History
Peer-to-peer file sharing became popular in 1999 with the introduction of Napster, a file sharing application and a set of central servers that linked people who had files with those who requested files. The central index server indexed the users and their shared content. When someone searched for a file, the server searched all available copies of that file and present them to the user. The files would be transferred directly between the two private computers. A limitation was that only music files could be shared. Because this process occurred on a central server, however, Napster was held liable for copyright infringement and shut down in July 2001. It later reopened as a pay service.
After Napster was shut down, the most popular peer-to-peer services were Gnutella and Kazaa. These services also allowed users to download files other than music, such as movies and games.
Read more about this topic: Peer-to-peer File Sharing
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