With the answer known, I am asking, have you ever downloaded torrent files say movies, series, books and so on and so forth from torrent browser?
Ever wondered how you get your desired content (most of the time copyrighted materials) with such ease?
Generally, we browse torrent browsers with the purpose of downloading the content which otherwise would cost us. That is, I browse ‘Breaking Bad’ on torrent since I do not have a Netflix account. What if I tell you the action by which I am getting to download copyrighted materials from torrent is illegal? Yes that’s right! It’s illegal!
But wait ! How could downloading content from a legitimate website via a legitimate server, via a legitimate ISP, via a legitimate computer be a result of an illegal activity?
Before that, let me get you know, how actually downloading works.
You downloading the internet content means you transfer data( text, audio, image etc.) from the source to your computer. Since the internet is a network of computers interconnected, the copy of data from the source computer which we call server gets to you( a client) via connection you have established through your ISP following a protocol called HTTP ( Hypertext Transfer Protocol).
HTTP is a protocol on how servers connect with browsers. Moreover, it works on client-server networking architecture, which is actually involved in our common downloading process via most of our internet websites.
Now, getting to our business, does torrenting involve the use of HTTP to establish server – client communication? Of course not. That is why downloading torrent content is different than downloading through other websites.
Torrent browsers use Bittorrent protocol, which is based on peer-to-peer networking architecture. To simplify, you have no specific central computer(server) to provide the resources but all the computers on a network act as servers and clients themselves. That is, there is the availability of resources with all the computers on a network.
Simplifying more, just think of you browsing a movie on a torrent website. You get multiple results for that. You select one and let it get downloaded. The movie you are requesting for download is not just stored in a single computer but it is actually stored in multiple computers like yours. So finally, you get your complete file in bits and pieces from other computers like yours. Technically speaking, bandwidth is preserved. Now, since you have downloaded that file, you too act as a facilitator for a part of that very file whenever another person downloads the file. Hence, the load of that file does not only remain to the original provider but is distributed to all the clients, which is how peer-to-peer architecture works.
Now, let me take you to the torrent terminologies in a simplified manner.
I have a video, I uploaded it on a torrent browser. We call it ‘seeding’. I am a ‘seeder’. You downloaded the file which I had uploaded, you are a part of P2P (peer-to-peer) transmission, you are a ‘peer’.(You do not yet have a full file but contribute to the transmissions of the file. My file is getting to you; there is a bridge between us provided via a powerful computer called ’tracker’. You use an application to access my file; the application is a ‘client’. Finally, you are one of the ‘leechers’, since you have downloaded the file.
And there you go! This is how torrenting works. Moreover, it is important to know that the platform i.e torrent browser or website itself is not illegal. The way it has been used for distributing copyrighted files is of course illegal.
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