Stop Music Theft

Introduction

There are a number of issues parents should be aware off with respect to their children engaging in illegal downloading. The purpose of this page is to warn and inform parents of these issues. They are listed more or less in the order of the severity of the threats they pose to your children and you.

Child Pornography

We have heard of instances of child porn being embedded into picture portfolios¹ or movies². If your child downloads something like this, they could be exposed to such pornography. There are two additional concerns you should have in this regard:

• As far as your internet service provider AND LAW ENFORCEMENT are concerned, you are the holder or "owner" of the internet or "IP" address over which the movie, for instance was downloaded. So, if the MPAA or any other such group track a video that has been illegally downloaded or is illegally available for upload, you may also be inadvertently exposed to the discovery of child pornography on your computer (downloaded "by accident" by a child to your IP address), and you could become the subject of a criminal child pornography case!!

• Imagine you are traveling and the TSA pulls you out of the line and starts searching through your bags. They then pop open your laptop (the same one on to which your teenager downloaded a movie or pictures with embedded porn that neither they or you knew about). The TSA employee discovers the child pornography. YOU are in a lot of trouble. Don't think it can happen? Read this.

What about this risk. Say your teenage boy is sent a file sharing link in an email by one of his friends. He clicks it and clicks through to an FBI child porn front. Remember, you are the internet IP account owner. They are coming after you. Read this.

Pornography/Adult Web Site Ads, etc.

If the above is not enough to freak you out, do you know some of the images your children encounter when they merely click on to some illegal download sites? As some of the images on these sites are pretty graphic, we will not assault you with them here, but if you want an idea, click here. We don't want to over-dramatize the nexus of pornography and illegal downloading, but there is material on the internet of such a graphic violent sexual nature, parents should do everything in their power to protect their children from it. Click here to see a worst case scenario (Ted Bundy interview on the dangers of violent pornography).

Zombies

In computer parlance, a "zombie" is…

a computer connected to the Internet that has been compromised by a hacker, a computer virus, or a trojan horse. Generally, a compromised machine is only one of many in a botnet, and will be used to perform malicious tasks of one sort or another under remote direction.³

Most owners of zombie computers are unaware that their system is being used in this way.⁴ [Emphasis added.]

So, here's the scenario. Your child illegally downloads a song or a movie or a game or software. The Russian mafia attached a trojan horse (as mentioned in the quote above) to the file they made available for upload to your child (and many other children and individuals around the world) so they can use your computer for a wide variety of activities. Think I'm making this up? Read this. Once they have a backdoor into your computer, they can rummage around and download your passwords or credit card detail if you store that on your computer. Or they can use your computer to originate spam. Or they can spread viruses or execute phishing attacks. Or how about this doozy: they install a keytracker that logs your every keystroke. So, when you open up your bank or brokerage account online, they capture your user name and password. They now have the keys to your kingdom and can clean out your accounts.

They can even potentially watch/record your teenage daughter undress through the webcam camera in or attached to her computer (if she has one).

You Could Get Sued for $Millions

We say "you," because it's considered your IP address, not your child's. Who will catch you? The Recording Industry Association (RIAA) or the before mentioned MPAA if you download a movie, or Microsoft or Adobe or the manufacturer or whomever made the work illegally downloaded. Think it can't happen to you? Read this. So, how much could it cost you? $Millions.

You Say "I Have Virus Protection"

Or, you say you have put virus protection on your childrens' computers. Well, there are any number of problems with this.

• The first question we would ask you is who knows more about the internet in your house? You or your kid(s)?
• Next, is the virus protection still on? Are you sure they haven't disabled it to avoid those pesky warnings about potentially infected files?
• Or, maybe they just ignore the warnings. After all, they probably know they are doing something wrong, especially if you have told them that file sharing is stealing when the file involved is something they otherwise would have to buy. All they have to do is click the ignore button when they get the warning from your virus software that a file may be infected.
• Or, in the case of footnote 2 below, the virus checker is not going to detect that the "Pink Panther" movie your 7-year old thought she was downloading is actually a porn movie.

Conclusion

You can not allow your children to engage in illegal downloading. It threatens them and it threatens you. It could cost you millions and/or ruin your reputation not to speak of exposing your kids to the really sick stuff all over the internet.

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