Peer-to-peer file sharing has been the dominant means of sharing entertainment via the Internet. Its use has grown steadily since the early 2000’s, following the decline of Napster. “Fair use” is the rationale given by Internet users who illegally download movies, music, games, and anything else you can wrap in a digital format to share with the world. Since many students will turn to peer-to-peer file sharing during the winter break, it is worth mentioning a few tips that will help folks use the service effectively.

Most importantly, the files you download do not appear out of thin air. They are stored on a computer known as a server which make the files available to your computer. On peer-to-peer networks such as BitTorrent, this server is most often the person who downloaded the file prior to you. Thus, each person who downloads a file becomes a server, known in the peer-topeer network as a seed. Everyone who downloads a file is expected to upload it to others in the swarm, or group of computers that are actively serving a particular file. You might compare the process to a potluck, where everyone who attends is expected to bring a dish of food. Just as you would not arrive at a potluck empty-handed, you should not download files from the peer-to-peer network without uploading them to others. In other words, don’t be a leech!

So that everyone can enjoy the great benefits of peer-to-peer file sharing during the holiday season, follow these tips to ensure the network remains viable!

• Maintain an upload ratio of at least one half. This means you should upload at least half of the amount of content you download. For example, if you download an 800 megabyte movie, allow the file to seed until you have shared at least 400 megabytes. Pay attention to the statistics shown in your file sharing program.

• Configure your router or firewall to allow incoming connections. Some firewalls can interfere with your ability to upload files, so ensure port forwarding is properly configured and test your connection.

• Seed your files twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. To make a longstanding impact on the peerto- peer community, consider leaving your computer powered on indefinitely so that files you download will always be available to other users. Build or purchase a computer with low power requirements and high capacity hard drives for this purpose.

• Use private trackers. A tracker is the server that maintains a list of Internet users who are actively sharing the file. Most torrent search websites (for example, Torrentz.com) only browse public trackers, available to anyone. Private trackers (what.cd, for instance) require registration and in some cases are only available by special invitation. Not only will you find rare files that are unavailable elsewhere, but private trackers reward users for maintaining high share ratios and the transfer rates typically exceed anything available publicly.