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Investigation of the problems associated with P2P File-Sharing |
 By this time MP3 had become so popular that it was clearly starting to spread beyond the confines of an underground elite and into the gaping hands of a much wider public. It wasn’t long before the first websites, which were dedicated to giving ordinary surfers the ability to exchange music files between one another (P2P), were setup. Suddenly MP3 was everywhere. The Problem Unsurprisingly the popularity of this new standard, which had by now taken several years to reach such a level, was finally noticed by the powerful music industry. It wasn’t long before various groups from around the world began expressing concern, not least at the way that such services were allowing copyrighted (illegal) music to be exchanged for free. At first the various services tried to defend themselves, although it wasn’t long before legal action forced changes and ultimately closed many, but not all, systems down. Today the situation is much the same, with personal file-sharing having become so popular and cleverly defined that it’s now incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to stop. The advent of personal music (MP3 etc.) players and support for video (movies), as well as all kinds of software applications, has forced the situation into an even more complex battlefield. ISPs, governments and of course the music industry, have, at one time or another, all seen themselves dragged into the fray. Interestingly there’s nothing illegal about the practice of file-sharing itself, yet as has been stated above, the difficulty comes when such services are abused. Moreover, how do you detect such abuse without infringing on the legal rights of an individual to personal privacy? Not an easy task. The Broadband ‘Effect’ A recent study by the Nielsen//NetRatings
research group estimated that, between April 2002 and April 2003, UK
broadband Internet access grew by a staggering 235%. The same research
indicates that roughly 22% of the UK is now hooked up to some form of
broadband Internet access. [Print Page | Next Page (3)]>>
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