Peer-to-Peer File-sharing

I remember watching news stories in my home-country Ukraine about information piracy: a video showing thousands and thousands of illegal  cd' s containing music and film were being run over by bulldozers. Yet while cd's are something tangible, and as Eric Pfanner for the New York Times in Should Online Scofflaws Be Denied Web Access? puts it from the words of Dutch director of anti piracy organization- you can be arrested for selling pirated copies, but P2P sharing is only the free flow information. But is it? Because intellectual property is not tangible it is much more difficult to protect, especially with the internet technology available to us today. File-sharing has grown in popularity among younger generations. It is very simple, and seemingly innocent- someone buys a music cd, uploads it to his/her computer and sends a couple of songs to friends. While  companies like Apple take precaution to this practice by allowing i-pods and i-phones to synchronize with only with itunes run from one computer (or otherwise lose data), the prevention for file-sharing is virtually non-existent. First, it is very difficult to keep track of illegal file-sharing at all times, as it is going on constantly. Secondly, many websites have emerged, as mentioned in the NY Times article which allow for ease of P2P sharing- sites which stream movies, and have free mp3 downloads- many of which can hide your IP so it's harder to catch the piracy. The article mentions a site called Pirate Bay which is currently being sued for this reason. P2P technology connects various users into a network allowing people to gain access to files stored on your hard-disk in return for the same favor. For instance, any network connection which grants free access to users like a college network can be considered P2P based. But while this practice of downloading an mp3 or streaming a movie is viewed as virtually harmless by most, many fail to consider the implications. The entertainment industry generates profit from sales of music and movies, and it is what drives the creation of new content for our enjoyment. If the companies who produce the music lose revenue, we as end-users also lose in the end because of the decline of quality in the content being produced. Music artists are forced to turn in new material at a higher rate, since the speed of file-sharing supersedes the sales. Cd's were once popular, only to be replaced with mp3's because of companies like Napster in the 90's. Now artists are selling songs on I-tunes for .99 cents for lack of better choice. The entertainment industry for one has certainly lost its appeal for new talent due to file-sharing.