What is Free-Riding

Peer-to-peer file sharing exploded into the public consciousness with the release of Napster in 1999. Napster sparked a revolution in computer-mediated communication and within a few years, peer-to-peer had replaced client-server as the dominant communications paradigm of the Internet. Peer-to-peer has also redefined the role of home users, empowering them to produce and distribute content free from control or censorship by third parties. The importance of the peer-to-peer revolution has been reflected by significant research and business activity, although considerable technical and socio-technical problems still remain. This chapter discusses the emergence of peer-to-peer systems as a medium for computer-mediated communication and how these systems have evolved to tackle new challenges. This is done in the context of a case-study of Gnutella, one of today’s most significant peer-to-peer file sharing systems.