Is Deviant Behaviour the Norm on P2P File-Sharing Networks?

Abstract

Major international law-enforcement initiatives are currently underway to fight the distribution of illegal pornography over the Internet. It is commonly believed that peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks are particularly implicated in this area— largely because of the anonymity that they afford their users. This anonymity is thought to encourage individuals to engage in trafficking illegal pornography because it weakens social pressures that would otherwise inhibit such behaviour. In this paper we present empirical evidence suggesting that this conventional wisdom may be flawed. Extrapolating from our analysis, we argue that the vast majority of the P2P-mediated illegal pornography is produced by a small subset of the P2P community who have little or no interaction with the wider law-abiding community.