The result, they say, should please both sides of the peer-to-peer debate: Users can download files about 20% faster than conventional file-sharing, while cutting the bandwidth requirements by more than a factor of five.

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In a test with around 600, 000 users, Krishnamurthy says, data sent using P4P had to travel between an average of just two networks to reach its destination, as opposed to around seven with normal file-sharing, vastly cutting the cost of moving the data.

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There were no laws to prevent companies from cutting their rank and file employees out of their equity, but the freedom to shape a company according to the principles of shared sacrifice and shared reward was more profound.

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But today, file-sharing is one of the most cutting-edge areas of software development, as high-speed Internet connections allow users to trade music, movies and applications at a blistering pace.

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The file shows the result of these endeavours, a cutting from the London Times some weeks later, on 6 November, 1920.

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San Francisco-based Bittorrent, for instance, has worked to bring file-sharing out of the hands of pirates and into the mainstream, cutting deals with companies like Fox, Paramount and Viacom to distribute legitimate peer-to-peer content.

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San Francisco-based Bittorrent, for instance, has worked to bring file-sharing out of the hands of pirates and into the mainstream, cutting deals with companies like Fox, Paramount and Viacom (nyse: VIA - news - people ) to distribute legitimate peer-to-peer content.

FORBES: The Internet's New Shortcut