graphic courtesy of HowStuffWorks.com How BitTorrent Works

In recent years the Recording Industry Association of America has invested much time and effort into combating peer-to-peer file sharing by filing lawsuits against software developers who produce applications to facilitate music piracy and those who use these applications. But as the efforts RIAA increase, the demand for more efficient and discreet software increases, and the momentum of the file-sharing movement cannot easily be stopped.

            Peer-to-peer networks first gained large-scale media attention in 1999 and 2000 when Shawn Fanning’s Napster program began seeing widespread use. The program was revolutionary, but also had bandwidth issues: if a certain song was extremely popular, the host computer and its internet connection could not handle the influx of requests. By the time the RIAA succeeded in shutting down Napster in 2001, the need for a better system was already present, and new software was developed to meet that need.

            The best of these new systems is BitTorrent, a system that eliminates the problems of its predecessors by allowing pieces of a file to be distributed by all who download the file, rather than by a single computer. Unlike Napster, with BitTorrent the more popular a file is, the more efficiently it can be distributed.

            The RIAA has retaliated against all of these peer-to-peer networks with legal action or threats of legal action, but what they are really doing is encouraging software developers to produce better and better software to avoid detection and increase efficiency. By attempting to stop file-sharing, the RIAA has created a problem they cannot possibly solve.