File­shar­ing

File­shar­ing is a con­veni­ent and legal way to share files on the Internet or other networks. The most important aspect of file­shar­ing is to use secure tools, know your recipient, and only share files that are not protected by copyright.

File­shar­ing is when users dis­trib­ute files for download via a network. In most cases, this occurs online, with the files being located either on the computers of the in­di­vidu­al par­ti­cipants or on dedicated servers from where they are dis­trib­uted to the re­spect­ive users. In terms of file size, there are no limits, which is why the platforms are primarily used to share large files. Typically, down­loaded files are made available to other users while they are still being down­loaded in order to maximise the per­form­ance of the network.

Depending on the un­der­ly­ing tech­no­logy of the re­spect­ive file-sharing platform, users usually require spe­cial­ist software to share or obtain files. However, file sharing via the browser is becoming in­creas­ingly common. In addition, file­shar­ing is useful to exchange smaller files via messenger, email, and similar methods.

File­shar­ing is generally legal. However, this depends on the type of content that is being down­loaded or shared. Most media such as music, movies, or computer games are usually subject to copyright laws and reg­u­la­tions. If violated, this could have legal con­sequences. Unless you are the author of such files, you should never obtain copy­righted content from a file­shar­ing network.

Warnings of copyright in­fringe­ment online are pre­dom­in­antly issued on the basis of file uploads. On the one hand, this is because the damage caused by making files available worldwide is weighted higher than the damage resulting from a single download. On the other hand, uploads are easier to prove for rights owners. However, since uploads and downloads are often closely linked in file­shar­ing, all parties involved may be charged in a court.

Online file­shar­ing is the most common way to exchange digital files. However, a wide range of Internet-based file-sharing methods exist. We have sum­mar­ised the most important ones in the following list:

• Client server principle: The classic client-server model offers the simplest form of Internet-based file sharing. For example, an FTP server is easy to set up so users can store files to share and request and download them at any time via an FTP client.
• Server-based peer-to-peer network: Peer-to-peer sharing using a cent­ral­ised P2P or several co­ordin­at­ing servers (partially de­cent­ral­ised P2P) used to be the pre­dom­in­ant file sharing method for a long time to save bandwidth when ex­chan­ging files.
• De­cent­ral­ised peer-to-peer network: In fully de­cent­ral­ised P2P networks, the par­ti­cip­at­ing peers (i.e., the in­di­vidu­al users) perform all the necessary com­mu­nic­a­tion and ad­min­is­trat­ive tasks (answering search queries, es­tab­lish­ing con­nec­tions, etc.).
• Share­hoster/File­hoster: Share­hosters, also known as one-click hosters or file­hosters, allow users to upload files and make them ac­cess­ible to others via a link. The data is always stored on the provider’s servers.
• Cloud storage: Cloud storage can be used to share files by making uploaded files available to other users.

The exchange of files online while con­veni­ent does carry risks. File­shar­ing networks and services tend to offer countless files for download without any con­trolling authority. Users may be able to view meta in­form­a­tion such as the file name or the length of a file (video/audio) but are by and large required to blindly trust the ad­vert­ised content.

As a result, users are higher risk of infecting their devices with malware which is sometimes ac­ci­dent­ally down­loaded as content or in addition to the requested files. As a rule of thumb – the more anonymous the exchange, the more cautious you should be. This also applies to copyright, because when down­load­ing files from an unknown source, there is an added risk of un­know­ingly receiving content that is illegal to dis­trib­ute.

Another danger of P2P is that private data may be shared. This is almost always due to an incorrect con­fig­ur­a­tion of the client and tends to happen fairly often.

Large file­shar­ing networks and down­load­ing content from anonymous sources carry a much higher security risk. To share data with other users, some solutions offer a high level of security.

Small documents such as text files, images, or PDFs can be shared securely using email. The big advantage of email is that the sender is easy to identify. If you use TLS/SSL email en­cryp­tion, you can rely on an in­ter­cep­tion- and tamper-proof variant for file transfer, whether you’re using Outlook, Gmail, or Thun­der­bird.

Cloud storage classics such as Dropbox or Dropbox al­tern­at­ives like Box, Google Drive, or HiDrive Cloud Storage are an in­creas­ingly popular and secure storage solution to share files. Data privacy and data security are usually main­tained by the providers; regular backups and suf­fi­cient anti-malware pro­tec­tion are usually part of the package. Files can be uploaded and down­loaded via user accounts and shared with others using links.

While sharing files via a browser doesn’t sound like the most secure method for sharing data. Security standards of drag-and-drop file hosting have con­tinu­ously increased over the past few years. With solutions like WeTrans­fer, HiDrive Share, or Terashare, you can upload files up to two or even ten gigabytes in size and simply share the ap­pro­pri­ate download link with a recipient. Beware, if you don’t know the uploader, the download always carries a risk.

Virtual Private Networks are great for accessing private networks such as company networks while working from home and are also suitable for secure file sharing. Only au­thor­ised users can access files that are shared via VPN. This type of file sharing is re­com­men­ded for companies that work with sensitive documents.