Ask a high school or college kid about their iPod or video library and you’ll soon hear a lot about file sharing. It’s used as a method for swapping favorite music files, TV shows or movies, often avoiding paying fees for them. And it’s often illegal. With the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) actively sending “Cease and Desist” letters to anyone found to be illegally trading copyrighted materials, it’s in your family’s best interest to talk about the right and the wrong ways to find and share music and movies.
Recently, Sweden erupted in a furor when a new law went into effect including severe penalties for anyone using illegal file sharing systems. It’s estimated that 1 in 10 Swedes uses these systems. When the new law went into effect last week requiring the ISPs to turn in those using these systems, the overall effect was shocking. Internet traffic in Sweden fell by 30%, immediately! According to a Symantec study, an estimated 90% of avid gamers also engage in file sharing. Sweden represents 3% of the worldwide total for file sharing.
The reason security companies like Symantec care about file sharing is that it’s so difficult for people to keep these programs secure. By their nature, they open a door into the family computer and invite Internet strangers to come on in, take a few files and leave a few behind. These systems are notorious for spreading viruses and keystroke loggers (dangerous little programs that spy on your every keyboard click and report your private info out to others on the internet.) They've been used to distribute pornography and child pornography, hiding these terrible images with innocuously-coded file names to trick the users of the systems. They are also blamed for criminals getting access to people’s tax records. Here's a story that recently aired on The Today Show about how a family's computer was hacked for their valuable tax records using a popular music sharing service.
If you haven’t sat with your teen to discuss the right way to acquire music and watch TV shows and videos online, you need to do so. Your lack of involvement might be risking the safety of your computer and all your private information. Even worse, you may be at risk of legal action if your computer is found to be involved in any of the many illegal activity known to be a part of illegal file sharing systems.
Here's a good guide to disabling peer to peer file sharing systems.
And this pamphlet from the RIAA for parents and teachers has a comprehensive list of the legal sites for purchasing music.
Message Edited by marianmerritt on 04-06-2009 06:12 PM