The proliferation of P2P (Peer-to-Peer) file sharing networks and increased acceptance of home broadband Internet connections has brought the sharing of Digital Content (audio and video) into the mainstream. In fact, the traffic generated by P2P during the evening accounts for nearly double the traffic produced for normal HTTP (Web) requests.

The State of Digital Content Delivery
Until recently, the mechanisms to deliver digital content were largely based on the “honor system”. Users purchase a file license or subscribe to a provider’s site, agree to membership or license conditions which require that the user not redistribute the content, and download any or all files on the site.

However, there are no controls, which enforce the license agreement. The user will in most cases, freely and intentionally distribute the downloaded audio/video on a P2P network or simply store the file on their computer in a folder that is shared with their P2P network. (more…)