Peer to peer file sharing of HUGE files.

Do you remember file transfer via DCC?

Back into good old days of IRC chats we used to send to each other files via DCC. It was peer to peer file transfer. You chat with probably a nice girl (or a guy) and you ask her to to send you a photo of herself.

Today, convenient services made us lazy and on top of that - handicapped. Without any knowledge how to send to each other a nice video we took during our last holiday which is around 1gigabyte. How to do it? Via Google Drive? Via Dropbox? Via Skype? All those services offer "convenience" which make us to share the file not only with your friend, but with them too. What if I am naked into this video? Would I still want to share it with Google? What is my choice?

How I share photos today.

What if I want to send a photo to a friend while I am chatting with him on Skype? Here is what usually happens today:

1. Take a picture with my phone
2. Send the photo via Viber or Telegram
3. Telling my friend on Skype to check his Viber or any other messeger.
   

The other option, if I still want to send the photo on Skype, I take the photo and send it to myself via email... Doesn't that look like handicapped? Yes, it is easy on Apple devices with AirDrop. Very easy, very convenient. But I no longer use Apple devices.

What about HUGE files?

Let's say it is "easy" with small files (as images). If we can call the steps above easy.

What if you have to send bigger files? What about that crazy video you took during your holiday which is around 500 MB? Or more than 1 GB? Sharing it on YouTube is an option. Sharing it on Facebook is an option too. But do you want to do it? Sending it on Skype to a friend is no longer an option. After Microsoft acquired Skype, it is a service which means your file will be uploaded to Skype servers first. Do you want that too?

There are still Peer-to-peer options today. We just don't know them.

• Take a file - send HUGE files to a friend peer to peer with no limitations. It is pretty convenient, because it generates a link you can send to any number of friends you like. It connects your both browsers so he takes the file directly from you.
• Share Drop - is online alternative to Apple's AirDrop. It even looks a like. If you open it on two devices which are part of the same network, you will see avatars for both devices and you can share files. If you still want to share with someone over internet - Click the "+" sign to create a room and send the link to your friend. Then send this crazy holiday video you took.

Conclusion.

There are ways. Being lazy and getting used to one service makes us give up our freedom and restricts ourselves. Yes, using a service makes the file stay there waiting for our friend to see it any time he can. It is not needed both of us to be online at the same time. But this makes our file to sit and wait on somebody else's server being exposed and vulnerable to anyone else to view it. Do we delete those files later? Probably. But even if we delete them, they are just marked in the DB as "deleted = true" and they are no longer visible to the public. The public. But they are still there. On the server.

This is not the only issue with the usage of services. Usually we pay for them. While you keep uploading such files, there is a limited space available. At some point it ends and you start getting messages pushing you to upgrade the plan you use. And just because you don't know any alternative and you really want badly to share your nasty video from your holiday, you pay for this. Or you start delete content from it.

It is a sweet jail we put ourselves into.