How Free Download Music Sites can Offer a Legal P2P File Sharing Program

Tuesday, October 12th, 2010

If you are looking online for a P2P file sharing program you can find one on any number of free download music sites. Many would claim P2P music downloads to be illegal, and most of the time they would be right, but peer to peer file sharing is not intrinsically illegal, and it would be wrong to claim it to be so.

Certainly, the large music conglomerates will claim them to be so and some would tend to support them in that accusation, particularly the producers and artists, but it is not, in fact, illegal for two people to share their files. If it is not illegal for two to share computer files, then it should not be illegal for three to share, and so on and on and on. . .

It is understandable that artists and music studios get annoyed when their products are being shared online, but there are two points to be discussed here: the legal situation and the moral situation. Let’s look at each of these in order given:

The Legal Aspects of a P2P File Sharing Program

A P2P file sharing program is not illegal. What all of this hullabaloo is about is copyright, and the fact that peer to peer downloads of material that is still protected by copyright is illegal. That is not in dispute! Nobody could agree that it is correct for one person to steal another’s work, and present it as their own. That is either plagiarism or breach of copyright, and nobody could realistically argue that it is not.

It is therefore illegal to copy another artist’s work by using P2P file sharing software to connect one hard disk to another and copy the files on the one to the other – even if the music files on the first had been paid for. However, not all free download music sites do that, because many young musicians and singers will offer their work free online in order to get themselves better known.

One favorite of the free download music sites available is Jamendo, where you will find legitimate legal music downloads from independent artists that want their work to be published and better known. You can download tracks or even entire albums legally using your own P2P file sharing program, and another is Legal Torrents, where you can find a large number of legal media files to download with your P2P file sharing program.

This is a typical legal P2P site that offers legal online downloads of music, movies, games and audio-books plus a lot more. This is just one example of the type of free download music sites you are liable to come across when you are looking for a P2P file sharing program online.

It is therefore illogical to infer that all free download music sites are illegal, and that a P2P file sharing program must be breaking the law. There are many legal uses to which peer to peer software can be put. The Moral Aspects of a P2P File Sharing Program

When it comes to the morality of using peer to peer software, here too there are no issues if it is being used legally. However, there are both legal and moral issues if the software is used to download copyright protected work and not all of these side with music and movie companies, particularly with respect to downloading music.

Where is it immoral for somebody wanting to check out the quality of new artists before buying their work? Many people use P2P file sharing program to check out a track or two before purchasing an album. Some also use free download music sites to test an artist’s work before buying tickets for a live gig. There is nothing wrong with that even though it might be illegal.

Where it is both illegal and morally wrong is for people to get a free download of a movie or music tracks in order to avoid paying for it. The way for the music industry to prevent that is to offer free tracks from albums that can be used as testers by potential customers. By doing that, anybody who then uses P2P file sharing software to download copyright protected material will then be fair game.

It is not the software that is illegal but the people that use it illegally, and the music companies should use some initiative in getting the moral high ground by offering their own free download music sites and making it less necessary for people to test albums and artists by breaking the law.

P2P File-Sharing: Evaluate the Risks

Sunday, October 10th, 2010

Millions of computer users share files on the web daily. Whether it is music, games, or software, file-sharing can provide people with access to a wealth of information. You simply download special software which connects your computer to an informal network of  computers which are running the same software. At any time, millions of users could potentially be connected to each other through this software, sharing files. The software is usually free and easily accessible online.
Sounds great, right? Maybe, but make sure that you consider the trade-offs. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, warns that file-sharing can be very risky. For example, when you are connected to any file-sharing network, you may be unknowingly allowing others to copy some of your private files which you never intended to share, some of which could be confidential, such as financial spreadsheets or resumes. You may also unwittingly download material that is protected by  copyright law and find yourself facing legal action. You may download a virus or facilitate a security breach. Or you may unwittingly download pornography, which is often labeled as something else on P2P networks to trick people into downloading it.
To secure the personal information stored on your computer, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission for Consumers) suggests that you:
* Set up the file-sharing software very carefully. If you don’t check the proper settings when you first install the software, you could accidentally open access not just to the files which you intended to share, but also to other information stored on your hard drive, such as your tax returns, emails, medical records, photos, or other personal documents.
* Be aware of spyware. Some file-sharing programs install other software known as spyware. Spyware discreetly monitors a user’s browsing habits and then sends that information onto third parties. Sometimes the user gets ads based on the information that the spyware has collected and disseminated. In some cases, Spyware can be very difficult to detect and remove. Before you use any file-sharing program, you may want to buy security software which can prevent the downloading of spyware or help detect it on your hard drive.
* Close your connection. In some instances, closing the file-sharing program window does not actually close your connection to the network. That allows file-sharing to continue and could increase your security risk. If you have a high-speed connection to the Internet, you usually stay connected to the Internet unless you turn off the computer or disconnect your Internet service, such as your router. These always on connections could allow others to copy your shared files at any time. What’s more, many file-sharing programs automatically launch every time you start up your computer. As a preventive measure, you may want to change the file-sharing program’s settings to prevent the file-sharing program from automatically opening.
* Use an effective anti-virus program and update it on a regular basis. Files which you download could easily contain a virus or other unwanted content. Use anti-virus software to help protect your computer from viruses you might pick up from other users through the file-sharing program. Not all anti-virus programs block files downloaded through file-sharing, so check your program’s capabilities and settings. In addition, avoid downloading files with extensions like .exe, .scr, .lnk, .bat, .vbs, .dll, .bin, and .cmd as these are usually malicious.
It’s a good idea to talk with your family about file-sharing. Parents may not be aware that their children have downloaded file-sharing software on the family computer and that they may have exchanged games, videos, music, pornography, or other material that may not be appropriate for them. Also, because other peoples’ files sometimes are mislabeled, kids unintentionally may download these files. In addition, children may not understand the security and other risks involved with file-sharing and may install the software incorrectly, giving anyone on the Internet access to the family’s private computer files.