Okay, I was talking and trying to answer this dude's questions about file sharing and tracing type stuff...

He wanted to know how theo gov't could find you IF you went to a kiddie porn or illegal file sharing type site. I told him that you run an IP trace, but that will only give you a number. The ISP would have to provide a log of which ind. account had that number at a given time. I told him there was a log that could be accessed, BUT the ISP would have to cooperate to get this info. He was under the impression that you couldn't do an IP trace and that AOL CLAIMS they don't monitor you. i told him you still leave a digital footprint, and yes, AOL can find where you have been. I told him this would only be an issue if the gov't. wanted to investigate; they wouldn't just do it randomly and AOL had to cooperate.

Then, we got into filesharing (Kazaa). I told him that it is legal as of now and the only people the record industry goes after are sacrificial type lambs in order to set an example. I told him that most ISP's do not cooperate with account holder's info unless forced by a court of law. I said "Yeah, they can figure what you DL'd, but there is so much transfer that you would have to have 34567894356789files before anyone would ever mess." He was wondering if he downloaded a dirty or illegal file, he could get busted. I told him "NO", but if you get busted for say kiddie porn, those files can come back and bite you hard.

Finally, he asked about password/serial code hacks. I told him that it was similar to the dish network fake cards. You can get a number, but if the manufacturer wants to, they can disable a password. I'm not sure, but does this cancel your program (NERO< ie) or are you safe once you load in your serial number???

I just basically told him there is always a digital footprint that can be traced; it's just how hard someone/the gov't/etc. wants to go to get it. Am I close here or way off? HOLLA!!!

 

yeah, the isp has to release the info, but there was that one court decision that made verizon give the info over, so they was now use that as precedence. if you do small stuff, a song here and here, they're not going to care. they go after the big fish for now. and technically, it's not legal to get songs (not now, not ever) unless you already own the song (or cd). the only reason that kazaa is stull up is because it's based in a country where the gov. doesn't care and they can't monitor the network, so they "don't know what the users share".

for password/serials, you only have to worry about getting caught if the program connects to the internet and checks against a list of invalid serials, or that list in included in a new version.

 

So, if you own the song/file legally, then you are NOT supposed to DL another file like it???

Do most programs use the Internet to connect? I'm thinking of Office, NERO, Photoshop, etc? I know when you FIRST install a MS prog., you have to access the www to check the code against a legit. list. I can't think of any other program that does that. I'm a lil confused about that.

 

about the song. it's only legal if you actually own the song. you're allowed to make as many backups as you want, and that qualifies as a backup.

for the programs, some do, some don't. nero doesn't. the new office does, but office 2k doesn't. photoshop doesn't. as long as you don't go through that registration thing. but a lot of shareware programs do to prevent piracy.

 

Okay, that's the way I thought the stuff worked. I guess I was on the right track educatin' dude about the finer points of file sharing, getting busted, etc. I told him NEVER use a CC on a site if you are worried about it being illegal in anyway cuz the CC companies will cooperate and you have left a HUGE tracer doing some mess like that. :thumbup: