File Sharing and its HistoryOnline file sharing, sometimes known as peer-to-peer (P2P), has had a controversial history from its beginnings. Although it could be argued that any form of transferring a computer file is in fact file sharing, the trend as it is commonly known began in the late 1990's.One of the first popular file sharing programs was called Napster, which was mainly used for sharing music files (such as .MP3s). Napster's original version was written by Shawn Fanning, around 1999. By the year 2000, Napster had gained popularity, and also legal attention as lawsuits were filed against it by recording artists Metallica, Dr. Dre and Madonna, over alleged copyright infringement through the sharing of their produced songs. Napster use reportedly peaked in February 2001 with a claimed 26.4 million worldwide userbase. Howeve, it had also been sued by A&M Records, and several other recording companies. Their claims were also over copyright infringement, covered under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (known as the DMCA). Napster was found guilty on three separate counts by the Ninth Circuit court. Napster had to shut down its service in July 2001, as it was unable to monitor network activity and block copyright-infringing material from being accessed, as the court had required. In 2002, Napster declared bankruptcy. The effects of the program however, had already been felt around the world, and Napster would turn out to be only the first of many large-scale file sharing networks. Other peer-to-peer file sharing programs and networks that have been in existence, some of which still are, include: Audiogalaxy, Direct Connect, Scour Exchange, Soulseek, TinyP2P, WinMX, BearShare, LimeWire, iMesh, Aimster (Madster) and Gnutella. In addition, there are now "one-click hosting" websites which will host image files, audio files, and other types of files and allow them to be downloaded by the original uploader or a third-party downloader. Some examples of these include: Box.net, FileFront, Mediafire, Megaupload, RapidShare, Sendspace and YouSendIt. Homemade Laundry Soap | Tuna Noodle Casserole | Mijiki Copyright © 2008-2010 Rapidshae.com |