Peer-to-peer file sharing (Napster, BitTorrent)
Intercambio de archivos P2P (Napster, BitTorrent)
- Date
- 1999-2001 · confidence high
- Place
- Northeastern University, Boston, United States (Napster); San Francisco (BitTorrent, 2001)
- Credited to
- Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker (Napster); Bram Cohen (BitTorrent)
- People
- 👤 Bram Cohen1975–👤 Sean Parker1979–👤 Shawn Fanning1980–
- Field
- Communication
What it is
Networks in which users exchange files directly with each other with no central server. Napster dismantled the physical record business; BitTorrent still carries a huge share of traffic.
What it led to
- The crisis of the recording industry and the birth of iTunes and Spotify
- Decentralised networks and Bitcoin's technology
- Legal battles over intellectual property on the internet
Built on
- MP3 audio compression1993
- home internet
- Usenet