Blooey's
Editorials-"Full Downloads?"
In case you didn't know, multimedia such as "downloadable full movies" are illegal. For instance, KazaA, a popular file-sharing program which utilizes the Internet to share files such as Word documents and video clips, has over 5,000,000 files, a majority of which are illegally extracted from DVD's, music CD's, or secretly filmed from the theater directly. People who are caught with websites or file servers hosting these files can be sued for up to $500,000. Although some people claim that it's alright to have these files as long as you delete them from your computer within 24 hours, what about the servers that host them? I really don't think the server maintainers follow this rule and delete the files from their server within 24 hours.
There's another type of illegal multimedia which is called warez. These are downloadable programs bought and copied by people without permission to distribute it. Most of the warez websites are built by hackers. Hackers are people who hack into computers/file servers/programs in order to gain some benefit, usually money, but there are some really sick people who hack for the fun of it. I don't know exactly how much money these people can be sued for if/when they get caught, but I'm pretty certain it's going to be a considerable sum, more than enough to force a normal teenager's parents to ground him/her for life and interrogate him every time he/she steps near the computer.
Sure, having illegal files may get you a lot of visitors to your website, but if you get caught, all that is not worth it. Even though it may take a while and may be a lot harder for some, it's a lot better to just type reviews of programs and games or write summaries of movies than to offer them illegally. I sort of like writing stuff, so I definitely wouldn't trade it for a chance to be put in prison or to have my parents ban me from the computer and glare at me every chance they get.
Remember, every little effort makes the world a better place!
