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Examining the Use of Peer-to-Peer Networks from an Activity Perspective

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Handbook of Peer-to-Peer Networking

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Abstract

Since the introduction of Napster in 1999, millions of Internet users have exchanged massive amounts of files via P2P (Peer-to-Peer) filesharing networks. Notwithstanding the widespread penetration of these systems among Internet consumers, little is known about the usage process. Therefore, the aim of this chapter is to examine the usage of “illegal” P2P networks by means of an exploratory, qualitative study. The main findings revealed significant differences between the uses of various systems. Bittorrent clients were mainly used to download large files such as video, movies, and complete albums, while Gnutella clients were particularly utilized for small files such as single songs. The results indicate that the type of content, the characteristics of the client, the omnipresence of fake files and malware, the users’ motivations, the users’ lifestyles and the presence of bandwidth caps had an impact on how the participants utilized P2P systems.

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Acknowledgements

FLEET (an interdisciplinary research project in FLEmish E-publishing Trends) is an IWT SBO project, with research partners IBBT SMIT, Cemeso, LSTS, MOFI, ICRI, CUO IBBT, MICT, ECDC and TNO.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for UX Research / IBBT, K.U.Leuven, Parkstraat 45 Bus, 3605 - 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Jorn De Boever & Dirk De Grooff

Authors
  1. Jorn De Boever
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  2. Dirk De Grooff
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Correspondence to Jorn De Boever .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, University Avenue W. 200, Waterloo, N2L 3G1, Canada

    Xuemin Shen

  2. Huawei Technologies, Somerset Corporate Blvd. 400, Bridgewater, 08807, U.S.A.

    Heather Yu

  3. Avaya Labs Research, Mount Airy Road 233, Basking Ridge, 07920, U.S.A.

    John Buford

  4. Dept. Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, University Avenue W. 200, Waterloo, N2L 3G1, Canada

    Mursalin Akon

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De Boever, J., De Grooff, D. (2010). Examining the Use of Peer-to-Peer Networks from an Activity Perspective. In: Shen, X., Yu, H., Buford, J., Akon, M. (eds) Handbook of Peer-to-Peer Networking. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09751-0_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09751-0_4

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  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-09751-0

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