How does illegal file sharing work?
Computer users who want to download movies, music and television shows generally use software known as peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing programs such as BitTorrent, KaZaA and Soulseek. These can be downloaded from the internet. Using them to share copyrighted information, such as the latest episode of a TV show or the week’s No 1 album, is illegal.

So, once I have the software, what happens then?
Normally, when you download a file from the internet, you pull the data from a website down to your computer. This usually works well but files such as Hollywood feature films are very large. If a lot of people tried to download a new movie at the same time the website would not be able to cope. It would slow down and possibly crash.

P2P file-sharing solves this. Instead of accessing a specific website, file-sharers connect directly with each other. Each provides (uploads) and receives (downloads) files. There is no central website. Web users who wish to download a movie can run P2P software that will automatically download segments from hundreds or thousands of other individuals’ computers at the same time.

Once I have the whole film on my computer, can I then share it with other people?
Yes. Sections of the movie that you have already downloaded to your PC are automatically shared with everyone else who is trying to download them. You started as a downloader, but now you are also distributing the copyrighted material.

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BACKGROUND

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Why haven’t movie and music firms stopped it?
P2P file-sharing makes it hard for companies to shut down copyright infringers. There is no single website to close down, as the copyrighted material is split between thousands of PCs around the world.

Who makes money from all this illegal activity?
Most sites make their money from advertising and donations. The UK Film Council estimates that film piracy cost the industry more than £800 million in 2005. The BPI, the industry body, estimates that music piracy cost the industry £165 million in 2005.

How widespread is file sharing?
About eight million people worldwide are on file-sharing networks at any one time. There are more than 900 million illegal music files available for download on file-sharing networks. File-sharing was the most used service on the internet last year. The heaviest usage was observed during the night, when the percentage of file-sharing traffic rose to up to 95 per cent of total internet traffic.

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