Napster came into play in 1999 which basically opened the first peer-to-peer file sharing system idea. But Napster was sued and was dealing facing litigation. In 2001, Kazaa was released and it kicked off with its FastTrack network with higher efficiency. Kazaa faced litigation as well. While both of them paid their own price, this in turn sparked a wave of new opportunities which was definitely properly utilized by other developers of the time.
Programmes for file sharing
File sharing programs set off each computers in the network with the ability to share files like music, movies etc. This is possible when all of the computers that has the file sharing program connected to the internet, any of them can download any files offered on the network. File sharing on a such a distributed platform feels virtually anonymous and free and that is where lot of trouble spiked up. With these privilege, anybody could share illegal, copyrighted files as well.
This is how Napster, Kaaza faced all those intense law suite. There was raid against piracy, legal campaigns against those websites and companies that supported file sharing and resulted lot of them in shut down.
Torrents and file sharing
Then again, as we have just seen software developers did not just stop but circumvent the whole movement and brought the new file sharing protocol to life called BitTorrent. BitTorrent or more commonly known as simply torrenting is super fast and way more efficient than its predecessor movements.
BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing program as well. Meaning, anyone download portion of the resource will by default share with others who are trying to download the same resource. The effectiveness of this model of P2P is, more the popular something is, the quicker the download will be. This was properly utilized by lot of big companies as well since the large file sharing process became way more easier and efficient.
Due to this model, Linux distributions made it their method of choice for distribution as well as lot of big game companies like Blizzard. Still BitTorrent users still need the ability to track valid trackers for the file they are looking for. Still, any sites listing these trackers are typically prime target for legal action.
It is due to the legal manoeuvre that business model of content-creation companies incorporated model which provide customers with better access to digital content.
Before this model came in action, almost all of the content were illegals to share or distribute online. Things got even better and the whole campaign and dispute calmed down with the services launched like streaming services like Netflix, HBO, Spotify etc. They provided legal platforms to provide consumers the content they want, whenever they want without buying the physical media which in turn confirms and save consumers from various malware to download in their system.