Contents |
According to Castells (2000), there are three defining characteristics of the new economy that we are experiencing. It is informational, it is global and most importantly, it is networked. The significance of new media technologies is central to Castells’ (2000) concept of a networked society and the development of peer-to-peer (P2P) technology has had a profound effect on the decentralization and distribution of information. Basically P2P technologies are “electronic file swapping systems that allow users to share files, computing capabilities, networks, bandwidth and storage� (Supply & Demand Chain Executive 2004). The development of P2P software has enabled individuals to access vast amounts of data with relative ease because it provides content from a myriad of sources rather than just one and has thus altered the way that computer networks are structured.
The way that traditional uses of the internet have operated can be likened to the way that one uses a library. The information or data is searched for, found and then obtained. The way in which P2P systems work can be comparable to using several libraries simultaneously. The key difference is the way that the information is obtained. Before the popularity of P2P networks the use of a singular central storage facility or server had to be implemented in order to download information. Some of these servers stored sizeable sums of data but depending on the popularity of the site, the speed at which this data could be transferred was restricted by the bandwidth of the server. With P2P networks, individual computers have access to information made available on other individual computers. The number of computers that can be accessed at any one time can be in the millions if certain applications, like Kazaa, are chosen, therefore the amount of information that is available is substantially greater than any single server could possibly provide. Furthermore, because the data being transferred is coming from several sources at the same time if something happens to one computer other computers on that network aren’t affected. If a central server crashes, anyone connected would lose the data they were downloading.
Early P2P systems were established in the 1980s for vastly different reasons and applications than seen in today’s new media. Although in the late 1960's the internet itself was originally designed with P2P connectivity in mind, the first P2P applications as we know them were implemented roughly two decades ago (Internet Society 2004). They are often not recognised as pioneers in this field because for the most part they were designed for different purposes, mostly as communication devices, rather than the current more widespread use of multimedia downloading. Despite the benefits of managing centralised software, the emergence of successful systems with numerous available, interconnected peers developed. Two decentralised networks of peers, USENET and FidoNet, are credited with beginning the technology of P2P networks.
USENET began in 1979 and is a distributed application that provides newsgroups. USENET’s technology involved files being exchanged in batch over telephone lines. The impracticality of data tranfer over a primitive underdeveloped internet resulted in a decentralised application - a feature that is retained by P2P technology to this day. FidoNet is similar to USENET in so far as they are both decentralised, distributed applications for exchanging messages. However, FidoNet focused on exchanging messages between users of different BBS systems (Sunstead 2001).
These early applications faced similar problems to current P2P technology. Scalability was and remains an issue, and there have been numerous security and copyrighting obstacles for current companies to overcome. Despite this, P2P programming has evolved into complex systems where online global communities can access movies, music, games and other digital content. In addition to its communicative and speed networking advantages, P2P is also commonly used in the business environment because of its ability to effectively link internal company software.
Arguably the most infamous and controversial piece of software to date, Napster, was a file sharing program that spawned from the mind of Shawn Fanning. An American college student who was frustrated by broken download links and slow download speeds, Fanning dropped out of college to dedicate all his time to creating a client/server model that would catalogue many internet users’ digitised multimedia collections and allow them to be shared across the world. Napster was an incredible success that grew rapidly to boast over 25 million users in its first year of operation (Alderman 2001). Little did Fanning know that his creation would spark a huge revolution that would lead to the development of several thousand P2P programs in the following years.
Napster was a classic example of a "Hybrid P2P file-sharing" (Graham 2001). It operated off central servers that catalogued all registered members' multimedia collections. This meant that if a Napster server went offline (which they often did, due to Napster’s unforeseen success), then thousands of users would have their actively downloading files terminated. Shortly after Napster’s demise, birth was given to more advanced and sophisticated P2P programs, many of which employed a "Pure P2P file-sharing" Graham 2001) model.
Among the first of the "Pure P2P" models was GNUtella, a decentralised network that allowed direct peer to peer transfer without the control of a central server or directory. This means that "there's no single point in the continuum that you can force to shut down, if you take half of the computers that use GNUtella off the system, the other half will still work just fine." (Martin 2001)
An initiative of Nullsoft, a predominant software development company, GNUtella was designed to overcome the scalability and security issues that Napster and other P2P systems once faced. Unfortunately, GNUtella came at time when the P2P community was overwhelmed with copyright and licensing lawsuits, so it was unable to grow out of its embryonic stages and GNUtella the P2P software became redundant. However, GNUtella the P2P network protocol became popular and widely used through the development of programs such as Morpheus and BearShare – P2P software that connected to the GNUtella network. Morpheus and BearShare both sported advanced features and easy-to-use interfaces. The popularity of these software packages was clearly evident in the speed at which they gained vast user groups.
Around the same time, new file-sharing networks such as FastTrack and OpenNap began to appear. These new networks were relatively similar to GNUtella in design and operation, but not Open Source like GNUtella. FastTrack was chosen as the network to support a new P2P program called Kazaa. Kazaa was developed by the Australian software company Sharman Networks, a company that possessed the financial backing and marketing skills to turn the P2P community and many new users to Kazaa. Kazaa rapidly became the average P2P user’s program of choice and statistics indicate that Kazaa is the most popular P2P file-sharing program ever.
Also see Napster, Gnutella, Bearshare, Morpheus and Kazaa.
The reality of P2P file-sharing has been viewed with a fair amount of notoriety due to multimedia distribution through programs like Napster and Kazaa, but in fact various other new functions are regularly found for P2P technologies.
The success of multimedia sharing via P2P can be partly contributed to the digitisation of multimedia. This process evolved over several years and provided a means for vinyl albums, cassette tapes, CDs, videos and eventually DVDs to be sampled into a digital, compressed format that allowed them to be shared easily over the internet. Despite copyright issues and licensing laws, the availability of these files that people once had to pay for, triggered a craze that swept the internet and rocked the recording and film and television industries. P2P file-sharing became popular almost instantly even though its uses were at times considered unethical, illegal and immoral.
While multimedia file-sharing was becoming increasingly popular, internet users began to find new uses for P2P. Soon full versions of computer games and software programs began to appear and eventually everything from technical user manuals to best selling novels were spread across the networks everyday. Piracy became, somewhat unfairly, synonymous with P2P because although the legitimacy of P2P file-sharing networks are constantly being called into question because of their unavoidable association with the legal implications surrounding the sharing of multimedia content, the use of the technology has much broader, often disregarded, applications. (See publishing and open source)
In recent years, pioneering software companies have come to realise the potential that P2P technology has outside of a multimedia file sharing capacity and have begun to foster the development of P2P applications that support Business-to-Business (B2B), marketing and even eLearning activities.
Taking into account the many legal, social and economical ramifications of P2P filesharing, it is difficult to predict the future of this new media technology. “Companies will have to expend significant resources to protect themselves against lawsuits. There will always be illegal file-sharing and copyright infringement, but these will be at the periphery. Any one system that gets too large will presumably suffer the same fate as Napster, unless it is so decentralised and anarchic that no one can be held accountable. A lot depends on the legislation drawn up by governments in response to P2P. Whether the burden of preventing copyright infringement falls on the developers of P2P systems, or the users, will be vital� (Brosnan et al 2002).
As P2P networks grow in popularity the importance of multimedia intermediaries, such as distributors, are greatly diminished. Flew (2002 p.107) describes this process as disintermediation and argues that “new technologies of media content distribution arising from digitisation, convergence, and networking could eliminate the gatekeeper role played by distributors and other intermediaries.� This process is particularly relevant in the music industry where record companies, aware of the inevitability of a more direct relationship between content creators and content consumers (Flew 2002 pp.106-110), are claiming that P2P software companies are infringing upon copyright laws by providing the means with which to circulate copyright protected material. The legality of P2P software has in recent years come into question with differing outcomes all around the world. (See legal issues – USA, Canada and Australia)
While there is quite clearly a conflict of interest between multimedia intermediaries and P2P file-sharing networks, the positions that artists have taken are varied. Metallica famously argued that the free distribution of their music through the now defunct file-sharing program Napster was a violation of their intellectual property rights. (See artist’s opinions – negative) With the outcome of this case resulting in the dismantling of Napster it appeared as though a precedent had been set for file-sharing networks to provide a legal alternative for downloading copyright protected material. However, the development of P2P networks ensured that another round of complex legal battles would ensue with some artists surprisingly arguing that the only greater tragedy than having their work being distributed without consent would be having their work completely ignored. (See artist’s opinions – positive)
There are many proposed systems of music file-sharing that hope to prevent freeloading by users off networks. For example, MojoNation offers a digital marketplace where consumers who contribute are rewarded with ‘mojo’ and consuming resources uses up ‘mojo', essentially creating an atmosphere of giving and receiving. Other companies are attempting to introduce “legal� downloading, such as Apple’s iTunes system of music downloads which requires the user to pay a small fee for each file downloaded. By comparison Puretunes will require its users to pay for the period of time that they wish to download, much like the way a subscription works. (See alternatives to file-sharing)
It has been predicted that businesses will continue to use P2P as an inexpensive way to store and share files internally. As the technology is refined, it is expected that P2P will also expand from personal computers to PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) and Internet-enabled phones.
One of the greatest concerns with the enforcement of heavy regulation policies on P2P related products is the possible suppression of technological advancement (Bray 2004). Because P2P isn’t just a means to distribute multimedia content but more importantly is a means to distribute information, technological developments, particularly concerning computers and the internet, would be severely hampered by endless legal proceedings.
There is also industry concerns about future technological developments being cornered into a Microsoft monopoly. P2P networking encourages the collaboration of ideas and has resulted in the evolution of alternative software packages and operating systems to what the multi-million dollar corporation offers. To this end, P2P technology is responsible not only for the decentralisation of information sources but also the decentralisation of power, and thus has a significant role to play in society also for now and in the future.
Alderman, J. (2001) Sonic Boom: Napster, MP3 and the New Pioneers of Music, Colorado: Perseus Publishing
Bray, H. (2004, June 28) "For Geeks It’s a Big Misunderstanding", Boston Globe, retrieved August 11, 2004 from http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?RQT=309&VInst=PROD&VName=PQD&VType=PQD&Fmt=3&did=000000656086411&clientId=14394
Brosnan, A., Maitrat T., Colhoun A. and MacArdle B. (2002) "Peer to Peer Networks - Historical Development", retrieved September 4, 2004, from http://ntrg.cs.tcd.ie/undergrad/4ba2.02-03/p1.html
Castells, M. (2000) "Materials for an Exploratory Theory of the Networked Society", in J. Hartley & R. E. Pearsons (eds.) American Cultural Studies: A Reader, Oxford: Oxford UP.
Flew, T. (2002) New Media: An introduction, Oxford: Oxford UP.
Graham, R. (2001) "2001 International Conference on Peer-to-Peer Computing (P2P2001)", retrieved September 4, 2004, from http://www.ida.liu.se/conferences/p2p/p2p2001/p2pwhatis.html
Internet Society (2004) "All About the Internet: History of the Internet," retrieved September 5, 2004, from http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/cerf.shtml
Martin, K. (2001) "Peer-to-peer technology reaches millions of users", retrieved September 5, 2004, from http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/internet/03/03/peer2.peer/index.html
Sundsted, T. (2001) "The practice of peer-to-peer computing: Introduction and history - A new-fangled name, but an old and useful approach to computing", retrieved September 4, 2004, from http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-p2p/
Supply & Demand Chain Executive (2004) "Glossary," retrieved September 4, 2004, from http://www.isourceonline.com/research/glossary/index.asp?l=P
Marcial Christians 18:44, 26 Aug 2004 (EST)
Pete Capra 18:44, 26 Aug 2004 (EST)
Annette Devonshire 18:43, 26 Aug 2004 (EST)
