In this article, I will explain why Peer-to-Peer software is important.
Openness
P2P is open to everyone who follows the rules. The network doesn't care about any personal aspects of you. As long as you comply with the rules set by the P2P network you can take part in it. Also, most of the P2P software is also Open Source. So if you like, you can scan the code and see for yourself, if there are any backdoors or other vulnerabilities. Also, if malicious code is added, the code will soon be rejected by the community.
Robustness and Security
As the whole network isn't centralised, it isn't as easily attackable as one centralised server. Also, the network can't be censored. As long as a couple of nodes are running, the whole network is running.
Also, the whole network can be end-to-end encrypted making man-in-the-middle attacks nearly impossible.
Another security aspect is that the keys to decrypt are stored by the users, and not on a big centralised server, making big data dumps, of passwords or credit card information, also nearly impossible.
Anonymity
The whole network can be anonymous. As the Tor network proves, if executed correctly a P2P network can be completely anonymous. This is very good for whistleblowers, as they can give out data and not be found. The Washington Post and many other newspapers have a secure drop only accessible through the Tor browser.
