Peer-to-peer sharing is one of the many activities on the internet today. Peer-to-peer sharing constitutes the reproduction and distribution of, more often than not, copyrighted music, movies, photographs and software through the use of peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. P2P file sharing allows a computer to link up to a P2P network and allows the user to download and share files with other users on the network.

But is peer-to-peer sharing legal?

Peer-to-peer sharing is legitimate if it is utilized within a company’s computer system to allocate company documents among its employees or if the files shared are the users’ own or has the user’s authorization for distribution. Peer-to-peer sharing becomes illegal when the following activities are carried out minus the copyrighter owner’s permission:

* The plagiarism of copyrighted material and the posting of such materials on one’s blog or web space.
* Copying and sharing music, films, TV shows, photographs or other copyrighted material through the use of P2P technology.
* Purchasing a Music CD or film DVD and then producing copies for commercial purpose.

To avoid unlawful activities involving P2P file sharing, one must know that movie files and music can be obtained legally through online subscription services and from certain websites that have been authorized by copyright holders to dispense and share multimedia files legally. Most of these sites ask for payment for each music or movie file download. One of these sites are the popular Apple iTunes Music Store, NetFlix and eMusic.

Peer-to-peer sharing is also now offered in social networking sites and mobile sites. Members of social networking sites and mobile sites can share their personal images, videos and documents to other users making peer-to-peer file sharing a convenient way to share and disseminate information to people all over the globe and as a result creating a tightly connected global community.

Mobilemo (www.mobilemo.com) is a social networking and a file sharing site for mobile phones. To experience and enjoy peer-to-peer file sharing, go to Mobilemo’s site and create your own mobile site today.