UWIC DFIM - Nick Gerrard

CCS - P2P networks

Peer to Peer Software

A peer to peer network allows the sharing of data files between internet users on an equal basis. There is no centralized server distributing information to client machines, instead all the users form nodes on the network and effectively contribute their own bandwidth and processing speed to the network and act as both clients and servers in their own right. With P2P networks the speed of downloads actually increases as more users connect themselves, a reverse of what would happen with the Client/Server Model. The foremost examples of peer to peer networks are also the most controversial and almost solely involve the illegal transferring of copyrighted music and video files. One of the largest of these and a good example of an ‘unstructured’ network where connections between nodes are created arbitrarily is Gnutella (www.Gnutella.com). The downside for users of Gnutella and other unstructured networks such as www.KaZaa.com is that they often have relatively poor search facilities and there is no guarantee that a user will be able to locate any given file on the network because there is little correlation between a peer and the content they manage. Structured P2P networks resolve this issue with a Global Protocol that assigns responsibility for a distinct zone of the overall network to certain peers and directing searches more efficiently straight to them. Good examples of these ‘next generation’ networks include the MIT developed Tapestry and Chimera models (http://p2p.cs.ucsb.edu/chimera/html/home.html). These P2P networks and the emergence of electronic data files like MP3s capable of storing high quality audio and video at relatively small file sizes has led to an unprecedented level of copyright violations involving millions of users across continents. People can more easily obtain and share content then ever despite premonitions of doom and numerous legal challenges (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Corp._of_America_v._Universal_City_Studios%2C_Inc.) from the recording companies. Although actual figures on the financial impact P2P software is actually having on sales of music in traditional form are hard to substantiate, what is certain is that the panic this huge wave of file sharing has caused is changing the way we expect music and films to be distributed. A good example of this trend is the site http://www.napster.com/ which began life as a flagrantly copyright breaching entity, closed down after a court injunction ruled that it had to act to prevent illegal file sharing. In due course Napster re-emerged as a market leader in the legal sale of MP3s and all the major recording studios now make their records available in electronic format for sale on the internet. The proliferation of home computers and I-pods means that people no longer expect or desire to physically own a CD to be able to play a piece of music and they certainly don’t want to pay £3 for a CD single when they can buy the same track for 99p from http://www.apple.com/itunes/store/ or accept the negligible legal consequences of free, illegal downloads.

I’m primarily interested in the P2P file sharing issue as an episode of mass lawbreaking on a scale that made singling out individual perpetrators essentially worthless. The file sharing software enabled a mass revolt against what was seen as an overpriced and awkward system of buying music and shook huge multinational companies to the core. In an age when we increasingly feel concern at the power that these big businesses seek to exert on us it is heartening to be reminded that people power is still a powerful force. Soon P2P networks will be impenetrable to legal investigators and those who still believe legal music to be overpriced can continue their protest. P2P networks probably won’t form part of my final project but I will remain interested to see how the music industry will react now Pandora’s Box is well and truly opened.

posted by nick_gerrard @ 9:07 AM