Introduction to torrents!!

As many internet users join the internet community a common term keeps popping up, torrents/ Bit Torrents. What exactly is a Bit Torrent and how it works?

Peer to Peer (P2P) Networks

A peer-to-peer network, commonly referred to as P2P is a network of people who share files. IE: Person to Person trading. In the past there have been many programs and networks that offered Peer-to-Peer file Trading. Perhaps the biggest and oldest file trading network via peer-to-peers is IRC or Internet Chat Relay. IRC to this day is still the largest file trading community on the web. With their major networks such as dalnet, which houses more than 100,000 users makes IRC the ideal spot for file trading.

IRC is an advanced way for people to trade files, generally non-newbies are very familiar with IRC and use IRC constantly. What about the average users though? I bet you remember Napster. Napster was a Peer-to-Peer network created by Shawn Fawning which was mainly a music trading site. There was one problem with Napster, it was vunerable enough to be shut down. Now Napster is a legitimate pay site while IRC and Bit Torrents remain free.

Essentially a Peer-to-Peer network works as such, a person has a file they want to share. They make the file available to a program which then allows users to connect to that person's computer and downloads the file. Once the person who just downloaded this file has it, they now also share this file with all the users of the software and network. That is the essential part of a Peer-to-Peer network. The more people who have the file and are sharing, the better speeds and reliability you have to get a file. Now on to a Bit Torrent.

Bit Torrent

A Bit Torrent is a small file that contains data of where and how to get a file. A bit torrent connects to a tracker which announces the file. Announcing a file means it sends the data needed to connect to the peers and seeders of the file. A seeder in the bit torrent world is a person who has the whole file and is sharing the file with everyone who has the bit torrent file. Seeders are absolutely necessary and without a seeder for a bit torrent file, no one can get the whole file. Generally when you download a whole bit torrent file, you seed it for at least 12 hours. That way you are giving back what you taken.

No one likes strictly leechers. A strict leecher in the Bit Torrent and Peer-to-Peer world is a person who just downloads and downloads and never seeds the bit torrent file or allows people to download off of them. Strict leechers are bad because it breaks what the entire Peer-to-Peer network was based on. Just remember Seed for 12 hours after you download a file to avoid being a strict leecher. Seed for longer if can. With that downloading a bit torrent file is not as complicated as it sounds. With the right websites and software Bit Torrents are an ideal way to share and download files.

Bit Torrents are handy for just about any situation where you need to send files to more than one person. uTorrent's Free Bit Torrent software allows you to create your own bit torrent for sharing. With this awesome free feature from uTorrent you can now share images with 10 people at once and minimize the time and bandwidth it would take to send all 10 images to all 10 people.

Legality of a torrent and the ethical issues involved –
The main question arises about the legality of a torrent and the ethical issues involved with downloading torrents and seeding, or uploading, torrents. Really the torrent community has a bad reputation, for merited reason. Most torrents are used to transport illegal and pirated material. But for the few people who do not use torrents in this way, the legality views can hinder their projects and plans.

Torrents Save Money
Torrents are an ideal solution for any small software company starting out. The reason being is that bandwidth is expensive. A torrent can easily save a small company starting out or even a larger company money by utilizing a system where peers help share the files.

The Torrent system is also ideal for Non-Profit organizations to help get their software or files out to their employees for little to no cost all the while having the volunteers be able to help out with their own computer bandwidth. The biggest organization to utilize the BitTorrents would be the Linux community, who offers free open-source operating systems for those who cannot afford Windows and or want more functionality from their computers.

The Ethical Views
Torrents are noted for their bad reputation and for a lot of people this will shy them away from ever downloading a torrent. For the few companies that choose to use Torrents this will effectively limit their customer base. Torrents, in it self are not unethical; however, how torrents have been abused by many software pirates is. If you are downloading a torrent to obtain a copy of software, the best way to make sure what you are downloading is not illegal, is first check the companies website (if it is hosted on a 3rd party website). See if the software you are downloading requires to be purchased. If it does you have a couple options, one you can help out the business by informing them of the torrent. Two you can download the software from that torrent, but be sure to buy a genuine license key. Three do your own research; talk with the company etc. doing this will save you from having any type of lawsuits for downloading illegal software.

Just remember that not all torrents are bad or good. Always virus scan what you downloading and make sure the software you are downloading is legal, if not go straight to the company.

Ending Notes
In the end Torrents are not all illegal, although there is a vast community out there that do use torrents illegally, torrents can be considered a viable solution to expensive bandwidth; thus allowing companies, non-profit or profit making, pass along their savings to their customers all the while making access to their files easier. Remember a lot of time and effort go into making movies, games, and software. Give credit where credit is due.