The PSP Nerd's Advice on Copyright and Safe and Responsible P2P

We repeat: A PSPNerd.com membership is NOT a license to download or upload copyrighted material! Please respect the copyright laws and share responsibly. When in doubt, review http://www.loc.gov/copyright/ so you understand U.S. copyright law.  

If you’re not a U.S. Citizen, do a search for the copyright laws in your own country and make sure you understand them. Also remember that you could still be subject to a civil lawsuit filed outside your home country. Most such lawsuits are class-action suits. They are filed against large groups of people who copy and distribute copyrighted files without the copyright holder’s permission.

The PSP Nerd’s Official Stand

Here at PSPNerd.com we do NOT condone or advise or otherwise encourage the breaking of copyright laws, theft of intellectual property, or any other form of Internet piracy.

When you get a PSPNerd.com membership, you get access to a lot of extremely powerful information, all in one place. Having access to all those tools for finding free games, movies, music, and more can make you a little reckless with power!

So we strongly recommend that you always think twice - and be careful - when downloading music, movie, video, and software files. If you think you MIGHT be breaking the law, DON’T. You can spend two lifetimes downloading un-copyrighted material, so there’s plenty to keep you busy!

Once again, there is nothing illegal about P2P file sharing technology. But legally, you can’t trade copyrighted files using P2P without permission from the copyright owner.

 

Now here’s some other important legal issues you should be aware of when doing any kind of P2P:

 

Copyright Infringement Specifics: Protections, Liability, Penalties

When sharing files via P2P technology, remember that those files might be protected by copyright. If you intend to share the file with people on the P2P network, you need the copyright owner's permission before you can make those files available for download by others. Lots of popular music tracks, movies, games, and software are protected by copyright.

You should also be aware that your ISP (Internet Service Provider) might required to reveal the logs of your download activity to potential copyright plaintiffs. The bigger your activity, and the more megabytes you upload and download, the more red flags you send up.

Copyright infringement can result in some pretty serious fallout. These can include fines, monetary damages, and even criminal charges and penalties. Some copyright owners have even filed civil lawsuits against people that they believe unlawfully distributed large numbers of copyrighted songs.

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) File Sharing Issues

Please read the P2P help files and usage guidelines that come will all P2P sharing software. They will spell out what you can and can’t legally do with the software.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has a good website about the risks of P2P file sharing. You'll find it here: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/sharealrt.shtm. We recommend that you read it so you know how to protect yourself.

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Using  P2P file-sharing software to acquire or get copyrighted works without permission or authorization from the copyright holders is probably illegal. That’s true whether you are uploading or downloading files. Again, if in doubt, read the statutes: http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/ and http://www.copyright.gov/title17.

That said, not all content found on P2P networks is copyrighted. And even if it is, it can still be reproduced, uploaded and downloaded IF the copyright holders have given permission for sharing their content for non-commercial purposes. For example, anything covered under a Creative Commons license can be shared. Also content available in the public domain is not protected by copyright. Plus some copyright holders can and do grant permission in other ways.

But remember that most commercially released popular songs, films, and software are NOT authorized for free redistribution. They require purchase or licensing fees.

The Security of Your PC and Personal Data

Also remember that P2P software allows other users to access the files in your shared network folder. That means evil people could try to get access to files containing your personal and confidential information!

It also means your personal files could be uploaded for distribution on the Internet by accident, putting you at risk from stalkers, identity thieves, or other criminals.

We strongly suggest you have strong anti-spyware software on your computer and scrub all files you download.

Spyware

Spyware can seriously compromise the security and performance of your computer. So be aware that files downloaded using P2P software could contain spyware.

What can spyware do to you? It can track and record your online activity, send that information back to third parties on the Internet (like hackers), take control of your computer, make it impossible to connect to the Internet, slow your computer down, seriously damage critical system files, or corrupt other important files.

In some cases, spyware can render your computer virtually useless. Spyware is often hidden, disguised, and can sit on your hard drive for a long time before it becomes active and troublesome.

So please be safe and download, install, and USE one of the major anti-spyware applications! We recommended scanning for spyware at least once a day, and getting an application that does real-time monitoring.

Viruses

Any file downloaded with P2P software can carry a computer virus, Trojan, worm, or other malicious software. Viruses and the like are usually cleverly disguised. We strongly suggest that you purchase, install, use, and regularly update a major anti-virus application such as AVG Anti-Virus. Be sure to scan all files before you run them.

Adult/Pornography

Let’s face it, files downloaded from the Internet using P2P software could contain pornographic material. We’re not here to dictate your morality, but you should be aware that in some locales downloading pornography, or certain types of pornography, is illegal and can carry serious penalities.

Also many pornographic files on P2P networks have cute or innocent names. Users, including children, could be exposed to pornography even though they did not want or ask for that exposure.

So be careful! Uploading or redistributing files that contain child pornography or obscene material can be a crime. It some situations it can get you into serious trouble that can follow you the rest of your life.

If anyone under 18 has access to your computer, be especially vigilant. Be smart, be safe, and never let children access downloaded files before you have reviewed them completely!