Peer-to-peer (P2P) refers to the sharing of computer resources and services by direct exchange between systems. When used in the context of networks such as the Kazaa/FastTrak network, Gnutella, and so forth, these “resources” and “services” refers to the sharing of *.mp3 files and other similarly related files. To quote Whatis.com, P2P is “A communications model in which each party has the same capabilities and either party can initiate a communication session.” It could then be said that P2P is the undeviating establishment of communication between computers, whereby no one computer is a definite “client” or “server,” as everyone has the same capabilities as everyone else. P2P networks provide many benefits over the conventional means of file distribution and transfer, such as HTTP and FTP. These benefits are as follows:

 Efficient use of bandwidth

 Processing power, bandwidth, and storage are all used...