by Don Hildenbrand

Created on: January 20, 2009   Last Updated: June 05, 2011

You're a music fan, and you want to download some good music. Or, you're a movie fan, and you're bored with the content already on your hard drive. What to do?

Enter the world of peer to peer software! (P2P) Peer to peer file sharing programs are programs that allow millions of users across the world to share music, movies, documents, and files of many other types between each other.

Peer to peer files sharing programs started with the advent of Napster, not too many years ago, and have blossomed since then. But, the demise of the original Napster points to one of the problems with peer to peer file sharing programs; they can get you in trouble.

The problem is, peer to peer file sharing programs can, and are, often used to download material that is copyrighted by an individual or a company, and many times that person or company doesn't take kindly to having their intellectual property stolen.

Contrary to popular belief, peer to peer file sharing, including Bittorent, can be tracked and traced to you. You can receive a notice from your ISP that you have been illegally downloading copyrighted files, and if you continue to do so, they can disrupt, or even terminate your service. In fact, according to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, in order for an ISP to be held blameless for acts of software or media piracy, they must have a plan in effect to terminate the service of repeat offenders of illegal downloading.

So, how can you protect yourself, and ensure that you are using your peer to peer file sharing program legally? How can you avoid the internet service disruptions, and legal woes that may come with illegal file sharing?

IS FILE SHARING LEGAL?

The use of peer to peer file sharing programs is, in and of itself, perfectly legal. Courts across the country have ruled in their favor, and recently, the FCC informed Comcast that they cannot penalize their customers simply for using P2P, in this case, specifically Bittorrent. The act of sharing files, or downloading files, is perfectly legal. What matters is the content that is downloaded or shared.

HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF

In order to ensure that you are legally using you peer to peer files sharing program, the most important point is to never download copyrighted material. Again, never, ever download a piece of software, a music file, or a video file that you know to be copyrighted. "Ripped" games are copyrighted. Copies of Microsoft's software are copyrighted. Songs by the Beatles, or the Jonas Brothers,

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