Legal controversy

The most commonly shared files on the popular P2P networks are mp3 music files and MPEG-4 videos, and many media publishers such as major record labels and movie distributors feel that this threatens their established business model. These companies have lobbied to U.S. lawmakers through organizations they control such as the RIAA and the MPAA for legal restrictions to be imposed on P2P networks. A RIAA lawsuit led to the closure of the original Napster network. But in 2002, a bill that would have granted copyright holders the right to break into computer systems suspected to be illegally distributing copyrighted material was rejected by the U.S. Congress.

With P2P networks technically evolving to the point where they are well-entrenched and resistant to most efforts to subvert their operations, the individual users themselves have become the focus of legal attacks from media companies. However, emergent and future modifications to P2P technology may be able to sidestep the current tactics employed by media companies to identify people exchanging files on the system by introducing the model of a closed network with secure encryption that virtually guarantees the anonymity of the users.