My thoughts on Pedro Orellana's Presentation

Peer to Peer (P2P) file sharing is a controversial aspect of new media. Based on wikipedia p2p can be classified as:

"P2P networks can be classified by what they can be used for:

• file sharing
• telephony
• media streaming (audio, video)
• discussion forums"

Other classification of P2P networks is according to their degree of centralization.

In 'pure' P2P networks:

• Peers act as equals, merging the roles of clients and server
• There is no central server managing the network
• There is no central router

With the introduction of Napster, p2p has taken a different toll. Being able to download any mp3 song at anytime for free is what gave the controversy to p2p. Other programs similar to Napster came out; Morpheus, Kazaa, Limewire, Aries, Torrents, Filetopia...etc. These programs let users share any kind of file with other users for free. The government had to intervene because many software developers and artistes were loosing money because of p2p.

Overall Pedro's presentation was unique and different. I liked the way he used a different approach to presenting his work. Using window media player besides power point to bring about his work was a different way of presenting it. He had enough information for his presentation length and had interesting points and facts. To answer his question about people's reaction of getting caught, well i believe the risk is to slim for people to actually be scared. Millions of people download files illegaly on the web and the chances of one specific person getting caught is slim. But I believe that the fear of getting caught is always in our mind.