How not to get sued by the RIAA Here's a little ditty I did for the school paper.

How many of you download music? Don’t be shy. I know you all do. I will admit that I have downloaded more than my share of files in the last 5 years. You have to admit that is an easy way to get the music you want. But there is no way you can fight the legality of the subject.

You may also be aware that people are getting sued for downloading music online. In this article I will try to give you some tips on how NOT to get sued.

Here’s how the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) is catching users. First they setup a computer with a heap load of copyrighted material on it. Then you go along and say you want “Red Hot Chilly Peppers – Californication”. You begin to download the file. As you are downloading, the RIAA gets your IP Address (a number assigned to your computer similar to a phone number). After they get your IP address they start to hack your PC. Yes, you read that right, I said hack your computer. They try to get onto your hard drive and get a list of all the illegal files on your computer. If the succeed they will then call up your internet provider and get your name, address and phone number. What? They can’t do that can they? Oh you bet they can! From there they issue a sopenia for you to appear in court. They usually want around $100,000 out of you for your Britney Spears collection. Pocket change for some of you right? Well here is some ways to help keep your tush out of court. I can’t guarantee these will stop them but they can’t hurt.

1 - Setup a firewall - Some people will tell you that if you use KCOnline or RTC that you are exempt for needing a firewall. That my friend is total myth. A firewall keeps outside users from accessing your computer from the internet. If you have KCOnline or RTC (or any other dial up service) I recommend that you run ZoneAlarm from zonelabs.com, it is a free firewall. If you look on their site you’ll see a free version. You can buy one from Norton but ZoneAlarm will do the job for free.

2 - Install PeerGuardian - PeerGaurgian is an application that will block the RIAA from even seeing your computer on the internet. They can’t hack something they can’t see. Once you download and install the program you need to make sure you update the software around once a week because the RIAA is always changing their IP addres’s to try and fool this software. Go download it at http://xs.tech.nu/ .

3 - Don’t be a supernode - What is a supernode you may ask? It is a point on the file sharing network that keeps track of who has what music so that when your search for Linkin’ Park it goes through a supernode. The RIAA likes to get after these supernodes and sue them. You should see this option in Kazaa and WinMX.

Will the above keep you from getting sued. Maybe but I can’t guarantee anything and I won’t help pay your settlement. And no I’m not saying downloading music is in anyway legal. But I don’t like the idea of high school students getting sued. If you have any tech questions you want answered contact Chris HIleman and let him know. Posted by chris at 04:16 PM School • (0) Trackbacks