“Torrents”, are they really that harmful?

For those who are new to the fascinating world of bit torrents, a "torrent" or a "bit torrent" is a type of meta-data that facilitates peer-to-peer file sharing. Torrents have recently faced a lot of criticism due to their relatively unregulated use and the tendency of torrent users to trade illicit data. Many countries such as U.S, U.K and a lot of others have banned the use of torrents and p2p softwares.
I agree with the fact that torrents are harmful and cause millions of dollars in damage to many industries and that mainly entertainment industry falls prey to this damage, but the question is that are torrents really that harmful or do they have a positive side also. I think we should look at the other side of the picture that millions of people are using this technology so it must have some benefit or positive aspects.
A lot of people use torrents only because the product is not available in the market or their country, etc. For example people in Pakistan download movies and softwares because they have no other option as the genuine products are not available in the region. Although pirated cd’s and dvds are available but there is not much variety offered.
Also another benefit of torrents that I noticed is that because of torrents people download movies and music by relatively unknown artists, which they would not risk paying for otherwise. Thus torrents are a good way for upcoming artists to get their work noticed.
All in all torrents do have some benefits that people should appreciate instead of just criticizing them all the time, and this phenomena is now catching on with Hollywood producers who are now planning to market their movies and shows on torrents in the future.

By: Mussab Bin Amer