P2P Networking

[ebonybailey]

Wanted peoples views on P2P Networking, Good thing bad thing?
Do you use it.
Is free music and films a good thing by sharing? are Corporate bodies really losing money to P2P or are they moaning about taking less profit home.
Or are p2p networks nothing but trouble.

Whats your view.

[Rob Holmes]

Is free music and films a good thing by sharing? are Corporate bodies really losing money to P2P or are they moaning about taking less profit home.
Or are p2p networks nothing but trouble.

Whats your view.

My view is 2 pronged..

Firstly file sharing from a practical point of view transmits viruses and allows total strangers anywhere in the world potential access to parts of your machine. Most people I know that file share get their machines infected at some point.

Secondly it's not free - just because the end user doesn't pay doesn't make it free. Actually it's theft - maybe not of something tangible and of a duplicatable product - but theft of profits (if the films running at a profit)

Just because alot of people on the web file share and the music/film industry is making a profit most of the time does not make it right. In fact the law says it's wrong and so I don't really see the debate?

Rob

[SmallBizSoftware]

Well said Rob ... p2p is evil and that's the end of it! At a corporate level I block all users from connecteing to p2p networks as I would be liable for any copyright offence the commit from my WAN connection. As Rob pointed out, p2p is also a breeding ground for viruses, another good reason to keep well clear.

[ebonybailey]

I agree with your statements, I do not use it myself but know people that swear by it, there argument tends to be the inflated prices of some software, so they argue that they are sticking it to them.

[Rob Holmes]

I agree with your statements, I do not use it myself but know people that swear by it, there argument tends to be the inflated prices of some software, so they argue that they are sticking it to them.

Well live and let live I suppose - I don't claim to be perfect but I think people have an obligation to stay legal - unfortunately their 'arguments' are incorrect but I don't suppose they would like to be told that.

They would probably argue that they are not hurting anybody - but they are taking money out of employers pockets which affects employees and shareholders which in turn hits families and children.

They would also probably say that it's in a different league to other illegal activities like drug dealing, drink driving etc - but actually it's on the wrong side of the law exactly like the other 2 examples.

They would also say that companies make too much profit per item anyway - but they would probably like to make a profit from their own sales and make a good profit too.

I could go on but I won't because people like that can't usually be helped.

Rob

[Alpha]

I do not think that P2P is neccessary and is most definately theft in many cases.

There is a prbable double whammy in that the people who do it cite the higher than neccessary costs of dvd, cd and software whilst the production companies will cite the lost profits due to piracy and also the rising costs of trying to combat it.

Unfortunately it is fraud and I would guess that if the costs of the above were brought down considerably the p2p participators would still do it.

unfortunately we live in a society that is greedy and only looks after No. 1 all the time.