What is torrent? What is BitTorrent? Is torrent illegal? Is torrent only use for download movies and pirated material?
BitTorrent:
In technical, BitTorrent is a
peer-to-peer file transfer protocol for sharing a large amount of data with
internet.
Created in 2001 for sharing files between peer to peer networks (P2P). (Transfer files from PC to PC without any centralized hub/Server)
Why BitTorrent is invented:
We all
are known about how files are transfer over the internet. When we send data then it
passes through servers, For e.g. Gmail, WhatsApp, Facebook.
When we download something from internet in should store
somewhere on the internet on servers.
When multiple clients request the same file for download then, The server must be very powerful to handle those several requests and send the data
to clients with high bandwidth.
But servers go slow down when multiple clients download same
file and the client get very low download speed.
To solve this problem in 2001 Bittorrent is invented.
BitTorrent protocol works on peer-to-peer file transfer.
When we download files with torrent, then we also upload at the same time. We act
as a peer in the network. Peers are also the seeders and leechers.
Peers:
When we are connected to
internet with the torrent client installed on our computer then we are peers. (I.e.Peer-to-Peer Network)
Seeds:
When the file is completed download
over torrent then you also upload it to someone who needs it. It is not needed
to another user can download the full file from your computer, but he can download
a small part of that file from your computer and other parts from others pcs
connected in a peer-to-peer network,
When we upload those parts and connected continuously to
internet then we are the seeders or uploaders.
Uploading file on torrent called as seeding, or uploader is
called as seeder in torrent. No one upload files manually but Bittorrent client
Ex. UTorrent performs all the operations itself.
Leaches:
Leechers
are the user who downloaded the file with the torrent network. When you download
files from torrent they are upload by seeders from their computer. The file may
be stored on different computers. When we download a file, multiple computers
are uploading that file they are called seeders as we already saw.
The torrent client downloads multiple parts and joins them in
our local computer when a download finishes.
Download speed is very high with torrent because there is
no single server. Local Computers act as servers by connecting to the internet and
form a peer to peer network.
What is a Torrent file:
The torrent
file is simply a meta info file with .torrent extension. Meta means data about
data. For E.g. we can consider the index of a book. Book index does not contain
actual information but it describes what information is written in the book.
The torrent file is same as this It does not have actual data
but it has the information about where the file is stored and addressed of
those users (users who downloaded the file and who can upload it for you with
higher bandwidth).
You can download .torrent file and open it with torrent
client (E.g. UTorrent ) and download the torrent files.
You can
also, download torrent files by magnet link. A magnet link is the URI (Uniform
Resource Identifier) scheme for identifying files by their contents by
generating a hash value. You can simply copy the hash and paste it into the client by
clicking on the magnet option and reach to the actual file.
Is Torrent illegal ?
The
the answer is no! Bittorent is invented for sharing large files with high speed
without any central system.
Using torrent for downloading and sharing free material is
not Illegal but, Sharing and downloading copyright-protected material over
the torrent network is illegal.
Illegal torrent sites are blocked by the government and ISPs (Internet
Service Providers). ThePirateBay and Kickass are the popular legal torrent
trackers (Which finds the information about torrents on the internet in a short
torrent browser).
Why torrent is dangerous!
The peers can see the IP
address of seeders/uploaders. The IP address is our internet identity and knowing
our internet identity very easily is not safe.
Your ISP (Internet Service Providers) and copyright trolls
monitors the tor network for finding Illegal activities.
Users can use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) when accessing
torrents. So your ISP does not know what you are doing.
Viruses – Sometimes viruses and malware are anonymously
downloaded with torrent files over the internet and torrent network.
Deleting files from torrents is
not easy because the file is not stored on a centralized server. It is stored on different
local personal computers. We can delete files like copyright-protected material
from servers by reporting it but in the torrent, it cannot be possible in that way. That’s
why torrent is used to share pirated material.
Internet’s 3%+ traffic goes through
torrent.
Use BitTorrent safely and use it for good intentions!
