It's never been easier to share music, pictures, and news with each other. We can download and exchange audio, video, and digital image files whenever we want, from any location. But along with this convenience come risks like copyright infringement, malware, viruses and far worse
File-sharing programs can facilitate the illegal exchange of copyrighted materials. When you download music or podcasts from a Web site, upload pictures to an online storage site, or get the latest headlines and podcasts via RSS feeds, you could be leaving your computer wide open to attack.
Your personal information, music, and photos are vulnerable to destructive viruses, malware and hackers. How can you protect your files and your computer?
Observe copyright laws
Online music and movie services like iTunes or Spotify make it easy to stream, download, or purchase digital files with the copyright owners' permission.
By visiting reputable sites and sharing judiciously, you can download and share music legally and safely. To help you share wisely, here are a few examples of what not to do:
1. Don't email copies to your friends of a copyrighted song someone mails to you.
2. Don't put any songs you copy from a copyrighted CD on a file-sharing network so millions can download it.
3. Don't download unauthorized copies of copyrighted music from a file-sharing network.
4. Don't share copyrighted music using an instant messaging service.
5. Don't distribute CDs to your friends of copyrighted music you've downloaded.
Protect your stuff
Our music, photos, and audio and video files are constantly vulnerable to loss. Because some of these files are personal, our privacy is at risk too. There is a lot you can do to protect yourself. The checklist below details some of the measures you can take to guard your data and ensure that it is kept safe from harm.
1. Maintain the quality of your pictures. Decide how you want to store and share your pictures, and then select the best file format. A picture saved in GIF format looks great on screen but not in print. TIFF files print beautifully, but they're large. A picture saved in JPEG format will degrade every time you save it, so when you save a JPEG image to a CD or other archive medium, save it in TIFF format.
2. If you store pictures online, read the privacy agreement to see what kind of information the site shares, and how they protect your private information.
3. If you store pictures on your hard drive, consider putting them behind a partition to help protect your files if your operating system crashes.
4. Back up important files on an external storage device or a CD-R disc before sharing or downloading files.
Share only what you want to share
You shouldn't open email attachments from people you don't trust. Similarly, you should be wary about downloading files from them. You never know what you or your kids may find on the hard drives of random strangers on the Internet. The best tip for file-sharing is to stop and think before downloading files through these networks. Here are some more tips.
1. If you use a file-sharing program, be sure to turn it on only to update files. File-sharing clients are designed to be left running, and continually broadcast your online presence. That makes your computer, along with any vulnerabilities it may have , easy for a hacker or worm to find.
2. Use a personal firewall and internet security software like Norton Internet Security and an anti-spyware tool like Tiscali SpyGuard to protect your computer from hackers.
3. Set passwords for read and write access to your shared folders to protect yourself from other computer users who might find an unprotected folder to be a convenient dumping ground for their files.
4. Avoid storing copies of copyrighted files that you have legally purchased, such as songs from a CD or a licensed retail music site, in your person-to-person file-sharing folder.
Above all, beware of the potential legal issues that pertain to file sharing. There is no reason why you cannot share files, just make sure you are not infringing copyright or leaving yourself open to hackers and online threats when you do.
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