What is Torrenting and What are the Legal Dangers?

Torrenting, which is the short term for bittorent, is known as P2P, or peer to peer sharing in which many different users contribute to the uploading of a single file or application. This file is split up into many different bits from each of the sources and then put back together to recreate the final product. This form of downloading makes it easy to share files and the breaking down of the files makes downloading much faster than downloading from one source. Most torrents are free of charge making it a popular option for downloading music, movies, games, and computer applications.

Bittorrent downloading has become one of the most popular and easy ways to get free music. A popular file sharing program that was recently shutdown was Limewire, which was the free streaming of mp3 files using bittorrent file sharing. Limewire along with many other file sharing programs make downloading files very easy as long as you know what you are doing, but the recent shutdown of Limewire has made the dangers of torrenting obvious.

Bittorrenting has become extremely controversial in the United States of America and other countries as to whether it should be illegal to share certain files and applications through the internet for free or not. In some other countries, for instance Sweden or Canada, laws against bitorrenting are widely unenforced, although it is illegal to upload (not download) music files in Canada. In places such as, but not limited to, the United States, parts of Europe, and Australia, file sharers can be sued for thousands of dollars.

It is important to know the risks of bittorrenting in countries where it is illegal, and even though many do know these legal risks, thousands of torrents are downloaded and uploaded everyday. Torrenting is growing in popularity around the world and as much as many authorities would like to see it disappear, torrenting will always live strong as long as technology exists.