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File sharing is not illegal. However the popularity of the mp3 music, games, applications, movies, and other copyrighted material is illegal.  So it is not a matter or how you share but what you are sharing.

Since the late 1990s we witnessed the growth of companies like Napster, Kazaa, and Limewire that, while designed simply to aid in the sharing of electronic files, in practice led to a huge growth in illegal file sharing.

One of the most popular ways to get very large files like movies, computer applications, and video games is to use BitTorrent, another type of peer-to-peer network. Using BitTorrent large media files are broken down into smaller chunks, which are then transferred to the user depending on the fastest possible connection to the missing piece. This is done while the user is uploading the pieces it already has to other users.

Most people who use file sharing for music and movies will make the following excuses; A CD only has a few good songs. DVDs cost too much. I only download songs or movies I already own as a backup copy. If taping off the radio or TV is okay, then why not downloading? Popular artists make the most of their money in live concerts. The music industry said the same thing about combo radio cassette tapes, and the industry didn’t crumble.

From 2002 through 2003, a number of popular BitTorrent services were established, including Suprnova, isoHunt, TorrentSpy, and The Pirate Bay. The Pirate Bay is a Swedish website that indexes and tracks BitTorrent files. Which means they don’t keep any copyrighted materials on site. They only have the hash (key needed to share the file) which is downloaded in a matter of seconds.

In 2002, the RIAA filed lawsuits against Kazaa users, not Kazza itself. In 2006, police raids took down the Razorback2 eDonkey server and temporarily took down The Pirate Bay. This year, 2009, the Pirate Bay trial ended in a guilty verdict for the primary founders of the tracker. Although the founders no longer own the site the authorities demand they shut it down.  The Pirate Bay continues to function.

The harm done to your PC can manfest in many ways. While most software developed for sharing, the software you use could be full of malware and adware. Opening a port for sharing is like leaving the backdoor of your house unlocked. Ports are access points into your PC from the Internet. Leaving ports open allows programs to access the Internet.  Finally you never know what quality you will get or even if the program you are downloading isn’t a big virus. In the end peer-to-peer file sharing is a matter of blind trust.