P2P
("peer-to-peer") is any system of intercommunication among
internet users to exchange information, specially files. By that kind
of programs, you can send and receive via internet all kind of files:
texts, sound files, video files, databases... the possibilities are
numberless!
Is
p2p legal? No
doubt, file exchanging of private files through the internet is perfectly
legal. But one wonders - what about the commercial, registered works?
Nobody knows it 100%, and besides it depends on the law of each country.
The extremely popular Napster was declared illegal, or so it seems,
but that system was based on a central server which delivered the requested
files among its simultaneous users. The philosophy of Soulseek is different:
it provides direct contact between one "peer" and the other
"peer". How could the law forbid the direct contact between
two users? Could not the office clerk on the table A send a file to
another clerk on the table B, via local net or the universal internet?
Could not a father send a file to his son's computer, upstairs? What's
the real difference between these examples and the practice of the file
exchanging in the everyday internet world? Anyway, countries such as Spain have issued laws against p2p programs. Downloading copyrighted material is becoming illegal in most developed countries. The Soulseek authors, as you can read in their website, don't encourage the exchange of copyrighted material through the Slsk net.
P2P
programs exchanging files among private, independent computers seem
to be legal in most European countries. But downloading copyrighted material can be illegal. Anyway, courts and governments will surely be
compelled to settle certain rules to clarify the situation within the
next years.
