Peer to peer technology is software that directly connects you to another individual without a server in the middle. it acts as both the client & server to share files across a network. Such a decentralized network uses resources more efficiently than a traditional network and is less vulnerable to systemic failure.
P2P file sharing was introduced to the general public in 1999 when American college student Shawn Fanning created the music sharing service Napster. It employed a centralized index server, which users would search on the basis of song title or artist name. If the index located the song on the hard drive of any other computer that was currently connected to the network, a user could download a personal copy while simultaneously offering his or her own computer supplied files in response to other users’ searches. The service quickly became a hub for larges cale unauthorized distribution of copyrighted music, and in 2001 it was shut down as a result of a lawsuit from members of the American recording industry.
