File Sharing - What are the Risks?

These days, it’s almost second nature to have downloaded music stored on your computer for easy access. In the early days of downloading files, the P2P (peer to peer) program pioneer known as Napster set the stage for what is casually and commonly known now as file sharing. The highly acclaimed program wasn’t around long before the RIAA drew a vicious $20 billion lawsuit against them for contributory copyright infringement, ultimately causing the company to start charging users to utilize the program. Napster still operates to this day (to the RIAA’s satisfaction), and there are also thousands of file sharing programs that are free to download and operate with the ease of a couple of clicks.

File sharing has become so common that it has almost been forgotten how risky it can be, and what the consequences entail. Whether or not you’d like to believe it, people do get sued for file sharing and go to jail over this very thing. Your ISP also has the right to deny service or take other action against you if you are meddling in copyright infringement and piracy via file sharing. When I lived at my former apartment, there was a day that I received a warning phone call from my ISP basically instructing me to refrain from using file sharing for the wrong things, and it was certainly enough to wake me up. This subject is definitely not taken lightly, and I think it’s important to understand that.

Viruses/Spyware
File sharing programs are the mating grounds for malicious software. Trust me, virus/spyware authors know that millions of people do their share of file sharing, and they take advantage of that, big time. Luckily, it is not extremely difficult to spot files that might be questionable. When entering a search query into your P2P program, hesitate from downloading files that are not in the file format you are looking for. For example, if you are searching for an MP3 file, don’t download a file that ends in EXE. Study the results carefully, and use your better judgment. Also, try to stay away from files that match your query perfectly. By this, I mean if you type in “lillian frederick 2009 I want you” and you see a result pretty quickly that reads, “lillian frederick 2009 I want you” … then this is probably not a safe download. Like I said, study the results cautiously before sporadically downloading something. I recommend this from experience.

Copyright Infringement
This is probably the biggest risk of all. File sharing has definitely blurred the line between legal and illegal, and there is lots of debated discussion over whether it is tolerable or not. Technically, sharing copyrighted material is illegal, so you are in fact breaking the law when doing so. When you share copyrighted files, you are vulnerable to being sued and put in jail. There is obviously no certainty that you will “get caught,” but I think it’s important to be aware of the risks of file sharing and downloading material that is copyrighted. In my opinion, doing things like this on your computer is a matter of using your better judgment. If you feel like you shouldn’t be doing it, then you probably shouldn’t be.

Ease of Discovering Pornography
If you have children, then keeping a P2P program around on the family computer probably wouldn’t be such a good idea. Pornography is easily obtainable through file sharing programs, and I wouldn’t consider this good news if you have kids that use the computer regularly. One way around this is to make more than one user account on the computer and give the one besides your’s limited access, thus eliminating the possibility of children participating in file sharing. Some programs also offer filters, and you could make use of those if you don’t like the idea of creating another user account on your computer.

Vulnerability Through Ports
When sharing files between your computer and the internet, your program of choice may request that it open up certain ports. This is a good way to get better connection speeds, but also this makes your computer vulnerable to attackers/hackers. With those ports open, cyber baddies can easily pry into your computer without your knowing. If it’s possible, deny opening those ports up and run the program anyway. If the program does not operate, find another one to use. It’s really not worth risking your privacy so that you can continue in file sharing for leisure.

Accidentally Revealing Confidential Information
The way you configure your file sharing program is very important in that you could definitely screw up and expose files that you don’t want exposed. When most P2P programs are first ran, they usually prompt you with a wizard that asks how you’d like your program to be set up. A certain section of the settings asks you what files you’d like to share with the world. Some people are careless and quickly click their C:/ drive and move on without thinking a thing about it. This is not good because you could be sharing your credit card numbers, bank account information, etc. with the Internet and not even know it. Configuring these settings correctly is very important to maintain your privacy and in some cases, identity.

Things You Can Do If You Already Use P2P Programs

Use a Firewall
Firewalls aren’t made for nothing, so be sure your’s is turned on constantly.

Use Virus Protection
If you’re going to be file sharing with the Internet, be sure you have adequate and up-to-date virus protection. Some programs are even designed to notify you immediately when a threat is discovered (in the case that you download something suspicious) which is a good thing.

Restore Your Computer if Something Bad Happens
If you are sharing files among P2P networks, there’s probably going to come a time when you download something that seems suspicious. If you feel you’ve messed up and downloaded something harmful to your computer while file sharing, restore your computer to the last restore point to eliminate whatever you downloaded. To do this, (for Vista) you would click Start > type in “System Restore” (no quotes) in the search box at the bottom of the Start menu, and click the result at the top. For XP, you would click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore.