Peer-to-Peer File Sharing: Pros & Cons

BY JIM KARPEN

I AM NOT A CRIMINAL. And I don’t encourage criminal behavior.Nevertheless . . . this month we’re going to talk about peer-to-peerfile sharing. Which to many people means one thing: downloading music and moviesfrom the Internet—for free.

If you’re already doing the deed, no need to read this column. Godirectly to jail, do not pass Go, do not collect $100.

If you’re not already doing it, this column won’t encourageyou to do so. But you need to know about this phenomenon because peer-to-peeris becoming mainstream. And simply, the latest incarnation—BitTorrent—iswonderfully elegant and an important new direction for the Internet.

Click here to read the rest of this article. You'll be taken to Jim Karpen's website for the complete article, and access to all of Jim's posted writings.

Jim Karpen, Ph.D., college professor, Internet devotee. Jim teaches writing at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa. Jim has been interested in the revolutionary consequences of computer technology ever since writing his Ph.D. dissertation in 1984 at Bowling Green State University on the study of the "digitized word".

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