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Questions & Answers
Dean Hendrix, senior assistant librarian for the Health Sciences Library, leads workshops on the topic of peer-to-peer file sharing for the Teaching and Learning Center.
What exactly is peer-to-peer file sharing?
Formally, peer-to-peer technologies (P2P) are defined as applications that directly connect any two computers over the Internet—or any other network—without the use of a third-party server. The most famous—or infamous—use of P2P’s distributed architecture is file sharing, which is defined as the act of providing digital content for download via a network where all computers, or “peers,” function as both servers and clients simultaneously. Peers on a P2P file sharing network request, upload and download specific files from other peers directly. Text files, images, software, video games, audio files and video files are easily and quickly exchanged via P2P systems.
What is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act?
The DMCA, passed in 1998, is an extension of United States copyright law that serves to protect copyrighted materials in the digital age. Without getting too specific, the DMCA (1) criminalizes the use and sale of access-control technologies (a.k.a. digital-rights management or DRM) circumvention technologies, (2) limits the liability of Internet service providers (ISPs) and universities for acts of infringement carried out by users on their networks and (3) provides limited exemptions to libraries and educational institutions in regards to circumvention provisions. Critics argue that the DMCA cedes an extraordinary amount of control to copyright owners as the expense of the public, upsetting the delicate balance previously arranged in the Copyright Act. Opponents cite innovation and previously held rights, such as fair use, the right of first sale, the right to format shift and the right to create digital backups, as casualties of the DMCA.
Is there any danger in file sharing?
Yes, in file-sharing environments, P2P security issues are of utmost concern to network administrators for a variety of reasons. First off, ports, usually controlled in a traditional hierarchical server-client environment, remain open in P2P architectures. Communicating freely, peers bypass all network controls, including anti-virus software and institutional permissions. Secondly, with these networks spread across continents and countless organizations, no ultimate authority exists to manage all peers. Adding to this already precarious communication arrangement, the security of a P2P network is only as secure as the most insecure machine on the network. P2P programmers make their protocols virtually undetectable, so tracking the origins of malicious code or a trespasser on a P2P network is increasingly difficult. Users often do not know the real content of files downloaded to their computers. The file might be titled as a Willie Nelson song, but in reality, may be malware capable of logging a peer’s Internet usage, which can include passwords, credit card numbers and other personal information; spawning pop-up advertisement; delivering spam; redirecting browsers to undesirable sites; or disabling personal and institutional computers. Furthermore, several P2P clients contain spyware, programs that secretly install and embed themselves into several different locations in a hard drive, making them very difficult to remove. In some cases, naive P2P users unwittingly allow other users to access their hard drive, private files and personal information. These vulnerabilities and anarchical conditions provide hackers and malware easy opportunities to compromise network resources.
Most people seem to use P2P to download music and videos. Are there applications for the technology in higher education?
Absolutely. Sharing ideas, resources and information has always been an integral part of academia, and P2P’s content distribution capabilities holds enormous potential for innovation, communication and collaboration. For example, LionShare, a Pennsylvania State University initiative, leverages P2P to allow academics to legally share their course materials, research data, images, videos, Web pages, and other files with other academics and students in a secure environment. Another innovative use is the LOCKSS ("Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe") Project hosted by Stanford University Libraries, which uses a P2P backbone to amass, review, repair and distribute already purchased e-journal content among participating peer institutions. Possibly the most famous, SETI@home, a P2P project hosted by the University of California-Berkeley, leverages a P2P network to gather participants’ unused computing resources to create a supercomputer that examines radio signals from the far reaches of the universe in their quest to find signals from intelligent extraterrestrial life. The SETI@home model has been used by universities for a variety of computationally intensive projects.
Say my daughter uses Limewire to download songs from the Internet to her iPod. Is this sharing or stealing? What are the arguments on both sides of the issue?
From a strict legal perspective, United States code would classify downloading copyrighted content without copyright holders’ permission as theft. However, we all have our own personal ethos, intent and unique situation, so cases can be made for both labels by reasonable people. Besides the obvious arguments that it is ethically wrong to steal and that legal relativism has no place in the United States, those who believe P2P file-sharing is stealing cite the decimation of the creative economy and the accompanying consequences:
Artists are not compensated for their creative output
Countless jobs are lost, such as behind-the-scenes workers in music and movies
Businesses, like record stores and theaters, are shut down or go bankrupt
Consumers have less choice because major labels and movie studios have less money to invest in riskier projects
Copyright holders argue that their pay services (iTunes) offer the same content, ease of use and sense of community without the guilt. On the flipside, pro-P2P file-sharing advocates argue that the digital age requires everyone—government, businesses, academia and citizens—to radically rethink copyright. Regardless of copyright law or personal ethics, P2P content distribution is here to stay. For every encryption algorithm or digital watermarking technology, there are hundreds of people who will unlock it. Once information is “set free,” it will be shared, as sharing is inherent to the human condition. Some file sharers feel P2P file sharing is a more reasonable alternative to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America’s (MPAA) business models that incorporate the loss of consumer rights, loss of computing privacy and restrictions on innovation. For example, P2P file sharers cite that the right of first sale, which states that copyright holder's rights to control the distribution of a particular copy end once that copy is sold to the consumer, has been ripped away from consumers. Another pro-P2P file-sharing rationale states that entertainment companies have inflated their costs for years, and consumers who have bought a myriad of formats—LPs, eight-track, cassettes, CDs, DVDs—in the past deserve to format shift prior purchases. Some espouse the notion that P2P distribution networks level the playing field for all artists. An unknown band from Buffalo has the same distribution power as Michael Jackson on a P2P network.
What effect, if any, has the Supreme Court decision in MGM Studios v. Grokster had on P2P file sharing?
Despite winning a favorable judgment in the MGM v. Grokster case and filing 15,000 lawsuits against their customers and lobbying at the highest levels of government and threatening educational institutions and television advertising campaigns, the RIAA and MPAA have seen the use of P2P file-sharing sites grow robustly in the past two years. Coupled with the recent ascendancy of Web 2.0 applications—social networking, IM, video sharing—the RIAA and MPAA fight has become Sisyphean. Some trends that I’ve noticed since the case are the emerging prominence of P2P companies operating internationally, the emergence of open source P2P and darknets—exclusive P2P networks—and the use of IM for file sharing.