I really must be a “Good Boy” like my Mother always told the neighbors when I was a youngster. Or I may just be one of the more ignorant progeny of the paterfamilias since I seem to be unacquainted with modern day piracy. As a Domain admin and an SMS admin I have been familiar with illegal or frowned upon applications and software technologies such as Napster when it first appeared as well as Kazaa when it was in its infancy over the years working for various companies.
Over the last ten years or so I have done an unusual amount of internet surfing rather than going to the Library as I did before for research and recreation. Many times I can remember seeing the phrase “Download Torrent” on Google search results pages and just went on to the next entry because I didn’t know what that meant. Late last year I was surfing the internet looking for some information on a specific SMS problem we were having when I got a call from one of my SMS admin friends we will call E.R. I happened to be on a search results page that said “Download Torrent” and I asked him if he knew what a Torrent was and he explained it very briefly to me.
For those of you who don’t know (Like myself until quite recently) the dictionary states that a Torrent is a downpour or heavy rain, a fast and violent stream of water, a flood as in an overwhelming number or amount such as a torrent of help desk calls.
However a computer Torrent is a Peer-To-Peer (P2P) distribution tool called BitTorrent based on the P2P technology developed by the programmer Bram Cohen in 2002 that was released under the BitTorrent Open Source License. In a nut shell it allows you to download files from several or multiple sources or locations at once across the internet.
For the most part I don’t see anything wrong with the P2P technology to download applications such as ShareWare or TrialWare but when the licensing information is included in the download such as serial numbers or product keys that crosses the line to me. I have seen where you can download Torrents for movies, music and even pornographic materials using Torrent technology but some things I have seen as Torrent downloads not only cross the line but are just pain obtuse or stupid to me.
Take for example the torrent I inadvertently stumbled across last night while doing some research. It was a torrent for a Microsoft SQL Server book in Pdf format! Several things to me personally are wrong with this picture other than the fact that the material is pirated. The number one reason is I think books should be held in your hand and read while turning the pages with your fingers. I just cannot get excited about reading a book on a computer screen and never will. The second reason is of all the digital formats out there for documentation or E-books Pdf files are the worst possible one you can use because they are slow to load, the search feature stinks, you cannot copy and paste a single paragraph or sentence from them and the software wants to update every time you seem to open up one but I digress.
The point that I am trying to make here is P2P technology in general and Torrents in particular are technologies that can and do allow people to obtain software, movies, music and books without paying for them which no matter how you look at it is stealing. Not only are these people stealing from companies but they are stealing from individuals who we in the SMS community might even know personally.
If they happen to be using this technology while at work and happen to store the pirated materials on your LAN network your organization suffers. Your infrastructure suffers because P2P technology uses your networks bandwidth, the downloaded materials consume space on your file servers, and your users are not working and getting paid for stealing. If a Microsoft or internal audit happens and the pirated materials are discovered there may be financial or other more serous penalties involved.
If you happen to be a proponent or user of P2P technologies to obtain illegal or even immoral materials ask yourself would you go into a store like Best Buy and steal software, a DVD movie or a music CD. Also ask yourself would you go into a bookstore or library and steal a book or would you go into an adult store and steal a DVD movie. Most of you (I Hope) would probably say No and that is the point I am trying to make here.
Just because P2P technology allows stealing with anonymity from the comfort of your office or home it is nonetheless stealing and it is not a victimless crime because people are involved as a part of their job or livelihood and are not getting any compensation for illegally gained materials. For those that think downloading a copy of software with a valid serial number or product key such as SMS or MOM is not hurting Microsoft because they have all the money in the world you would be incorrect in that assumption and the same can be said for other smaller companies. Stealing affects companies such as Microsoft because of the money and effort they have to put into developing a way to thwart or stop their software from being obtained illegally and that cost is passed onto all of us.
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