Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how, as one of the most controversial Internet-based technologies, file sharing is causing a wave of ethical and legal conundrums. It looks at how Napster drew the most mainstream media attention due to several lawsuits filed against them by individual recording artists and how music files aren't the only copyrighted materials being shared by Internet users. It explores how software, movies, and photos are freely traded through peer-to-peer (P2P) networks and how dozens of file sharing applications like Morpheus have gained popularity, posing legal and ethical problems as most of the files being traded are copyrighted material.

From the Paper:

"Napster began the file-sharing revolution and was one of the first pieces of software that created an organized network of users. Using a central server to store a massive amount of music files would not only be costly and cumbersome but also totally illegal, so the architects of Napster designed their software so that each person would download directly from other users' hard drives. This system basically made each individual PC running Napster into a server. A list of sharable files is compiled by the software client, and Napster's central servers compile the file lists of all its online users. This way, individual users can browse others' files in a secure manner. Using the software interface, users can then perform searches for specific song titles, and the songs are downloaded directly from one peer to another."

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