About File Sharing
What is File Sharing?
The term "file sharing" is described as the act of distributing or making available digitally stored material (e.g., music, movies, documents, photos, games, etc.) to other users on the Internet. File sharing technologies are not in themselves illegal, but what you share may be.
Do I have a P2P file sharing program?
These are some common peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing programs that use the BitTorrent protocol:
- BitTorrent
- µTorrent
- Transmission
- Deluge
- eMule
- Opera (A legitimate web browser that includes a BitTorrent client)
Can't I turn off seeding and protect my identity?
More than half of people at UC San Diego who received a copyright violation were not aware their P2P file sharing program was running or distributing copyrighted files ("seeding"). Although some try to disable the seeding feature, most still receive a copyright violation notice. With some BitTorrent clients, there is no way to disable seeding. In fact, once you start downloading using a BitTorrent client, you are already at risk for receiving a copyright violation. Attempting to turn off seeding does not guarantee you will not receive a copyright violation.
With the number of copyright notices increasing, attempts have been made to "mask," or hide your identity online to avoid receiving a violation. While technologies such as third-party VPNs, IP blocking (Peerblock), and onion routing (Tor) have become available and can protect your identity, they are often difficult to correctly configure and do not guarantee protection from being identified by a copyright agency and receiving a copyright violation.