Economy of State Reflected Through the Internet File-Sharing Patterns

Person to person file sharing in the form of movie files, music files, television show, book and other types of files has gained immense growth in the world of internet usage. Most often this approach is illicit, but this is the best alternative means for sharing large size for the people. Data obtained from a sample part of the world has indicated that BitTorrent users contribute up to 1/3rd for the total internet traffic in that region. Users can share files even in the absence of broadband connections.

According to the reports, when compared to countries with large gross domestic product per capita (who are into sharing smaller files like that of music and videos), in countries with lower GDP per capita, BitTorrent users share large size files like that of movies over the internet. According to a recent study, a country’s economy primarily has a vital role in the internet sharing patterns of the people of the country. Studies have indicated that poorer countries have reflected that the people there download large size HD files over the internet.

Two very distinct behavioral patterns were discovered by the Northwestern University research team. This was based on the amount of data that was being shared by the users of BitTorrent, which is a very popular file-sharing application. The very first behavior reflected that BitTorrent users are very particular about the type of content they are sharing.

It was found that users tend to share music files more compared to movies. The second behavioral pattern indicated that countries belonging to the same categories as that of the first one lean to download files in a related pattern. According to Luis A. Nunes Amaral, who is a professor in the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering as well as Applied Science at the Northwestern University in the America, looking at the current internet usage pattern around the world, the computer interaction is part of our daily life.

To get an understanding and findings out of the study, the researchers had carried out an analysis of nearly 10,000 users of BitTorrent users around the world. The analysis highlighted that the users shared files which comprised of music, TV shows, small files, books and movies. Nearly 50% of the BitTorrent users downloaded files which primarily fell into two categories, namely not generalist and content specialist.

According to Fabian E. Bustamante, who is the co-author as well as professor of electrical engineering and computer science, this study will be able to provide lots of insights about the functioning of a country. People in a particular country will definitely show an obvious preference for any particular kind of content over the internet. They might even go to content which might to readily available due to the poor communication infrastructure and the laws of the country’s government.

Bustamante and his lab developed an app called as “The Ono app”, which will basically help the users to enhance the performance of the BitTorrent while ensuring that the impact of the same on their internet traffic is minimized.