Chapter 6: Protecting Your Identify

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Overview

Hiding yourself from the world doesn’t exactly hide the world from you.

—Unknown

With the RIAA hunting down individuals who share pirated music files, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) targeting people who pirate software, and the FBI looking for anyone who breaks copyright laws, the prospect of sharing files over the Internet may seem about as dumb as selling crack from the trunk of your car while parked behind a police station. Of course, file sharing itself isn’t illegal as long as you own the copyright on the files (they’re your photos, music, poetry, and so on), or if the files are in the public domain.

But even though the RIAA may threaten and sue, millions of people are still sharing files. They’re just getting a little bit smarter about doing so and playing the odds. Rather than stop sharing files that violate copyright, most file sharers simply adopt different ways of sharing to avoid detection and prosecution. While the authorities may be able to catch and prosecute blatant violators, they are less likely to find, let alone spend the time to prosecute, the less flagrant offenders. As a result, people can always skirt the law selectively, much like accelerating down an isolated stretch of highway in the middle of the night when you figure there’s no cop around.

But the RIAA isn’t the only danger people face when sharing files. One major and very real danger is of downloading and running a crippling computer virus that will wipe out your entire hard disk. (See Chapter 7 to learn more about protecting your computer from viruses and other malicious programs.)

No matter what files you share, you should always take precautions to protect yourself and your computer as much as possible.

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