File Sharing - An Insight

Types of file sharing - There are many different ways to file share, different sites have come and go over the past ten years which have enabled the public to exchange files between themselves either using a programme to upload music too, or using a peer to peer network. The first I remember was Napster, which was set up by Shawn Fanning in 1999, and stayed active online untill 2001. Napster was the first real mainstream File Sharing site and despite it being short lived, it paved the way for other file sharing programmes, such as Kazaa, Morpheus, Limewire & Bearshare.
Along with Mp3 files, it soon became increasingly simple for users to share bigger files such as Computer programmes and Video Games. Torrent sites such as BitTorrent, Torrent spy and The pirate bay began appearing between 2002 and 2003 making it even easier for users to illegaly share files.
Despite record companies and musicians filing law suits against the owners of napster,kazzaa etc. The first real clamp down and jail sentenced issued was to the four men who were responsible for the administration and hosting of the well known file sharing site The Pirate Bay. The four men were found guilty of breach of copy right law, and were found guilty of 34 cases of copyright infringements. (21 were related to music files, 9 to movies and 4 to games), and claims against them for damages in excess of $13 million us dollars were filed. All four men were sentenced to serve one year in prison and have been ordered to pay the sum of $3.5 million dollars in damages. This is by far the harshest sentence anyone has recieved regarding illegal file sharing