File Sharing 

One of the easiest ways that I know of to have your computer become infected with a virus or other malicious software is by downloading freeware, shareware, or person-to-person(P2P) files using a file sharing site. For instance, using Limewire, Bearshare, or Morpheus to download free P2P music files. These sites use the Gnutella network to allow you access to millions of computer users files. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that these free files don’t contain a virus, spyware, or even a Trojan Horse. Ultimately, this could lead you to becoming a victim of identity theft, one of the fastest growing crimes in Canada and the USA.

In fact, I have talked to several people over the years whose computers have become infected with viruses and other malware from using software from a file sharing site to download free music, video files, etc.

Recently, a good friend of mine was telling me that his computer had become infected with viruses and other malicious software. This had happened from his son using Limewire software to download free files such as MP3 music. These free files sadly contained more than he bargained for.

 file sharing

The other day I was talking with a lady that uses Limewire to download free music files. I told her that by using free file sharing software her computer very well could become infected with a virus or other malware. She responded that she doesn’t have to worry about this because she has good internet security software installed.

Just because you have internet security software, such as an anti-virus program, installed on your computer, doesn’t mean that you can now safely download files from free file sharing sites.

This is because thousands of new viruses and other malicious software are created everyday. Although it is essential that you have anti-virus and other internet security software installed on your computer it is only as good as the last update. Internet security companies are very much playing a cat and mouse game in their effort to defend you against the latest internet security threat. That free MP3 music or video file you downloaded could very well be infected with a virus or other malware that hasn’t yet been detected by the internet security companies.

Your free MP3 music files, etc. could even be infected with a Remote Acces Trojan, the most common type of Trojan Horse. This malicious software could allow a criminal view and change your computer’s files and functions, monitor and record your activities, store files and programs on your computer, and turn on your webcam and spy with you. The Trojan Horse could even use a keystroke logger, also known as a keylogger, to secretly record your banking info, passwords, credit card numbers, etc. The crook could use this information to steal your identity. As Drew Carey of the Price is right would say, "come on down, you’re the next victim of identity theft!"

It is simply not worth the risk, for the sake of saving a few dollars, of using free file sharing sites to download files such as MP3 music and videos. Using free file sharing sites puts your internet security and privacy in jeapardy. I highly reccomend you spend a few dollars on legal and safe music downloads from sites such as Napster and Rhapsody. As the saying goes, it is indeed better to be safe than sorry!

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Analysis of current system

The strategy we have developed over the last two years centres around selling songs on a price per song basis. This is one basic strategy that all online music vendors have adopted. One of the key factors in Apple’s success was its famously low 99 cents per song price tag. Because of this, we, like many other online music providers will find it very difficult to compete in pricing. According to popular legend, Apple secured this low price by refusing to sign the terms offered by the record labels then going ahead and launching iTunes anyway, daring the record labels to pull out. Labels have repeatedly tried to renegotiate this deal to no avail. None of the labels are willing to risk pulling out of the iTunes network and losing their foothold in the paid download business. As well as ‘pay per song’ there are a number of other tactics for selling music online. One method proposed by Ken Hertz, who represents Alanis Morrissette among other recording artists, is a flat fee collective licensing system. In flat fee collective licensing customers pay a fixed subscription fee to be allowed to download as much content as they want. This income is then divided among the content providers based on the percentage uptake of their content, as opposed to the unit uptake of their content (Fisher. WW, 2004). Fisher believes this model will lead to a reduced profit per song but an increased uptake of the service. This has already been shown to be an effective business model when applied to video rental. Having been pioneered by Blockbuster with their 13.99 online video rental service it has since been adopted by Amazon and Screen Select to provide similar services. I believe this model would be successful for us as it lets customers believe that by using the service regularly they are getting good value for money. Value for money has been a sticking point for music fans for a long time. Often, many people justify using illegal services like Emule or Limewire by claiming that the cost of purchasing music legally is excessive for the product. The main problem with this model is that it would require the content owners (the record labels) to license their work to distributors.

Review of competitor activity

Our market is currently divided among a number of legal and illegal music services. These include services like Amazon where you can order a physical copy of a music CD online, services like the new Napster where you can search and download both free and paid for music and (semi) illegal services like Emule P2P where you can download anything you want for free.

Napster:

Napster has been involved in mainstream online digital distribution of music longer than any other company, and is arguably the most famous company in the field. Napster was launched as a free music sharing facility in 1999, and faced legal battles from the outset. It was finally forced to succumb to business pressure in 2001, at which point it began the six month process of re-inventing itself as a legal service. This brings us to the Napster we see today. Napster currently offers its customers three packages, ‘Napster To Go’ for 14.95 a month, Napster Membership for 9.95 and Napster lite. ‘Napster To Go’ and Napster Membership allows customers to download as much music as they like to their Computer. ‘Napster To Go’ also allows music to be downloaded via special terminals in high street stores and internet ready televisions direct to MP3 players. Napster Lite is Napster’s basic free package. It allows customers to pay for music on a per song basis at 79p. Customers can choose what they want by listening to 30 second segments of the content before they commit to purchasing. Napster lite also allows its users to access music stored on other Napster users shared space, but this is carefully screened to prevent piracy. One flaw in the Napster system is that in order to continue using the content you download, you need to keep paying for the service. This will to lead to consumer scepticism as people won’t like the idea of being trapped in the service to keep their music collection.

iTunes Music Store:

iTunes music store opened its door for service on 28th April 2003. Its strongest asset is its seamless operation with the Apple iPod. The iPod is the most popular MP3 player currently available and like most Apple products, usability was high on its priority list during development. The existing popularity of the iPod and iTunes combined made the process of extending the commercial attributes of the system a simple task. The music content is protected with Apple’s fair play digital rights management (DRM) but there are several hacks for this which Apple has so far been unsuccessful in blocking. Since its launch the range of features it offers has continued to expand. You can now buy gift certificates, download video and special content, create your own iTunes store and upload your own music via garage band, Apple’s music production suite. By allowing their users to produce and sell their own music apple has opened the door for their service to be used in many novel ways. For example Stanford has recently started using iTunes to freely distribute special academic and promotional content centred around learning and living on campus.

P2P networks:

The P2P networks are arguably the greatest threat to our model of business. Despite frequent law suites and attempts at sabotage record labels have been unable shut them down. A peer to peer network is basically a distributed file system where the shared content on every connected computer gets grouped together into one super directory. A search facility then allows connected users to find and download what they want to their local shared directory. As content gets spread across the network it becomes more accessible to other users. From the users perspective this has the advantage of being free, but the disadvantage of being unreliable. Content is often mis-labelled or incomplete. There are a number of tactics employed by content owners to further disrupt P2P activity including suing downloader’s, distributing mis-labelled content, and distributing content that harms a downloader’s computer. Record labels have also attempted to stop piracy at the source, by preventing users from uploading their music to their computers. However, this method has proven unsuccessful as it can be easily circumvented using real time encoding software, which encodes the music straight off the microphone jack. Record labels have also been sued by consumer rights groups and had their reputations tarnished over the legality of this tactic.

Online CD sales:

Among many consumers a consensus seems to have formed that paid music comes with CD and downloaded music is free. I personally like to have something physical to own when I purchase music. For this reason online CD sales are still very popular. CDNOW, Amazon and HMV online are some of the most popular retailers for this in the UK. A CD has the advantage of being a more tangible asset than a download and is therefore better suited to being given as a present, which will make a big difference to sales over the holiday season. It also doesn’t require the same expertise to use as a downloaded track. A CD essentially works like a little metal version of a vinyl. It is self explanatory to every generation how to make a CD player play a CD where as many people, particularly in older generations don’t know how to use a computer. This gives a CD a much wider potential audience. It may be beneficial for us to also consider selling music on physical media.

E-Commerce strategy

In order to plan our future direction we need to take stock of our current position. We can do this using a SWOT analysis.

Strengths:

1) We currently hold 35% of the UK downloaded music market, in business terms this equates to a majority. This is a large base of customers who will hopefully stay with us if we can continue to extend our services to compete with those of our competitors.

2) With the help of this plan we have a number of new revenue streams that we will hopefully implement soon. These will, if implemented properly, lead to an increase in our revenue and customer base.

Weaknesses:

1) We have not attempted to compete in the international downloaded music market. It makes no sense for us to only sell to UK customers. Traditional geographic limitations don’t apply on the internet. The complication of extending our system to sell music in many currencies is small compared to the benefit of increasing our potential customer base a hundred fold.

2) We don’t yet have systems in place to deal with things like gift vouchers or coupons that could be used for promotion.

Opportunities:

1) We current only allow our customers to purchase one song at a time off us. We could also allow them to purchase whole albums or customised content off us.

2) Although iTunes has secured a much better per song price than we could, they do not currently offer a subscription service. Our second most popular competitor, Napster does offer a subscription service but their customers have to continue paying for the service to continue using the content they’ve downloaded. If we can negotiate a subscription service that doesn’t lock the customer in we will be seen as the superior service.

3) iTunes is never advertised by itself. It’s always ‘iPod + iTunes’. If we can adopt a similar music player, develop our software to work seamlessly with it and negotiate cross promotion we will be doubling our exposure and simplifying the use of our service for the customers. This would also allow us to extend our service in a similar way to ‘Napster To Go’. We could begin to sell our content in high street stores using dedicated terminals or via internet television. This would allow our customer base to grow beyond the computer literate.

Threats:

1) File sharing networks offer the same service as us for free. Attempts to close these services down have so far been mostly ineffective. Although the close of Napster in 2001 was highly publicised it was ineffective as by this point many more services with more tenable legal position had emerged.

2) Many people expect to get something tangible like a CD or DVD when they buy music. One of the major tasks that faces the downloaded music industry is convincing people of the value of an intangible asset like a computer file.

3) Our primary competitors, Napster and iTunes continue have a larger international customer base than us. They have more exposure and more assets to extend their service with. We can’t hope to compete by trying to out compete in existing models, we need to develop new methods of selling music.

4) Our primary competitor, iTunes, has negotiated excellent prices with the content providers. Without the same economies of scale on our side it will be difficult to make the same deal.

In order to build what we have achieved so far I have compiled the following list of extension to our service that we could implement in the near future:

1) Develop a subscription service – We should develop a subscription service based on flat fee collective licensing that doesn’t trap customers in the same way as Napster’s services. This will be seen as a superior product by our target audience as it allows them to get good value for money from the service.

2) Custom CD service – In order to take advantage of gift buying in the holiday season, we should provide a service where customers select a set of tracks to be put on a CD or DVD, design a cover, and maybe add a personal message. The CD will then be burned and the packaging will be printed and sent to the customer for an additional fee. Basically what I’m proposing is a professionally produced version of a mix tape. This provides an extra income for us on top of the audio track sales and gives the customer something physical to give as a present. This is a service that none of the music-download companies I have found currently offers.

3) Ally ourselves with a popular MP3 player – A big part of iTunes success is its strong links and seamless operation with the iPod. By adopting a similar MP3 player, possibly the iRiver, we could tightly integrate our software with it, negotiate cross promotion and develop special terminals to sell our content in music stores, super markets, airports, train stations or anywhere else people are likely to be in need of quick entertainment.

4) Develop our international presence – We should extend the functionality of our site to allow it to sell music in many currencies. By accepting Euros and dollars we would be extending our potential customer base to twelve European countries, America and a number of smaller countries. This is potentially ten times as many customers.

5) Host a music community – We should allow customers to upload and sell their own content, taking a percentage of the income for administration. We could get a much better percentage of income from independent artists than we could off a major label with bargaining power and experience. Some of the artists we host may well end up becoming the next big thing. This would be great advertising for our company.

6) Incorporate gift vouchers, coupons and special offers – Gift vouchers are a popular Christmas present. Coupons distributed in the music culture magazines or by email like ‘Buy two tracks, get one free’ or ‘First five tracks free when you sign up’ would allow people to try our service before committing to it.

7) We could extend our system to recognise the sort of music a particular customer is likely to want based on past purchases. This would allow us to promote the right content to the right users so long as they’re logged in. Amazon has a similar technology built into their website and it has prompted me to buy books and DVD’s I wouldn’t have otherwise found. People often have very specific music tastes, so once we ascertain which genres of music a customer likes it will be a simple task to predict what they will purchase in the future.

Social/legal challenges

If we are to start selling internationally how should we approach pricing? The relative value of currencies changes daily. If for instance we were to offer our subscription service for 19.99 GBP per month, at the time of writing this would exchange to $35.00 USD and 30.00 EUR. When the exchange rate changes what should our policy be about updating prices? A policy that results in a rapidly changing price scheme will confuse our customers but a policy where prices can’t change quickly could result in us offering our service for too much or too little financial return. Another option would be for us to offer our service at different prices in different countries. This would allow us to better match the pricing trends in the local music industry. However, if we choose this option there is a possibility that our customers would start signing up in the region that has the lowest prices.

In order to implement a subscription service we will first need to negotiate a collective licensing scheme with the content owners. As discussed earlier a collective licensing scheme will likely lead to a reduced profit per track downloaded but an increased uptake of the service. We therefore have to convince the content owners that this model is potentially more profitable than the current model of setting a fixed price per unit or collection of music content.

We will need to protect the rights of the content owners by incorporating anti-piracy measures. Preventing piracy is a very difficult task that no one has yet mastered. Every time a new anti-piracy measure is introduced it is usually circumvented within three months (Moser, 2001). Apple currently uses fair play digital rights management and Napster currently uses Windows Media digital rights management. Both of these systems have already been circumvented. Content owners might not want a new service to operate on a security system that’s no longer effective.

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When I first started multimedia design seven years ago, MP3 audio files were already spread around the Internet. MP3’s popularity rose rapidly after Napster released their P2P file sharing network program in 1999.

Because the MP3 file size is much smaller then ‘MOV’, ‘WAV’ audio format, and has better sound quality, it didn’t take too long for MP3 to become a major digital audio format of Internet.

Today, it continues to dominate the Internet’s audio market, and has remained unchanged as the best choice among digital audio music formats.

Historically, there was a lack of Internet speed and the size of computer hard disks and ROM’s were relatively small and expensive. Especially MP3 files had to be converted from ‘MOV’ or ‘WAV’ file formats and the audio recording, editing hardware and software was very complicated to use, as well as very expensive and only professional studios had deep enough pockets to purchase.

Therefore, it had never been an easy tool for Internet marketers and web developers to use to their advantage. I can still remember the struggles to compress the audio files, and balancing the quality of the sound, to make it 28.8kbps modem compatible.

Very few business websites had web audio in their website, and the ones who did were only there as background music. There wasn’t any marketing purpose or strategy behind it. It was largely designers showing off their ‘advanced tricks’, trying to impress their employers, essentially an ‘e-toy’ for website designers.

Today, the Internet bandwidth is no longer a major impediment to Internet multimedia data transferring. Technology continues to evolve at lightning speed, computers now have massive capacities and the price of hardware has dramatically dropped, making it possible for web hosting company to provide a large amount of server space for website owners to store and transfer audio and video content, at an enormously low cost.

But the price of audio editing software remained relatively high, with more advanced features, but still posed a barrier to Internet marketers who intended to make audio a part of their Internet marketing.

This presented an opportunity for Internet Marketers and software developers. Together, they have worked out these issues, limiting seldom used advanced features, keeping only the most utilized, and developed a much more simple software for web audio recording.

This new web audio software and related services has been sold and used by Internet marketers and online business owners throughout the past few years and the results are quite convincing.

Some have claimed their sales conversion rate to have increased by 40) just by adding the audio sales litter on their web page. Can this be true? I will discuss this in more depth in another issue, but absolutely, web audio and video added a new ‘depth’, a new dimension to Internet marketing. It is mainly used for audio newsletters, web audio sales letters, audio testimonials, recorded tele-seminars, raining materials and more.

It is a very simple piece of software. If you know how to talk, and how to click, you can record your message and put it online. No experiences or technical know-how necessary, no special equipment needed, except a microphone connected to your computer.

I still use the advanced Pro version audio/video production software for my complicated projects, but I like to use this small, and feature-focused software for the smaller single task projects, because of the simplicity and the time saving. And the price of the software is so cheep!

For those who don’t have a computer, can’t figure out how to plug in the microphone into their computer, or are too lazy to do so, some marketers have even designed a telephone system for recording audio files for them.

You simply pick up phone, dial their number, record your message on their system, and they will deliver your audio file to your website. But you have to pay a monthly fee for your laziness, and you still have to pick up your phone and dial the number.

Some dedicated web hosting companies, such as the one I use, ThirdSphere, also jumped onto this new trend, including related features in their service package to gain sales. It provides Flash Audio Generator, Flash Video Generator software, and helps web designers to convert their pre-recorded audio and video file to a lightweight FLV file to be put online.

As a new highly effective Internet marketing method, streaming web audio and video will continue to grow in the Internet marketing realm and continue to grasp at Internet marketers and visitors’ attention for a number of yeas, until the day when all sites on Internet have a voice and talk to us.

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Many people have pursued the hobby of downloading movies and songs on the Internet and sharing them with their friends and family online. However, this is direct violation of U.S. copyright laws. Not surprisingly, the biggest violators of the movie copyright laws are students. The movie industry is sending out copyright infringement claims to college universities around the country. One reason that college students may be the hardest hit is that they are not aware of how serious a crime copyright infringement is.

Many college students who have lawsuits brought against them are shocked, to say the least. They question why they were not warned about the perils of downloading movies and songs online and passing them along to friends. However, with the rise of claims, no one can claim ignorance for much longer. Word is being spread near and far that if you engage in illegal downloading and/or sharing, then you can be brought to court. College students are learning the hard way that it is against the law and in violation of copyright laws to share or download copyrighted material. Many colleges and universities now state in their handbooks that it is against the law to illegally download movies, music and other forms of media using school computers.

In addition to illegal downloading and sharing movies, the files take up space on the computer systems and use a considerable amount of bandwidth. While most universities and colleges will not look at the content an individual has — they can isolate and identify the individuals who are hogging up bandwidth by using illegal file sharing.

The movie and music industries have stepped in and are demanding restitution for illegally downloaded movies, music and other forms of copyrighted media. They have detection agencies that have the technology to identify and trace copyright infringements straight to their source. Once the computer is located they can notify the university or the college that they are in violation. The university will be told that they have a copyright infringement claim against them. Based on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, once the computer is isolated, then Internet access is terminated to that computer and court proceedings can begin.

Does this sound far fetched? Well, it is not. You should know that a few years ago Recording Industry Association of America sued four students. These students attended Princeton, Michigan Technical University and Rensselear Polytechnic Institute. One student had an estimated liability of $150 billion. When you consider that you can be charged $750 per song that you illegally download, the total can add up fast! The good thing is the lawsuits against the college students were settled for amounts less than $20,000. That is not pocket change for college students — or anyone for that matter!

Movies and music are meant to be enjoyed. However, illegally downloading movies and music is not much different than walking into a video store and sticking DVDs and CDs in your pocket. Be careful. You do not want to be caught violating any movie copyright laws.

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There has been an increasing number of legal movie download sites appearing online, since Clickbank and other began to rein in the illegal P2P sites that have been prevalent in the past. However, bootleg movies online downloads have not decreased very significantly because of this, which indicates that there is still a market for illegal downloads in spite of the increased availability of the legal equivalents.

Why is this? Is it because of the thrill of beating the big guys, or is just because it is illegal that people continue to do it? I have no idea, and while my own personal opinion on the matter is well known, I am puzzled as to why perfectly good sites that are licensed to allow downloading of movies from a membership site are ignored in favor of those that are patently promoting illegal downloading of copyrighted material.

Here is a brief synopsis of the legal and illegal sites currently available in terms of how the two types of site operate.

DVD Libraries

A solution to the file sharing software problem is being used by legal movie download sites such as Movies Capital that can offer 100% legal movie downloads without the use of file sharing software. The site consists of a vast library of DVDs that have been licensed for hiring online by means of downloading them. Once you have paid a membership fee, you have access to a massive library of legal DVDs.

There’s not much else to say about it really, because it’s legal and it’s inexpensive. Perhaps it would be more glamorous if it was illegal and offered bootleg movies online, but it’s not and is acceptable to both Google and Clickbank.

File Sharing

Also known as Peer to Peer, or P2P, this is what all the trouble is about. Members are able to download and use file sharing software that works thus:

a) Member A logs on, and is seeking the latest movie, game or music track so carries out a search using the site search box.

b) Members C-W all have the movie or track on their hard disk and member A sees a list showing how many different sources there are of each version of the south after movie, game or music track.

c) Member A clicks to download, and the file sharing software copies the file from the hard disks of those members that have it. The more than have it, the faster the download.

d) Member A has downloaded the movie, game or track and can view, play or listen to it.

There is nothing illegal with that sequence of events unless the downloaded file is protected by copyright – which most downloaded material is. In spite of what you might read, owning or using file sharing software is not illegal. Using it to download or copy copyright-protected material is illegal, and you can be prosecuted and face a heavy fine if caught.

Not many are caught in relation to the numbers that break the law, which is why the music and movie industry is trying to force the issue with internet providers. The want the websites of those involved in this trade to be removed from the net – in fact their entire internet access removed. I am not sure about the legality of that either, although it is unlikely that it will come to pass, at least not as long as using the software legally is not illegal.

You are advised, however, to stick to the legal movie download sites, and leave file sharing software and bootleg movies to others. Let them take the chances, although if you did decide to break the law in this way you would be unlikely to get caught, but don’t quote me on that!

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By: Pete Nisbet

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Technorati Tags: movie file sharing

If you know how to  Movie File Sharing  of charge you have a good source of free entertainment whenever you need it. However, you get nothing for nothing in this world, and even downloading free movies costs money. Nevertheless, the price you pay is generally a lifetime membership payment for the use of the P2P file sharing software that enables you to do so, after which you generally have no more to pay.

That is normally less than $40, and what you get for it is worth that and a lot more. The only proviso is that you use the software within the law, and do not download copyright protected material. However, many ignore that advice and leave themselves open to prosecution. The problem is that there is little disincentive to do so, because those brought before the courts are very few. In fact, you have more chance of being killed by a falling coconut.

The way to do it is to access a website offering the service, choose the particular service or software that appeals to you and register. You will be asked to pay the membership by credit card, and then you are able to download the software that enable you to download free movies. Your membership payment covers support and enhancements to the software that is based on the Gnutella open source project, but enhanced to offer significantly faster download speeds plus improved file and directory management facilities than the free software can offer.

Once you have the software opened, you will be offered a means of saving your downloads: you can name a directory on your hard drive, for instance, or download to an external device such as a USB drive or a hard drive caddy, enabling you to store your downloaded movies and music external to your computer. That way it is not taking up space on your hard drive.

You can then go to the search area, where you can enter the name of the movie, music or game (the same software is used for them all), the actor or artist or even the genre. You press a button to instigate the search and are then offered a list of results that meet your criteria. Click on the one that you want and it will start downloading and save to your nominated directory when complete.

That is how to download movies free of charge, and the way it works is that the peer-to-peer file sharing software connects your computer to the hard disk files of everybody else logged on to the network. It searches for files meeting your search criteria, and passes a message back to you that it has been found. The more connected computers that hold your desired movie, the quicker you will be able to carry out the download, since it uses them all to proved data packets that the software reassembles into the entire file at your end.

The more advanced software systems can inform you what files are still protected by copyright law, and ask you if you want to proceed. What should happen is that the movie and music moguls should spend some of their billions on not allowing such downloads to proceed, rather than spending so much on obscene payments to their stars. I have no sympathy for them or the stars than moan and bleat about their livelihood being threatened.

I think they threaten their own livelihood and public image with the drugs they take and all the other illegal acts they get up to. In fact, they have a nerve complaining about kids copying their music or movies when they are continually breaking the law themselves. What is it with these guys – are they above the law? They would get more respect if they deserved respect.

However, that does not mean that I am recommending that you break the law. Far from it: you should not. What I am saying is that P2P file sharing software is not illegal, and if they can’t prevent their products being copied by using widely available means of doing so then I am not going to do their job for them. They know that people download movies free of charge, yet they do nothing but try to get the courts to resolve their problem for them.

Although you can use such software to download copyrighted material, I advise you not to, but it is not up to me to stop you. I am not a law enforcer, and the technology is there for them to stop it themselves. Until they do that, people will continue to download movies free of charge, and also games and music using software that is completely legal.

That software is easily accessible, it is legal and it is inexpensive. High court judges in the USA and the EU have adjudicated P2P file sharing software not to be illegal. I urge you not to use it illegally but if you do so, then it is certainly not up to me to stop you (another high court adjudication), but those that make it possible by leaving their files so easy to be copied. I can understand that of small businesses with little cash, but not of multibillion dollar corporations that can afford whatever technology they need to achieve that.

Once you know how to download movies free of charge it is difficult not to do so with the latest blockbuster that are offered all over the P2P network, but I urge you not to. However, it’s not my responsibility to stop you – only to advise against it in the same way that it is not a car salesman’s job to make sure you don’t speed or drive after drinking alcohol.

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By: Pete Nisbet

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Technorati Tags: movie file sharing

I have been inundated recently by inquiries related to child pornography issues. In our computer age where information, images and videos can be rapidly and easily accessed, this has become a growing area of concern. I handle a great number of cases involving these issues. The charges can be devastating to families and certainly to career aspirations for those convicted. As a result, an aggressive defense is necessary.

What happens?

Most cases start with a search warrant and a seizure of equipment which may include computers, hard drives, flash drives, discs, TIVO systems, DVD players, MP3 players, IPODs and anything that can be used to store, view or play images or videos. Search warrants can be acquired when a person reports finding child pornography on a computer. The reporting person may be a family friend, a computer technician that worked on the computer or anyone who has direct or remote access to the system. In some cases, law enforcement personnel use downloaded peer to peer programs to search networked computers for files that include illegal contraband. Finally, police may find accounts and IP addresses when websites posting or promoting contraband images are shut down. Many of these sites, some which are hosted in foreign countries, charge users for access and retain records of users and/or their computer IP addresses.
What do we do?

First, and this is critical, NO ONE should make statements to police or outside persons or parties. That means no discussion with family or friends regarding the facts of the case. Nothing that is said is likely to be used by law enforcement for anything other than seeking inculpatory evidence to support criminal charges. Also remember, that law enforcement officers have no obligation to provide the truth when investigating offenses. They may make false statements or promises designed to acquire incriminating evidence or statements from those questioned. Expect officers to makes statements such as:

""If you have nothing to hide, why won’t you speak to us."

""We just want to get your side of the story."

""If you don’t talk to us, we will have to make a decision and, with what we have, it likely means charges."

Do not be baited by such statements. Under such pressure situations, person interviewed often are confused. They may make statements speculating about what "might have" occurred. Those speculative statements are often taken as statements of fact and used later as part of the criminal prosecution. As a result, it is best to think of each word stated as a piece of evidence that can be turned or twisted to support criminal charged. Accordingly, the less that is said, the better. If police investigators wish to speak with you, it is usually wise to politely decline.

Second, you should hire counsel immediately. To a great degree, you will be in a waiting game for some time while computer forensics run program scans on the electronic equipment seized. Investigations may last many months to over a year. In the interim, it is important to start interviewing potential computer experts who will have specific knowledge related to the programs used or the caching systems of the various internet browsers. I will explain this a bit more below when I address potential defenses.

Third, do not expect to get your computer equipment back in the short term. It will be quite some time before that occurs. As a result, if a computer is needed, you may wish to replace the equipment with appropriate safeguards to prevent any similar problems.

What about the Charges?

Possession of child pornography is a very serious offense. It should not be taken lightly. It can result in federal charges or state charges depending on the particular facts. It is a felony under Minnesota Statutes Sec. 617.247 and is punishable by up to five years and a fine of not more than $5,000 for a first offense. Dissemination of child pornography is an even more serious offense. A person who disseminates pornographic work to an adult or a minor, knowing or with reason to know its content and character, is guilty of a felony and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than seven years and a fine of not more than $10,000 for a first offense and for not more than 15 years and a fine of not more than $20,000 for a second or subsequent offense. Moreover, a person convicted must provide a DNA sample and register as a sexual predatory offender under the law. That is true even if the charge is ultimately reduced to something else. Probationary conditions after a conviction often restrict the person’s ability to travel, their computer usage, and contact with minors. In some instances, persons convicted of child pornography offenses must agree to submit to polygraph examinations and/or undergo sexual offender treatment. In other words, the stakes are very high.

What are Some Defenses?

Though defense to child pornography charges vary depending on the particular facts of the case, certain fact patterns and defenses are more common. Ultimately, your defense should be planned only after a complete review of the evidence and circumstances in your case.

First, it should be pointed out that possession of pornography is not a crime. Only possession of child pornography would be criminal. It requires that the actor had an intent. That means the person charged must be proven to have the intent to possess the image(s) and that the person has reason to know of its true content and character.

Second, there are many ways a person can acquire images on a computer which does not mean that they had the requisite intent or knowledge to possess the image. Computers may have many users. That means determining which user may have accessed, downloaded or disseminated contraband child pornography images may be a significant defense issue. Even a one time user of a computer may contaminate its hard drive or cache memory with contraband. That is particularly true for computer systems that share an internet connection such as wireless networks at home.

Additionally, files may also be downloaded blindly without knowing specifically about their content. For example, images may be downloaded by clicking on a link without first reviewing the content of the image being downloaded. This may occur with links found in Newsgroups or other internet settings. Images can also be downloaded in bulk where each image is not reviewed before the download. Two simple examples may be when a person downloads multiple images associated with a Zip file or by highlighting a series of links for download from file sharing programs such as Limewire, MP3 Rocket or Kazaa.

Third, several states have ruled that a person cannot be convicted of "possessing" child pornography based on merely viewing pornographic images a home computer. Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin have had similar rulings on the issue. When an image is viewed on a computer, that image is "cached" by the web browser. That means it may exist on the computer without the person ever making an attempt to download the image. Though the person may have been aware of what they were viewing, they may have been unaware that they were automatically downloaded and saved to his computer, and therefore, didn’t "knowingly possess" the pornography as state law requires. Where a statute, such the one existing in Minnesota, lacks specific statutory language prohibiting the mere viewing of pornographic images or evidence that the defendant knowingly downloaded or saved pornographic images to his hard drive or knew that the web browser cached the images, it can be argued that the person charged cannot be criminally liable for viewing images on
his computer screen.

Fourth, charges of dissemination of child pornography require that the person has the intent to distribute the images to others. Often, such charges are brought against individuals using file sharing programs. The programs are enticing, offering free access to music, documents, movies and images. They are also free to download from any number of internet sites and essentially network any computers on the internet that download the same or similar programs. When these programs are placed on a computer, they include certain defaults. One of those defaults is to allow others with similar programs on remote computers to view and access data contained in a file designated for sharing on your computer. This is called a peer to peer system. Without knowing how the program defaults work, a person may easily disseminate contraband images without the requisite intent to do so.

Finally, search warrants that are used to seize computers and other equipment with electronic storage capacity may be flawed and unsupported by requisite probable cause. When probable cause is lacking for a warrant, any evidence taken as a result of that unconstitutional seizure may be suppressed and cannot be used at trial.

Certainly, charges of child pornography can be very frightening. However, acting promptly can be important to a strong defense.

By: Lawmoe-29752

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One of the biggest questions amongst those employed by the music industry today is whether or not online music sharing is profitable or appropriate. Over the past decade or so, several websites have been created in order to allow users to upload and download music that they had obtained from other sources.

Many of these sites were quickly shut down. The government ruled that those who had purchased albums did not have the legal right to share them with others who had not paid in a way that produced duplicate copies of the work (ie. downloading). Sites were destroyed, those sharing music were fined, and those looking for affordable alternatives quickly found themselves in a lurch.

The Ruckus Network

Enter David Galper and Vince Han, creators of the Ruckus Network. In the early 2000’s, the two partners collaborated to form a music sharing network that would allow college students to have free access to an online library of music. They contracted with universities around the country to give current students free access, while alumni and graduates received access for a low monthly charge.

Within a year, the network was sold and subsequently shut down – leaving users and music aficionados with two questions. Why did Ruckus fail and is music sharing really profitable?

The Benefits of Music Sharing

While that first question may never have an answer, the answer to the second question has, over the past few years, become crystal clear. Music sharing can be very profitable for both site owners and artists – if handled properly.

Music sharing allows artists to increase exposure to their music, without forcing new listeners to buy entire albums they may not like and, subsequently, return. Even the free samples given out by some music sharing networks do lead to profit. Studies have shown that listeners who download free music are very likely to purchase the album put out by artists who have released sample tracks.

Music sharing increases the accessibility of music to listeners from around the world. The online music market suddenly grows from one country to anywhere where an artist can be appreciated. Because there are now so many different models for file sharing legally, the illegal methods are slowly going by the wayside. Music is now accessible to the masses – at a rate just about anyone can afford.

David Galper had the right idea when he created the Ruckus Network. Perhaps it was ill-timed, and maybe it wasn’t as carefully cared for as it could have been, but one fact remains true. Online music sharing is one industry that may never die.

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For people who live in rural or remote parts of the country where DSL and cable Internet services are not available, satellite Internet broadband has been a true lifesaver. Advances in satellite technology over recent years have made it possible for rural residents to get access to the same broadband connection speeds as people living in more densely populated areas. These connection speeds, of course, brings with them the ability to do a number of things that are not possible or efficient to do with the slow connection speeds that come with your typical dial-up service.

These things include everything from checking email more quickly, to streaming video and music content, to downloading software updates, to working and earning a degree and shopping from home, to chatting with friends and family on the other side of the world using VoIP software like Skype, to file sharing. Regardless of whether it is DSL, cable, or satellite Internet service that you use, with broadband connection speeds, you may feel like you can do just about anything you want. And, while this may be at least partially true, you must remember that not all of these things that you may want to do are things that you should do. This is especially important to keep in mind when it comes to file sharing.

File sharing allows people to access or download files from other people’s computers over the Internet. It is a cooperative process that depends on people linking into a network to post or upload their own files so that they are available for other people to download. Sometimes this is done through a social networking site, and other times it is done using peer-to-peer software.

The latter method of file sharing is especially popular on college campuses, where everyone is logged onto the same network. It is also quite controversial, particularly when it comes to the legality of sharing copyrighted material. If you are thinking about taking advantage of the fast connection speeds of your DSL, cable, or satellite broadband service to file share copyrighted material (by either downloading or uploading said material), you should know that doing so without permission is illegal. Since the person downloading is not paying for this material, or is not paying the proper person for this material, this is actually considered stealing.

What is not illegal is using file sharing techniques to share material that is not copyrighted, or material to which you own the rights. And a lot of non-professional and hopeful artists are using such forums for publicity reasons, to get their own work out there and be heard or seen. Thus, if you are an aspiring artist, having a DSL, cable, or satellite broadband connection can be good for your career.

When it comes to file sharing, really the most important thing to remember is to be cautious. Keep in mind that if you can be held responsible for illegally distributing as well as downloading copyrighted material, regardless of whether you are breaking the law knowingly or unintentionally. So, by all means, take advantage of the lightning-fast connection speeds available these days through DSL, cable, and satellite Internet services, but limit yourself to legal activities.

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PlayStation 3 is the most popular game console that you can use to throw out your boring time. But, did you know, your PS3 is able to play multimedia files such as Divx, WMV, Mpeg and DVD format. You also are able to sharing the file from PC to PS3 or PS3 to PC. How to connect your console into PC? Here are the steps you can follow.

1.Prepare all the equipments like PS3, wired or wireless router and PC with Windows XP or higher OS. Ensure that you have the newest version of Windows Media Player.

2.Then, set up the network connection from PS3 to your router. You can choose wired or wireless connection; it’s depending on the type of your router. Many people use the wired connection because it has high quality, but it’s not for you who don’t have Ethernet cable from PS3 to the router.

For the wireless option, you must ensure whether the network router operate wireless G technology or not. It is because PS3 has integrated wireless adapter with G.

3.After that, turn on your computer. Click the start menu and choose Control Panel. Click "Set Up a Home or Small Office Connection" and follow the prompts until you get "File And Sharing". Turn on the feature before the process. And finish the wizard. If there’s optional for restart computer, you’ll better to do it.

4.After the system has restarted, turn on your PS3. Steer to your network connection menu and turn on the media server function. Next, back to PC and run Windows Media Player. Apply right click in the black are of the media player to show off the toolbar menu.

On the toolbar menu click Tools > Options. Click the Library tab. Then, choose Configure Sharing PlayStation 3 or "Unknown Device". Agree to the connection and clicks apply. Automatically, your computer will appear on your PlayStation XMB menu. If it is not display, scroll to the "search for Media Servers" in the video, picture or music.

Once you successful hook up your PS3 to PC, you’ll easily share file. You can transfers file from your PC to PS3 or PS3 to PC. Try to do these steps and change your console as multimedia player.

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