File sharing timeline
Encyclopedia
This is a timeline of events in the history of file sharing
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to defend against transmission problems related to TCP. IP6 support increased with clients and trackers. There were no new file sharing protocols introduced, only patches to the existing protocols.
File sharing
File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digitally stored information, such as computer programs, multimedia , documents, or electronic books. It may be implemented through a variety of ways...
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Before 1970s
- Punched tapePunched tapePunched tape or paper tape is an obsolete form of data storage, consisting of a long strip of paper in which holes are punched to store data...
used to as data storage device for CNC machines and Teleprinter communication. - Punched cardPunched cardA punched card, punch card, IBM card, or Hollerith card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions...
used to store data for textile looms, Voting machine - Magnetic tape data storageMagnetic tape data storageMagnetic tape data storage uses digital recording on to magnetic tape to store digital information. Modern magnetic tape is most commonly packaged in cartridges and cassettes. The device that performs actual writing or reading of data is a tape drive...
- Cassette Tape
- 1957 – phreakingPhreakingPhreaking is a slang term coined to describe the activity of a culture of people who study, experiment with, or explore telecommunication systems, such as equipment and systems connected to public telephone networks. As telephone networks have become computerized, phreaking has become closely...
discovered by Joe Engressia.
1970s
- 1971 — The 8-inch floppy diskFloppy diskA floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...
, the first removable magnetic medium and the first removable mediaRemovable mediaIn computer storage, removable media refers to storage media which is designed to be removed from the computer without powering the computer off.Some types of removable media are designed to be read by removable readers and drives...
, is developed by an IBM team led by David Noble. It allows for manual file transferSneakernetSneakernet is an informal term describing the transfer of electronic information, especially computer files, by physically couriering removable media such as magnetic tape, floppy disks, compact discs, USB flash drives, or external hard drives from one computer to another. This is usually in lieu...
. Removable media would become a target of media industry efforts against the sharing of intellectual property. Predecessor of CD-ROMCD-ROMA CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
s and flash media. - 1977 — XmodemXMODEMXMODEM is a simple file transfer protocol developed as a quick hack by Ward Christensen for use in his 1977 MODEM.ASM terminal program. XMODEM became extremely popular in the early bulletin board system market, largely because it was so simple to implement...
a point-to-point binary transfer protocol by Ward ChristensenWard ChristensenWard Christensen, born in West Bend, Wisconsin, U.S., is the founder of the CBBS bulletin board, the first bulletin board system ever brought online...
. - February 1978 — Ward ChristensenWard ChristensenWard Christensen, born in West Bend, Wisconsin, U.S., is the founder of the CBBS bulletin board, the first bulletin board system ever brought online...
's CBBSCBBSCBBS was a computer software program created by Ward Christensen to allow him and other computer hobbyists to exchange information between one another....
becomes the first Bulletin board systemBulletin board systemA Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, a user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging...
. BBS access is limited to phone lines until early 1990s. - 1979 — UsenetUsenetUsenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
conceived by Tom TruscottTom TruscottTom Truscott is a computer scientist best known for creating Usenet with Jim Ellis, when both were graduate students at Duke University. He is also a member of ACM, IEEE, and Sigma Xi. One of his the first endeavors into computers were writing a computer chess program and then later working on a...
and Jim EllisJim Ellis (computing)James Tice Ellis was a computer scientist best known as the co-creator of Usenet, along with Tom Truscott.Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Ellis grew up in Orlando, Florida. Before developing Usenet, Ellis attended Duke University. He later worked as an Internet security consultant for Sun...
at the University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillThe University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
and Duke UniversityDuke UniversityDuke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
. Its primary purpose is to facilitate focused discussion threads within topical categories (Usenet newsgroups), but it also allows the transfer of files. alt.binaries.* newsgroups continue to serve files.
1980s
Most file sharing in this era was done by modems from 300 baud to 14000 baud over landlines. There was a great deal of experimenting with how a file or files could be sent was done, but no hash functions were used to ensure file integrity. File systems with long file names did not exist outside of Unix. Computer memory and speed was very limited, with 50 MHz CPUs only being accessible to consumers at the end of the decade. If you wanted to share a file across the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans – you literally had to resort to using radioteletype (RTTY) for most of the decade.- 1981 – Kermit (protocol)Kermit (protocol)Kermit is a computer file transfer/management protocol and a set of communications software tools primarily used in the early years of personal computing in the 1980s; it provides a consistent approach to file transfer, terminal emulation, script programming, and character set conversion across...
– a binary protocol that can be used with telnetTELNETTelnet is a network protocol used on the Internet or local area networks to provide a bidirectional interactive text-oriented communications facility using a virtual terminal connection...
or other BBSBulletin board systemA Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, a user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging...
systems to transfer binary data. - January 1984 — In Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc.Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc.Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417 , also known as the "Betamax case", is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States which ruled that the making of individual copies of complete television shows for purposes of time-shifting does not constitute copyright...
, the Supreme Court of the United StatesSupreme Court of the United StatesThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
finds that making individual copies of complete television shows for purposes of time-shifting is fair useFair useFair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders...
. This case would create some interpretative challenges to courts in applying the case to more recent file sharingFile sharingFile sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digitally stored information, such as computer programs, multimedia , documents, or electronic books. It may be implemented through a variety of ways...
technologies available for use on home computers and over the Internet. - 1984 – FidonetFidoNetFidoNet is a worldwide computer network that is used for communication between bulletin board systems. It was most popular in the early to mid 1990s, prior to the introduction of easy and affordable access to the Internet...
, an inter-BBSBulletin board systemA Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, a user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging...
protocol that was widely available prior to IP based, is founded by Tom JenningsTom JenningsTom Jennings is a Los Angeles-based artist and technician. He is the creator of FidoNet, the first message and file networking system for BBSes...
. - October 1985 — File Transfer ProtocolFile Transfer ProtocolFile Transfer Protocol is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server...
is standardized in RFC 959, authored by Postel and Reynolds. FTP allows files to be efficiently uploaded and downloaded from a central server. - 1985 – YmodemYMODEMYMODEM is a protocol for file transfer used between modems. YMODEM was developed by Chuck Forsberg as the successor to XMODEM and MODEM7, and was first implemented in his CP/M YAM program...
— a minor improvement to XmodemXMODEMXMODEM is a simple file transfer protocol developed as a quick hack by Ward Christensen for use in his 1977 MODEM.ASM terminal program. XMODEM became extremely popular in the early bulletin board system market, largely because it was so simple to implement...
. - 1986 – ZmodemZMODEMZMODEM is a file transfer protocol developed by Chuck Forsberg in 1986, in a project funded by Telenet in order to improve file transfers on their X.25 network...
— another point-to-point binary transfer protocol, which had superior long-distance (high latency) transmission. - August 1988 — Internet Relay ChatInternet Relay ChatInternet Relay Chat is a protocol for real-time Internet text messaging or synchronous conferencing. It is mainly designed for group communication in discussion forums, called channels, but also allows one-to-one communication via private message as well as chat and data transfer, including file...
is created by Jarkko Oikarinen. IRC users can exchange files via Direct Client-to-ClientDirect Client-to-ClientDirect Client-to-Client is an IRC-related sub-protocol enabling peers to interconnect using an IRC server for handshaking in order to exchange files or perform non-relayed chats. Once established, a typical DCC session runs independently from the IRC server. Originally designed to be used with...
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1990s
In this decade, the very basic ideas involved with file sharing were experimented with. Most of the protocols (like BitTorrent) that were involved in file sharing were not heavily used in this decade. Data compression technologies for audio and video (like MP3, AAC and MPEG1) were only usable by the general public towards the end of the 1990s – and sharing digital video was still a dream. Most of the world's telecommunications infrastructure did not have fibre optic cable readily available until the late 1990s.- November 1990 — The World Wide WebWorld Wide WebThe World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
is formally proposed by Tim Berners-LeeTim Berners-LeeSir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee, , also known as "TimBL", is a British computer scientist, MIT professor and the inventor of the World Wide Web...
and Robert CailliauRobert CailliauRobert Cailliau , born 26 January 1947, is a Belgian informatics engineer and computer scientist who, together with Sir Tim Berners-Lee, developed the World Wide Web.-Biography:...
. - December 1991 — Mp3 is finalized as an ISO/IEC standard.
- 1992 — Software Publishers Association runs an anti-copyright infringement campaign Don't Copy That FloppyDon't Copy That FloppyDon’t Copy That Floppy was an anti-copyright infringement campaign run by the Software Publishers Association beginning in 1992. The video for the campaign, starring M. E. Hart as “MC Double Def DP,” was filmed at Cardozo High School in Washington, D.C...
- 1997 — Scour Inc.ScourScour Inc. was a multimedia search engine on the internet, and provided Scour Exchange, an early peer-to-peer file exchange service. Scour was founded by five students from the Computer Science Department of the University of California, Los Angeles in 1997...
is founded by five UCLA Computer Science students. Early products provide file search and download using the SMBServer Message BlockIn computer networking, Server Message Block , also known as Common Internet File System operates as an application-layer network protocol mainly used to provide shared access to files, printers, serial ports, and miscellaneous communications between nodes on a network. It also provides an...
protocol, as well as a multimedia web search engine released in 1998. Scour attracted early attention and support from media industry insiders before declaring bankruptcy in October 2000. - April 1997 — WinampWinampWinamp is a media player for Windows-based PCs and Android devices, written by Nullsoft, now a subsidiary of AOL. It is proprietary freeware/shareware, multi-format, extensible with plug-ins and skins, and is noted for its graphical sound visualization, playlist, and media library features.Winamp...
audio player is released, leading to increased use of mp3 files. - August 1997 — Hotline is announced at MacWorld, and allows chat, forums, and file transfers. It becomes popular among MacMac OSMac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
users. - November 1997 — MP3.com
MP3.comMP3.com is a web site operated by CNET Networks providing information about digital music and artists, songs, services, community, and technologies. It is probably better known for its original incarnation, as a legal, free music-sharing service, popular with independent musicians for promoting...
is founded by Michael Robertson and Greg Flores. Initially an FTP search engine, MP3.com becomes a hosting service for unsigned artists. It serves 4 million audio file downloads per day at its peak and becomes the largest technology IPO in July 1999. The release of My.MP3.com in January 2000, which allowed users to stream their own files, would prompt litigation. In May 2000, UMG v. MP3.comUMG v. MP3.comUMG Recordings, Inc. v. MP3.com, Inc., 92 F. Supp. 2d 349 was a landmark case before Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York concerning the Internet...
, would be ruled in favor of the record labels. MP3.com would settle for $200 million and discontinue the service. - March 1998 — The MPMan F10Eiger Labs MPMan F10The MPMan music player, manufactured by the South Korean company SaeHan Information Systems. Debuted in Asia in March 1998, was the first mass-produced portable solid state digital audio player....
, the first MP3 player, is launched. - September 1998 — Rio PMP300Rio PMP300The Rio PMP300 was a portable consumer MP3 digital audio player , and was produced by Diamond Multimedia. It was introduced September 15, 1998, and it shipped later that year.-Features:...
mp3 player is shipped by Diamond MultimediaDiamond MultimediaDiamond Multimedia is a company that specializes in many forms of multimedia technology. They have produced graphics cards, motherboards, modems, sound cards and MP3 players, however the company began with the production of the TrackStar, a PC add-on card which emulated Apple II computers...
. Its popularity leads the RIAARecording Industry Association of AmericaThe Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
to file a temporary restraining order in October, without success. - October 1998 — Digital Millennium Copyright ActDigital Millennium Copyright ActThe Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization . It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to...
is unanimously passed by the US Senate. The DMCA would become the basis for numerous legal actions against file sharing services. - November 1998 — AudiogalaxyAudiogalaxyAudiogalaxy is an audio placeshifting service which enables an individual's smartphone or other device to search & play MP3 and AAC files stored on that person's separate, Internet-connected computer, with the help of special software installed on both devices...
is created by Michael Merhej. Initially an FTP search engine, the Audiogalaxy Satellite P2P client would reach 1 million downloads in 2001. In May 2002, a suit by the RIAA would force Audiogalaxy to block sharing of illegal songs. In June 2002, Audiogalaxy would settle the suit for an undisclosed amount and make its services opt-in. In September 2002, Audiogalaxy would discontinue P2P services in favor of RhapsodyRhapsody (online music service)Rhapsody is an online music store subscription service, launched in December 2001, and available in the United States only. On April 6, 2010, Rhapsody officially declared its independence from RealNetworks. Downloaded files come with restrictions on their use, enforced by Helix, Rhapsody's version...
, a for-pay streaming service. - December 1998 — MP3 NewswireMP3 NewswireFounded in 1998, the same year as MP3.com, MP3 Newswire is the oldest active news site devoted to digital media technology. Notable for its series of essays that chronicled the rise of digital music and the Internet’s acrimonious relationship with the record industry, MP3 Newswire initially was...
, the first digital media news site, is launched. - June 1999 — NapsterNapsterNapster is an online music store and a Best Buy company. It was originally founded as a pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing Internet service that emphasized sharing audio files that were typically digitally encoded music as MP3 format files...
is created by Shawn FanningShawn FanningShawn Fanning is an American computer programmer, serial entrepreneur, and angel investor. He developed Napster, one of the first popular peer-to-peer file sharing platforms, in 1998. The popularity of Napster was widespread and Fanning was featured on the cover of Time magazine...
. Napster used a centralized structure where indexing and searching is performed on Napster servers. Individual files, however, remain on the hosts' computers and are transferred directly from peer to peer. In December 1999, the first lawsuits would be filed against Napster. Usage would peak in February 2001, with 26.4 million users. In July 2001, Napster would shut down its network to comply with an injunction.
2000s
In computer science terms, modern file sharing begins in the 2000s. Several file sharing protocols and file formats were introduced, along with nearly a decade in protocol experimentation. Towards the end of the 2000s, BitTorrent became subject to a "man in the middle" attack in TCP mode – and this has led most file sharing protocols to move to UDP towards the very end of the decade. Client and tracker software in this era was in development as much as the transmission protocols, so the file trading software was not always as reliable as it could have been.2000
- January – My.MP3.com is released by MP3.com.
- March — Scour Exchange is released as a P2P file exchange service to compete with Napster. In addition to audio files, it also supports sharing of other media as well as software.
- March — GnutellaGnutellaGnutella is a large peer-to-peer network which, at the time of its creation, was the first decentralized peer-to-peer network of its kind, leading to other, later networks adopting the model...
becomes the first decentralized file sharing network with the release of a network client by Justin FrankelJustin FrankelJustin Frankel is an American computer programmer best known for his work on the Winamp media player application and for inventing the gnutella peer-to-peer network...
and Tom PepperTom PepperTom Pepper is a computer programmer best known for his collaboration with Justin Frankel on the invention of the Gnutella peer-to-peer system. He and Frankel co-founded Nullsoft, whose most popular program is Winamp, which was sold to AOL in May 1999...
of NullsoftNullsoftNullsoft, Inc. is a software house founded in Sedona, Arizona in 1997 by Justin Frankel. Its most known products include the Winamp media player and the SHOUTcast MP3 streaming media server. In recent years, their open source installer system, NSIS, has also risen in popularity as a widely used...
. - March — PhexPhex- External links :* * * * at SourceForge.net* at *...
(formerly FURIFuriMount Furi is a stratovolcano near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Located in the south eastern outskirt of Addis Ababa, this mountain has a latitude and longitude of and an altitude of 2839 meters....
) Gnutella client released. - May — UMG v. MP3.comUMG v. MP3.comUMG Recordings, Inc. v. MP3.com, Inc., 92 F. Supp. 2d 349 was a landmark case before Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York concerning the Internet...
causes My.MP3.com to shut down. - June — Slyck.comSlyck.comSlyck.com is a website dedicated to file sharing. It offers news, reviews, and opinion, and has a user forum.-History of Slyck:Slyck began operations as Slyway.com in 2000, owned by Ray Hoffman. During this time, Slyck was an aggregate news site with some original content. It also had guides to the...
(originally Slyway.com) launches. - July — FreenetFreenetFreenet is a decentralized, censorship-resistant distributed data store originally designed by Ian Clarke. According to Clarke, Freenet aims to provide freedom of speech through a peer-to-peer network with strong protection of anonymity; as part of supporting its users' freedom, Freenet is free and...
is created by Ian Clarke. Its goal is to provide freedom of speech through a peer-to-peer network which focuses on protecting anonymity. Files are distributed across the computers of Freenet's users. Ian Clarke's paper would become the most-cited computer science paper of 2000. Freenet would become a darknet in 2008. - September — eDonkey2000EDonkey2000eDonkey2000 was a peer-to-peer file sharing application developed by US company MetaMachine, using the Multisource File Transfer Protocol...
client and server software is released by Jed McCaleb, introducing hashHash tableIn computer science, a hash table or hash map is a data structure that uses a hash function to map identifying values, known as keys , to their associated values . Thus, a hash table implements an associative array...
ing into decentralized file sharing. - October — Scour Exchange is shut down as Scour Inc. files for bankruptcy in the face of copyright infringement litigation.
- October — Napster is credited with driving Radiohead's Kid AKid AKid A is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released in October 2000 by the Parlophone label. A commercial success worldwide, Kid A went platinum in its first week of release in the United Kingdom. Despite the lack of an official single or music video as publicity, Kid A...
album to the top of the Billboard charts.
2001
- February — A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc.
- February — Napster peaks at 26.4 million users.
- March — KazaaKazaaKazaa Media Desktop started as a peer-to-peer file sharing application using the FastTrack protocol licensed by Joltid Ltd. and operated as Kazaa by Sharman Networks...
and the FastTrack proprietary protocol are released by Niklas ZennströmNiklas ZennströmNiklas Zennström is an entrepreneur best known for founding several high-profile online ventures with Janus Friis including Skype and Kazaa. More recently he founded the investment group Atomico and has become a significant figurehead for entrepreneurs in the tech sector.-Career:Zennström started...
, Janus FriisJanus FriisJanus Friis is a Danish entrepreneur best known for co-founding the file-sharing application KaZaA, and the peer-to-peer telephony application Skype. In September 2005, he and his partner Niklas Zennström sold Skype to eBay for $2.6B...
, and Priit Kasesalu. The Kazaa Media Desktop client came bundled with malwareMalwareMalware, short for malicious software, consists of programming that is designed to disrupt or deny operation, gather information that leads to loss of privacy or exploitation, or gain unauthorized access to system resources, or that otherwise exhibits abusive behavior...
. Legal action in the Netherlands would force an offshoring of the company, renamed Sharman NetworksSharman NetworksSharman Networks is a company headquartered in Australia and incorporated in Vanuatu. It owns the rights to the KaZaA file sharing software...
. In September 2003, the RIAA would file suit against private individuals allegedly sharing files via Kazaa. In September 2005, UMA v. Sharman would be ruled against Sharman by the Federal Court of Australia. Sharman's non-compliance would prompt censorship of the program in Australia. In June 2006, the MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd.MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd.MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. 545 U.S. 913 is a United States Supreme Court decision in which the Court unanimously held that defendant P2P file sharing companies Grokster and Streamcast could be sued for inducing copyright infringement for acts taken in the course of marketing file sharing...
would cause Sharman to settle for $100 million and convert Kazaa to a legal-only file sharing program. - April — MorpheusMorpheus (computer program)Morpheus was a file sharing and searching peer-to-peer client for Microsoft Windows, developed and distributed by the company StreamCast, that originally used the Opennap protocol, but later supported many different peer-to-peer protocols...
is released by MusicCity (later StreamCast), after licensing the FastTrack protocol. MusicCity had previously operated OpenNapOpennapOpenNap is a peer-to-peer service server software. It was created as an open source Napster server, extending the Napster protocol to allow sharing of any media type, and adding the ability to link servers together.-History:...
servers. MorpheusMorpheus (computer program)Morpheus was a file sharing and searching peer-to-peer client for Microsoft Windows, developed and distributed by the company StreamCast, that originally used the Opennap protocol, but later supported many different peer-to-peer protocols...
would become a popular FastTrack client, with 4.5 million users, until licensing disputes and a protocol switch in February 2002. In March 2003, the Morpheus client was re-released to operate on Gnutella, using Gnucleus servant as its core. In June 2005, a redesigned Morpheus client would be released. In June 2006, MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd.MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd.MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. 545 U.S. 913 is a United States Supreme Court decision in which the Court unanimously held that defendant P2P file sharing companies Grokster and Streamcast could be sued for inducing copyright infringement for acts taken in the course of marketing file sharing...
would be decided against StreamCast. In June 2008, the Morpheus client would become no longer available for download. - April — gtk-gnutellaGtk-gnutellagtk-gnutella is a peer-to-peer file sharing application which runs on the gnutella network. gtk-gnutella uses the GTK+ toolkit for its graphical user interface. Released under the GNU General Public License, gtk-gnutella is free software.- History :...
client is released. - July — Napster shuts down due to injunction.
- July — OpenNapOpennapOpenNap is a peer-to-peer service server software. It was created as an open source Napster server, extending the Napster protocol to allow sharing of any media type, and adding the ability to link servers together.-History:...
servers spring up. - July — Audiogalaxy Satellite client reaches 1 million downloads.
- July 1 — BitTorrent released by Bram CohenBram CohenBram Cohen is an American computer programmer, best known as the author of the peer-to-peer BitTorrent protocol, as well as the first file sharing program to use the protocol, also known as BitTorrent...
. - August — ShareReactorShareReactorShareReactor is an index site for files on the eDonkey network and Torrent files. ShareReactor does not host any files; instead, the links it contains are accessible through an eDonkey network and BitTorrent client. The site was taken down by Swiss Police on March 10, 2004 due to the suspicion of...
eDonkey network index site founded. It would be taken down by police in March 2004. - August — Direct Connect network and the Advanced Direct ConnectAdvanced Direct ConnectAdvanced Direct Connect is a peer-to-peer file sharing and chat protocol, using the same topology, concepts and terminology as the Direct Connect protocol....
protocol introduced. DC++DC++DC++ is a free and open-source, peer-to-peer file-sharing client that can be used to connect to the Direct Connect network or to the ADC protocol...
would become the most popular client. - September — LimeWireLimeWireLimeWire is a free peer-to-peer file sharing client program that runs on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and other operating systems supported by the Java software platform. LimeWire uses the gnutella network as well as the BitTorrent protocol. A free software version and a purchasable "enhanced"...
Gnutella client is released under open source. - October — Mutella client is released. By 2007, it would no longer be functional.
- November — GNUnetGNUnetGNUnet is a free software framework for decentralized, peer-to-peer networking. The framework offers link encryption, peer discovery and resource allocation....
is first publicly announced.
2002
- January — JASRAC and RIAJ vs Yugen Kaisha Nippon MMO in Tokyo district court, causing File rogue(ファイルローグ) ordered to shut down on April 9.
- February — The Kazaa protocol switch shuts out Morpheus.
- May — eMuleEMuleeMule is a free peer-to-peer file sharing application for Microsoft Windows. Started in May 2002 as an alternative to eDonkey2000, eMule now connects to both the eDonkey network and the Kad network...
is released and soon becomes the eDonkey2000EDonkey2000eDonkey2000 was a peer-to-peer file sharing application developed by US company MetaMachine, using the Multisource File Transfer Protocol...
network's most popular client - May — AudiogalaxyAudiogalaxyAudiogalaxy is an audio placeshifting service which enables an individual's smartphone or other device to search & play MP3 and AAC files stored on that person's separate, Internet-connected computer, with the help of special software installed on both devices...
takes steps to block illegal files due to RIAA lawsuit. - June — Audiogalaxy settles RIAA suit for undisclosed amount, its file sharing becomes limited.
- June — First release of ShareazaShareazaShareaza is a peer-to-peer file sharing client running under Microsoft Windows which supports the gnutella, Gnutella2 , eDonkey, BitTorrent, FTP, HTTP and HTTPS network protocols and handles magnet links, ed2k links, and the now deprecated gnutella and Piolet links...
by Michael Stokes. - June — ApplejuiceApplejuiceApplejuice is a semi-centralized peer-to-peer file sharing network similar to the original eDonkey network.- Architecture:Applejuice offers server and client software for Applejuicenet. The network is not managed by one company, organisation, or server, but is decentralized over many servers. The...
released. - July — OvernetOvernetOvernet was a decentralized peer-to-peer computer network, usually used for sharing large files . Overnet implements the Kademlia algorithm. In late 2006, Overnet and all Overnet-owned resources were taken down as a result of legal actions from the RIAA and others...
introduced by the creators of eDonkey2000EDonkey2000eDonkey2000 was a peer-to-peer file sharing application developed by US company MetaMachine, using the Multisource File Transfer Protocol...
implementing KademliaKademliaKademlia is a distributed hash table for decentralized peer-to-peer computer networks designed by Petar Maymounkov and David Mazières in 2002. It specifies the structure of the network and the exchange of information through node lookups. Kademlia nodes communicate among themselves using UDP. A...
protocol. - July — SoribadaSoribadaSoribada is the first Korean peer-to-peer system. It started service in 2000. Soribada has been referred to as "the Korean Napster" and means "Ocean of Sound" or "Receiving Sound"Soribada was closed in 2002 by court order of Judge Kim Sun-Hye...
(소리바다) was closed on July 11 by SuwonSuwonSuwon is the provincial capital of Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. A major city of over a million inhabitants, Suwon lies approximately south of Seoul. It is traditionally known as "The City of Filial Piety"....
District Court South Division. - August — P2PnetP2pnetp2pnet.net is an online news website which mainly covers stories which are relevant to peer-to-peer file sharing .p2pnet is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License, and as such actively encourages other sites to use its content, provided they keep within the...
is founded by Jon Newton. - September — Audiogalaxy discontinues P2P services.
- October — SoulseekSoulseekSoulseek is a peer-to-peer file-sharing network and application. The term Soulseek might refer to one of the two networks, or one of the three official user client interfaces. Soulseek is used mostly to exchange music, although users are able to share a variety of files...
file sharing program released. - October — Suprnova.orgSuprnova.orgSuprnova.org was a Slovenia-based website which distributed torrents for various music and video files, computer programs and games. Started in late 2002 by Andrej Preston and for a while considered the most popular BitTorrent search engine, Suprnova.org closed in late 2004 after legal threats...
torrent index goes online. - November — Gnutella2Gnutella2Gnutella2, often referred to as G2, is a peer-to-peer protocol developed mainly by Michael Stokes and released in 2002. While inspired by the gnutella protocol, G2 shares little of its design with the exception of its connection handshake and download mechanics. It adopts an extensible binary...
protocol is announced.
2003
- January — isoHuntIsoHuntisoHunt is a BitTorrent index with over 1.7 million torrents in its database and 20 million peers from indexed torrents. With 7.4 million unique visitors , isoHunt is one of the most popular BitTorrent search engines. Thousands of torrents are added to and deleted from it every day. Users of...
torrent index founded by Gary Fung. As of 2008, it serves over 40 million unique searches per month. - March — The Open Music ModelOpen Music ModelThe Open Music Model is an economic and technological framework for the recording industry based on research conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology...
is published, advocating a business model for the recording industry based on file sharing - April — DemonoidDemonoidDemonoid is a website and BitTorrent tracker created by an anonymous Serb known only by the pseudonyms "Deimos" and "Zajson". The website indexes torrents uploaded by its members. Demonoid.com was ranked the 538th most popular website overall in December 2010, according to Alexa. Demonoid's torrent...
torrent index founded. As of 2008, it is the second-largest public torrent tracker in the world. - May — Poisoned is released. It is the first Kazaa client for the Mac OS X platform.
- May – The iTunes Music Store is launched by Apple, selling music by individual tracks, with digital rights managementDigital rights managementDigital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
to prevent file sharing - September — the RIAA begins filing lawsuits against individuals allegedly sharing files on KazaaKazaaKazaa Media Desktop started as a peer-to-peer file sharing application using the FastTrack protocol licensed by Joltid Ltd. and operated as Kazaa by Sharman Networks...
. - September — TorrentSpyTorrentSpyTorrentSpy was a popular BitTorrent indexing website. It provided .torrent files, which enabled users to exchange data between one another.It also provided a forum to comment on them and integrated the user-driven content site ShoutWire into the front page...
is registered. It would be shut down in March 2008, and in May 2008 it would be ordered to pay the MPAA $110 million in damages. - November — WinnyWinnyWinny is a Japanese peer-to-peer file-sharing program which claims to be loosely inspired by the design principles behind the Freenet network, which keep user identities untraceable...
source code is confiscated by the KyotoKyotois a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
Police - November 21 — The Pirate BayThe Pirate BayThe Pirate Bay is a Swedish website which hosts magnet links and .torrent files, which allow users to share electronic files, including multimedia, computer games and software via BitTorrent...
(TPB) bittorrent trackerBitTorrent trackerA BitTorrent tracker is a server that assists in the communication between peers using the BitTorrent protocol. It is also, in the absence of extensions to the original protocol, the only major critical point, as clients are required to communicate with the tracker to initiate downloads...
is founded by Gottfrid SvartholmGottfrid SvartholmPer Gottfrid Svartholm Warg , alias anakata, is a Swedish computer specialist, known as the co-owner of the web hosting company PRQ and co-founder of the BitTorrent site The Pirate Bay together with Fredrik Neij and Peter Sunde...
, Fredrik NeijFredrik NeijHans Fredrik Lennart Neij , a.k.a. TiAMO, is a co-founder of The Pirate Bay, a BitTorrent index site and tracker. He also owned the web host PRQ, which previously hosted The Pirate Bay....
, and Peter SundePeter SundePeter Sunde Kolmisoppi is an IT expert with Norwegian and Finnish roots. He is best known for being a co-founder and the spokesperson of The Pirate Bay, a BitTorrent tracker site.-Personal life:...
. It is based in Sweden. It has remained active despite numerous legal actions and a police raid in May 2006. As of October 22, 2010, it is the 96th most popular site on the Internet according to AlexaAlexa InternetAlexa Internet, Inc. is a California-based subsidiary company of Amazon.com that is known for its toolbar and Web site. Once installed, the toolbar collects data on browsing behavior which is transmitted to the Web site where it is stored and analyzed and is the basis for the company's Web traffic...
. - 2003 – eMuleEMuleeMule is a free peer-to-peer file sharing application for Microsoft Windows. Started in May 2002 as an alternative to eDonkey2000, eMule now connects to both the eDonkey network and the Kad network...
introduces the Kad networkKad NetworkThe Kad network is a peer-to-peer network which implements the Kademlia P2P overlay protocol. The majority of users on the Kad Network are also connected to servers on the eDonkey network, and Kad Network clients typically query known nodes on the eDonkey network in order to find an initial node...
, which implements the KademliaKademliaKademlia is a distributed hash table for decentralized peer-to-peer computer networks designed by Petar Maymounkov and David Mazières in 2002. It specifies the structure of the network and the exchange of information through node lookups. Kademlia nodes communicate among themselves using UDP. A...
protocol.
2004
- March 10 — ShareReactor shut down by Swiss Police.
- May 10 — Winny developer Isamu Kaneko is arrested for suspected conspiracy to commit copyright violation.
- June 1 — ShareazaShareazaShareaza is a peer-to-peer file sharing client running under Microsoft Windows which supports the gnutella, Gnutella2 , eDonkey, BitTorrent, FTP, HTTP and HTTPS network protocols and handles magnet links, ed2k links, and the now deprecated gnutella and Piolet links...
becomes open sourceOpen sourceThe term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
with the release of v2.0 of the software. As of 2008, almost all of the major clients on this network are open source. - October 28 — The RIAA files an additional 750 lawsuits aimed at alleged copyright violations from file sharing.
- December 14 — Suprnova and many other torrent indexes closed after cease and desist orders by MPAA.
- December 14 — LokiTorrentLokiTorrentLokiTorrent was a BitTorrent indexing service operated by Edward Webber from 2004 until 2005. The domain name was originally registered on 24 February 2004....
refuses to comply with cease and desist orders, quickly gains 680,000 users, and $40,000 in legal fund donations. Its legitimacy would later be questioned and it would be taken over by MPAA in February 2005.
2005
- January — MininovaMininovaMininova is a website offering BitTorrent downloads. Mininova was once one of the largest sites offering torrents of copyrighted material, but in November 2009, following legal action in the Dutch courts, the site operators deleted all torrent files uploaded by regular users including torrents that...
torrent index goes online as a successor to Suprnova. It has served 5 billion downloads as of May 2008. - January — eXeemEXeemeXeem was a peer-to-peer file sharing client using the BitTorrent protocol. eXeem was designed to replace the need for centralized trackers...
goes online and rumored/adversed as "the revenge of suprnova". The program failed to gain popularity and was eventually abandoned months later. - February – LokiTorrent indexing service shut down and is taken over by MPAA.
- March — AvalancheAvalanche (P2P)Avalanche is the name of a proposed peer-to-peer network created by Pablo Rodriguez and Christos Gkantsidis at Microsoft, which claims to offer improved scalability and bandwidth efficiency compared to existing P2P systems....
BitTorrent alternative proposed. Is criticized by BitTorrent creator Bram CohenBram CohenBram Cohen is an American computer programmer, best known as the author of the peer-to-peer BitTorrent protocol, as well as the first file sharing program to use the protocol, also known as BitTorrent...
. - March 21 — MegauploadMegauploadMegaupload is an online Hong Kong-based company established in 2005 for the use of uploading and downloading files. It includes a video browsing section in the site Megavideo, MegaLive, MegaPix and Megabox as well as a sister company called Megaporn which hosts user uploaded pornographic content...
one-click hosting service is launched. - June — A busy CD music mp3 download site Boxup closed down and membership transfer to coxoo, then discontinued 2006/03.
- June — GroksterGroksterGrokster Ltd. was a privately owned software company based in Nevis, West Indies that created the Grokster peer-to-peer file-sharing client in 2001 that utilized the FastTrack protocol. Grokster Ltd. was rendered extinct in late 2005 by the United States Supreme Court's decision in MGM Studios,...
developers are found guilty by the United States Supreme courtSupreme courtA supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, high court, or apex court...
of encouraging copyright infringementCopyright infringementCopyright infringement is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.- "Piracy" :... - June 30 — EzPeer wins its case vs IFPI Taiwan in Shihlin district court. The high court would later reject an appeal, but ezPeer would settle with IPFI Taiwan. As of 2008, it is a legal music download service.
- September 5 — UMA v. Sharman
- September 13 – WinMXWinMXWinMX is a freeware peer-to-peer file sharing program authored by Frontcode Technologies that runs on Microsoft Windows operating systems, created in 2001. According to one study, it was the number one source for online music in 2005 with an estimated 2.1 million users...
servers owned by Frontcode are shut down due to a cease and desistCease and desistA cease and desist is an order or request to halt an activity and not to take it up again later or else face legal action. The recipient of the cease-and-desist may be an individual or an organization....
letter from the RIAA. Developer groups would set up new servers days later. - September 9 — KuroKurois a Japanese word for the color "black". Kuro may also refer to:* Kuro Island, any of various Japanese islands; see Kuroshima* Kuro , a fictional pirate captain in the manga One Piece...
(酷樂) loses its case vs IFPI Taiwan in Taipei local court. It would also lose its case vs Push Sound Music & Entertainment on December 19, 2006. Kuro would lose its appeal in the Taiwan high court on July 16, 2008. Chairman Chen Shou-ten (陳壽騰), CEO James Chen(陳國華), president Chen Kuo-hsiung(陳國雄), and one of Kuro's 500,000 members Chen Chia-hui (陳佳惠), were sentenced to fine and jail. It shut down its P2P services in 2006, and has become a legal music download service. - September 28 — MetaMachine Inc. discontinues the development and maintenance of the original eDonkey2000EDonkey2000eDonkey2000 was a peer-to-peer file sharing application developed by US company MetaMachine, using the Multisource File Transfer Protocol...
client and of the OvernetOvernetOvernet was a decentralized peer-to-peer computer network, usually used for sharing large files . Overnet implements the Kademlia algorithm. In late 2006, Overnet and all Overnet-owned resources were taken down as a result of legal actions from the RIAA and others...
network following a cease and desist letterCease and desistA cease and desist is an order or request to halt an activity and not to take it up again later or else face legal action. The recipient of the cease-and-desist may be an individual or an organization....
from the RIAA. - November — Bram CohenBram CohenBram Cohen is an American computer programmer, best known as the author of the peer-to-peer BitTorrent protocol, as well as the first file sharing program to use the protocol, also known as BitTorrent...
, the author of the peer-to-peerPeer-to-peerPeer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...
(P2P) BitTorrent protocol and the BitTorrent program, made a deal with the MPAA to remove links to illegal content on the official BitTorrent website. The deal was with the seven largest studios in America. The agreement means the site will comply with procedures outlined in the Digital Millennium Copyright ActDigital Millennium Copyright ActThe Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization . It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to...
.
2006
- February 21 – Razorback2, a SwissSwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
indexing server and one of the biggest on the eDonkey network, is raided and taken down. - May 31 – The servers of the Swedish website The Pirate BayThe Pirate BayThe Pirate Bay is a Swedish website which hosts magnet links and .torrent files, which allow users to share electronic files, including multimedia, computer games and software via BitTorrent...
are raided by 50 Swedish police officers, causing it to go offline for three days. - June 27 – MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd.MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd.MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. 545 U.S. 913 is a United States Supreme Court decision in which the Court unanimously held that defendant P2P file sharing companies Grokster and Streamcast could be sued for inducing copyright infringement for acts taken in the course of marketing file sharing...
is decided. - October 10 — RapidShareRapidShareRapidShare is a one-click hosting service that offers both free and commercial services. Operating from Switzerland, it is financed by the subscriptions of paying users...
one-click hosting service was founded by Christian Schmid.
2007
- August 21 — Suprnova.orgSuprnova.orgSuprnova.org was a Slovenia-based website which distributed torrents for various music and video files, computer programs and games. Started in late 2002 by Andrej Preston and for a while considered the most popular BitTorrent search engine, Suprnova.org closed in late 2004 after legal threats...
is relaunched by The Pirate Bay. - October 12 — RIAA files a lawsuit against Usenet.comUsenetUsenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
, accusing it of being an illicit peer-to-peer file sharing site. - October 23 — OiNK's Pink PalaceOinkOink may refer to:* The sound made by a pig* Oink! , a comic printed in the U.K. during the 1980s* Oink! , a 1982 Apple II game by Beagle Bros Software* Oink! , a 1982 Atari 2600 game by Activision...
BitTorrent Tracker is raided and shut down by a joint effort between Dutch and British police. - October 24 — The civil-court jury trial for Capitol v. ThomasCapitol v. ThomasCapitol v. Thomas was the first file-sharing copyright infringement lawsuit in the United States brought by major record labels to be tried before a jury. The defendant, Jammie Thomas-Rasset, was found liable in a 2007 trial for infringing 24 songs and ordered to pay $222,000 in statutory damages...
, the first lawsuitLawsuitA lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
by major record labels against an alleged file sharer, concludes with a verdict for the plaintiffs and a statutory damageStatutory damagesStatutory damages are a damage award in civil law, in which the amount awarded is stipulated within the statute rather than being calculated based on the degree of harm to the plaintiff. Lawmakers will provide for statutory damages for acts in which it is difficult to determine a precise value of...
award of US$9,250 for each of 24 songs, for a total of $222,000. This was vacated due to an error in jury instruction, and a new trial was held in 2009. - November 9 — The DemonoidDemonoidDemonoid is a website and BitTorrent tracker created by an anonymous Serb known only by the pseudonyms "Deimos" and "Zajson". The website indexes torrents uploaded by its members. Demonoid.com was ranked the 538th most popular website overall in December 2010, according to Alexa. Demonoid's torrent...
BitTorrent tracker shuts down until April 2008 citing legal threats by the CRIACriaA cria is the name for a baby camelid such as a llama, alpaca, vicuña, or guanaco. It comes from the Spanish word cría, meaning "baby". Its false cognate in English, crya , was coined by British sailors who explored Chile in the 18th century and were quick to describe the camelids onomatopoeically...
. - December 20 — Shareaza.com, the homepage of ShareazaShareazaShareaza is a peer-to-peer file sharing client running under Microsoft Windows which supports the gnutella, Gnutella2 , eDonkey, BitTorrent, FTP, HTTP and HTTPS network protocols and handles magnet links, ed2k links, and the now deprecated gnutella and Piolet links...
, is taken over by Discordia Ltd., a company closely related to the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America). It now distributes software containing spyware and adware.
2008
- January 10 — A trademark claiming the name ShareazaShareazaShareaza is a peer-to-peer file sharing client running under Microsoft Windows which supports the gnutella, Gnutella2 , eDonkey, BitTorrent, FTP, HTTP and HTTPS network protocols and handles magnet links, ed2k links, and the now deprecated gnutella and Piolet links...
is filled by Discordia Ltd. - March 24 — TorrentSpyTorrentSpyTorrentSpy was a popular BitTorrent indexing website. It provided .torrent files, which enabled users to exchange data between one another.It also provided a forum to comment on them and integrated the user-driven content site ShoutWire into the front page...
shuts down citing hostile legal climate. - April 11 — DemonoidDemonoidDemonoid is a website and BitTorrent tracker created by an anonymous Serb known only by the pseudonyms "Deimos" and "Zajson". The website indexes torrents uploaded by its members. Demonoid.com was ranked the 538th most popular website overall in December 2010, according to Alexa. Demonoid's torrent...
comes back online. - May 7 — TorrentSpy is ordered to pay $110 million in damages by US court.
- May 8 — FreenetFreenetFreenet is a decentralized, censorship-resistant distributed data store originally designed by Ian Clarke. According to Clarke, Freenet aims to provide freedom of speech through a peer-to-peer network with strong protection of anonymity; as part of supporting its users' freedom, Freenet is free and...
Darknet rewrite is released. - August 8 — ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
prevents their citizens from accessing The Pirate BayThe Pirate BayThe Pirate Bay is a Swedish website which hosts magnet links and .torrent files, which allow users to share electronic files, including multimedia, computer games and software via BitTorrent...
and forwards their traffic to IFPIIFPIThe International Federation of the Phonographic Industry is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a not-for-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland...
instead. - October 10 — An appeal by The Pirate Bay's lawyers succeeds in lifting the Italian ban.
- October 29 — MorpheusMorpheus (computer program)Morpheus was a file sharing and searching peer-to-peer client for Microsoft Windows, developed and distributed by the company StreamCast, that originally used the Opennap protocol, but later supported many different peer-to-peer protocols...
website taken down; client is no longer available. - November 27 — A Danish court rules that ISPs must block access to the website The Pirate BayThe Pirate BayThe Pirate Bay is a Swedish website which hosts magnet links and .torrent files, which allow users to share electronic files, including multimedia, computer games and software via BitTorrent...
. - December 16 — ShareReactorShareReactorShareReactor is an index site for files on the eDonkey network and Torrent files. ShareReactor does not host any files; instead, the links it contains are accessible through an eDonkey network and BitTorrent client. The site was taken down by Swiss Police on March 10, 2004 due to the suspicion of...
is reopened by The Pirate Bay. - December 19 — The RIAA claims to have ended its P2P litigation campaign against individuals in the U.S., which had been losing money, in favor of a three strikes campaign. However, some new lawsuits continued to be filed.
2009
- February 16 — The Pirate Bay trialThe Pirate Bay trialThe Pirate Bay trial is a joint criminal and civil prosecution in Sweden of four individuals charged for promoting the copyright infringement of others with the torrent tracking website The Pirate Bay...
starts. - February 23 — OneSwarmOneSwarmOneSwarm is a privacy-preserving P2P client developed at the University of Washington. Although backward compatible with traditional BitTorrent clients, OneSwarm also includes new features designed to protect user privacy when sharing data among friends through creating a distributed darknet,...
is released. - April 17 — The Pirate Bay trial concludes with a guilty verdict; each defendant is sentenced to one year in jail and a total of 30 million SEKSwedish kronaThe krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...
(3.6 million USD, 2.7 million EUR) in fines and damages. The people behind The Pirate Bay declare they will appeal the ruling. - April 24 — Legal fees in record industry lawsuits cause SeeqPodSeeqPodSeeqPod was a search and recommendation engine specifically for indexing and finding playable search results including audio, video, podcasts and Wikipedia articles that are publicly accessible on the World Wide Web. The site claimed to have indexed more than 13 million individual tracks and...
to sell its technology; the site closes until it finds a buyer. - June 15 — In the retrial of the 2007 Capitol v. ThomasCapitol v. ThomasCapitol v. Thomas was the first file-sharing copyright infringement lawsuit in the United States brought by major record labels to be tried before a jury. The defendant, Jammie Thomas-Rasset, was found liable in a 2007 trial for infringing 24 songs and ordered to pay $222,000 in statutory damages...
case, a jury again finds in favor of the plaintiffs, and awards statutory damages of $80,000 per song, for a total of $1.92 million. - June 30 — Swedish gaming company Global Gaming Factory says it has an interest in purchasing The Pirate BayThe Pirate BayThe Pirate Bay is a Swedish website which hosts magnet links and .torrent files, which allow users to share electronic files, including multimedia, computer games and software via BitTorrent...
. Global Gaming factory eventually lose funding to do so. (GGF). - September 14 — Demonoid experiences hardware damage from power outages causing a three month downtime.
- September 30 — GGF fails to produce the funds to purchase The Pirate Bay and the deal is put to an end.
- November 26 — MininovaMininovaMininova is a website offering BitTorrent downloads. Mininova was once one of the largest sites offering torrents of copyrighted material, but in November 2009, following legal action in the Dutch courts, the site operators deleted all torrent files uploaded by regular users including torrents that...
has removed torrents to all copyrighted content that it does not have official agreements for. - December — BtChina and about 530 other sites registered in China were closed down.
- December 13 — Demonoid is back online.
2010s
In computer science terms, not much interesting took place in the 2010s. The BitTorrent protocol and clients became more stable, adopting UDPUser Datagram Protocol
The User Datagram Protocol is one of the core members of the Internet Protocol Suite, the set of network protocols used for the Internet. With UDP, computer applications can send messages, in this case referred to as datagrams, to other hosts on an Internet Protocol network without requiring...
to defend against transmission problems related to TCP. IP6 support increased with clients and trackers. There were no new file sharing protocols introduced, only patches to the existing protocols.
2010
- October 26, 2010 — US federal court judge Kimba WoodKimba WoodKimba Maureen Wood is a United States federal judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.-Early life and education:...
issued an injunction forcing LimeWireLimeWireLimeWire is a free peer-to-peer file sharing client program that runs on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and other operating systems supported by the Java software platform. LimeWire uses the gnutella network as well as the BitTorrent protocol. A free software version and a purchasable "enhanced"...
to prevent "the searching, downloading, uploading, file trading and/or file distribution functionality, and/or all functionality" of its software (see Arista Records LLC v. Lime Group LLCArista Records LLC v. Lime Group LLCArista Records LLC v. Lime Group LLC, 715 F. Supp. 2d 481 , is a United States district court case in which the Southern District of New York held that Lime Group LLC, the defendant, induced copyright infringement with its peer-to-peer file sharing software, LimeWire. The court issued a permanent...
). As a result, LimeWire May 5, 2011 and newer have been disabled using a backdoor installed by the company. - November 2010 — First release of a modified version of LimeWire Pro with all undesirable components removed (such as ad- and spyware, as well as dependencies to LimeWire LLC servers) under the name of "LimeWire Pirate Edition", enabling access to all advanced features of the professional version for free.
- November 26, 2010 — The verdict in The Pirate Bay trialThe Pirate Bay trialThe Pirate Bay trial is a joint criminal and civil prosecution in Sweden of four individuals charged for promoting the copyright infringement of others with the torrent tracking website The Pirate Bay...
was announced. The appeal court shortened sentences of three of the defendants who appeared in court that day. Neij's sentence was reduced to 10 months, Sunde's to eight, and Lundström's to four. However, the fine was increased from 32 to 46 million kronor. - December 11, 2010 — LimeWire Pro source code ("Pirate Edition") released at SourceForge.netSourceForge.netSourceForge is a web-based source code repository. It acts as a centralized location for software developers to control and manage open source software development. The website runs a version of SourceForge Enterprise Edition, forked from the last open-source version available...
under the name WireShare.
2011
- March 2011 — A case involving LimeWire is announced, with an attempt to sue the company for up to $75 Trillion.
External links
- http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/8002/p2p.html 2008-04, Top P2P applications by percent as measured by 1.6 million PCs.
- http://torrentfreak.com/p2p-statistics-080426/ 2008-04, Filesharing Report Shows Explosive Growth for uTorrent
- Google trends: kazaa, limewire, torrent, emule – comparison of networks/clients over time.
- Google trends: suprnova, mininova, pirate bay, torrentspy – comparison of torrent trackers and search engines.
- http://www.p2pnet.net/story/2797 2003–04, average simultaneous total p2p users.
- http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=763 2003–05, total broken by ed2k DC kazaa Gnutella Overnet
- http://ocbmaurice.dyndns.org/pl/ed2k_stats.pl current ed2k stats
- http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/6719.cfm cachelogic 2005 file formats (also http://www.slyck.com/story914_CacheLogic_Study_P2P_is_Changing,http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/felten/p2p-still-growing-traffic-shifts-edonkey)
- http://torrentfreak.com/peer-to-peer-traffic-statistics/ 2006 cachelogic p2p as percent of total traffic