Hiya and welcome...
Big question with an ever-flowing and changing 'answer'....
1st, be sure to see here...
http://www.gnutellaforums.com/open-d...e-sharing.html
When you have studied all contained within that thread, search for the remaining 16.99 tons of other posts re: the same subject...
In simple response... In many... that is 'many', NOT all... In many countries the act of 'DownLoading' is NOT illegal... 'UpLoading' (Sharing) is illegal in many countries...
Thing is, depending on what "client" you are using for your filesharing activities, you may not get any DLs cuz you're not sharing anything to the others....
You no give - You no get. I do not approve of such strictures, but that's another subject.
Answer is simple.... Share stuff that is not copyright protected, i.e. eBooks and music with expired copyrights.... Meaning, 'old stuff'....
There's tons of stuff out there that you can share and that millions and millions of people really want !
I also share 22
Tango 'songs' that were recorded in Argentina in the mid to late 1930's and 'remastered' by a wonderful crazy man who was big in the BearShare forums about 200 years ago !!!
These are 320Mbps mp3 files and they go 'out the door' ALL DAY ! NO copyright !
There's always a way around the next bend, huh ?
But, normally, I only share eBooks... 8.5GB total at the moment but only 2GB of them at any one time....
Result ? I average UpLoading 1GB per 24hrs and DownLoad absolutely anything I can still remember that I want !