File sharing
A computer file can be e-mailed to customers, colleagues and friends as an attachment. It can be uploaded
to a website or FTP server for easy download by others. It can be put into a "shared location" or onto a file server for instant use by colleagues. The load of bulk downloads to many users can be eased by the use of "mirror" servers or peer-to-peer networks.
In any of these cases, access to the file may be controlled by user authentication; the transit of the file over the Internet may be obscured by encryption,
and money may change hands before or after access to the file is given.
The price can be paid by the remote charging of funds from, for
example, a credit card whose details are also passed—hopefully fully
encrypted—across the Internet. The origin and authenticity of the file
received may be checked by digital signatures or by MD5 or other message digests.
These simple features of the Internet, over a worldwide basis,
are changing the basis for the production, sale, and
distribution of
anything that can be reduced to a computer file for transmission. This
includes all manner of print publications, software products, news,
music, film, video, photography, graphics and the other arts. This in
turn has caused seismic shifts in each of the existing industries that
previously controlled the production and distribution of these products.
Internet
collaboration technology enables business and project
teams to share documents, calendars and other information. Such
collaboration occurs in a wide variety of areas including scientific
research, software development, conference planning, political activism
and creative writing.