P2P File Sharing – Introduction

I hope you’re not going to find today’s article boring, because that’s the last thing I want. While some people really hate introductions, I think this is really necessary when talking about torrent downloads, legal issues, and the software that should help you enjoy downloading torrents instead of hating it. Before moving on, let me say only this – it’s not the tool that really matters, but how you’re using it. Keep that in mind, and let’s go!

Today’s article is the first in a series that will try to cover everything about torrents, peer-to-peer software/technology and a lot of connected things. We’ll have episodes about Windows, Linux and Mac P2P software, what’s legal and what’s not when it comes to file sharing, as well as various other topics.

Since this isn’t something I’ll start now and finish by the end of the week, it would be a pleasure to answer all your questions, and maybe even write about some interesting topics you will think about… just don’t forget to share your thoughts with the rest of us, because I can’t guess what you’re thinking about, all right?

Those who say Linux is something the world doesn’t really need should reconsider it, because the communication protocol known as BitTorrent is one of the most notorious file sharing protocol, and was born to help distribute various Linux versions. The fact that most of the BitTorrent traffic is warez, that’s a completely different story, but there’s one well hidden truth that most people ignore, and that is 100% legal torrents. If I think well, this will be the subject of the next episode in the series, and I hope you’ll find it a good way to start.

Since tech stuff is boring, just let me point out that some estimates claim that, back in 2004, 35% of all Internet traffic was peer-to-peer BitTorrent traffic, and now there’s a lot of pressure from the recording companies and movie labels to stop this “disease,” some more recent statistics raising that 35% to over 80%, and also claiming that over 95% of all data moved around by BitTorrent is copyrighted stuff, like movies, music, and commercial software. If you have any idea about such statistics, please drop a comment below, I would really like to see some new information about peer-to-peer traffic!

Anyway, that’s most of it for today – I don’t want to kill the subject about legal torrents, and I think that the very short version of all we discussed here is “There’s a way to download movies, games, and music for free, without breaking the law, and all you need is to be careful what and how you’re using to do it.” Details about legal/not legal, genuine peer-to-peer software/fakes, most notorious P2P programs and maybe even some guides for using them… in the near future. Stay close, so you won’t miss a thing!