that tell about how YouTube removed the content and to follow the link in the description box to watch in its entirety.  As can be noted, P2P File Sharing (and file sharing in general) has become a great tool for us consumers, however, the easy availability of it has led to increased piracy and left companies and industries at annual losses.