Peer to Peer (P2P) file sharing - understand the risks
PARENTS: this is a MUST READ!
Here's a simple test...ask your kids how many songs they have downloaded on their computer or MP3 player...then ask them how
much that cost them? Anything less than about $1.00/song is how much music they have stolen.
Peer to Peer (P2P) file sharing is one of the most popular Internet applications as it enables
easy access to music, movies, games and other software. The process is quite simple, you download and install
the P2P client of your choice (eDonkey, Gnutella, iMesh, LimeWire, Kazaa, Bittorrent, etc, etc...), tell it what content you are
interested in ("Brittany Spears", "Star Wars Episode III", "Adobe Photoshop", etc..)...and usually within a few hours
you've got what you asked for....all for FREE!
Sound too good to be true? It is, here's why:
- The P2P client may be free, but the content you download with it is NOT free! Almost all content on these P2P networks is protected by copyright--downloading without paying is THEFT.
- Music and movie trade associations such as the RIAA and MPAA are hell-bent on making examples
out of individuals who violate their copyrights...free doesn't seem so free after you're socked with a $100,000 judgement or at a bare minimum you spend months and THOUSANDS of dollars to defend yourself and/or your kids
- The P2P client is probably free because its developer is generating revenue by bundling adware with it..you know all those popup ads you're getting flooded with...THIS is why.
- Most P2P clients access content from open networks--that is ANYONE can push whatever files they want up into the network, including viruses, worms, keystroke loggers, etc...
- Most P2P clients are programmed to automatically act as a server for all files that you download, thus potentially consuming a significant amount of your connections bandwidth (and flagging YOU as the person that is serving up stolen content...see the MPAA link above).
So in summary FREE = illegal, adware, viruses, lost bandwidth, and possible lawsuites...it's just not worth it. If your kids are using P2P clients to download music and movies let them know it's NOT OK and uninstall the P2P client(s).
If you want to download music, do so from the legitimate, closed systems where you pay a buck per song, such as: