The concept of peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing dates back to the early 1990s, but it wasn't until the emergence of Napster in 1999 that the practice began to gain widespread attention. Napster, created by Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker, allowed users to share and download MP3 files from a vast library of music. However, the service was shut down in 2001 due to copyright infringement concerns.