Is Deviant Behaviour the Norm on P2P File Sharing Networks?, published in

Abstract

Major international law-enforcement initiatives are underway to fight the distribution of illegal pornography via the Internet. In this paper we examine the role of peerto-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks in illegal pornography distribution. First, we investigate the contention that these networks are especially implicated in illegal pornography distribution. Our finding is that this conventional wisdom is in fact flawed: while we confirm that P2P networks are indeed used for the distribution of this material, we also find that the vast majority of it is produced and consumed by a tiny minority of P2P users who, furthermore, have little or no interaction with the wider law-abiding P2P community. On the basis of this finding, we outline a sociotechnical approach through which P2P communities (which are in general as opposed to illegal pornography as the rest of the population) might themselves collectively subvert the activities of the disconnected minority that deal in illegal pornography. We believe that such a ‘selfpolicing’ approach is potentially far more realistic and effective than the commonly-proposed “blunt instrument” measures of attempting to close down or centrally police P2P communities. 1