One afternoon you check your mailbox and notice that your internet service provider has overnighted you a letter. You open the letter and find it says you’ve been named in a lawsuit for downloading porn, movies, or music on the internet. Your internet provider says they’re going to turn your name over to a law firm unless you file a motion to quash because of a court order.
Uh oh. This doesn’t sound good.
Now what? What the hell is going on?
First, take a deep breath. It’s not the end of the world.
Now I’m going to try and explain what’s going on here…
Ok, first off, what is bittorent?
Bittorrent is a file sharing tool that enables peer to peer file sharing. It works like this: imagine if there were a big puzzle, and when that puzzle was put together, it creates a complete file (like a complete movie). Joe Smith might have part of the puzzle in Iowa, and then he might share a piece with Mark Jones in California. Everyone can reproduce the puzzle.Β So now, once its downloaded, Joe and Mark both have a full puzzle. They can then replicate it and give copies to their friends, kind of like in Star Trek. Except they are not replicating cups of Earl Grey tea, they are replicating movies, music, and porn. A lot of which happens to be copyrighted.Β Everyone who was sharing the file is allegedly part of the “swarm“. That is the nature of peer to peerΒ file sharing.
In laymen’s terms, bittorrent is an easy way to download stuff off the internet. It’s typically used to download music, movies, and porn. It is the next generation of Kazaa, Napster, etc.