Essay from the year 2005 in the subject Communications - Multimedia, Internet, New Technologies, grade: High Distinction, Macquarie University (Centre for International Communication), course: New Media, 22 entries in the bibliography, language: English, comment: This essay analyses the usage of P2P networks for music file-sharing. The text examines the history of copyright policy and the cultural meaning of P2P file-sharing and refers to recent english research articles about P2P networks., abstract: This essay examines the usage of peer-to-peer (P2P) networks for music file-sharing and intends to analyse this usage in the context of current copyright policy. This will be achieved by addressing the following issues. Firstly, the history and principle of P2P networks will be outlined. Secondly, it will be analysed whether P2P file-sharing can be seen as an act of 'theft'. Thirdly, the paper will examine how P2P networks are used and what cultural significance they represent. Fourthly, the future of P2P networks will be debated and finally the results of this paper will be summarised and discussed.