5/6/05 What's safe and legal to download using a file-sharing program?

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Answer:

Gretchen,

I hate to disappoint you, but the vast majority of the stuff found on Kazaa is going to fall into the catagory of being illegal somehow, and/or the catagory of being a virus in disguise of a file you're looking for.

Furthermore, Kazaa is NOTORIOUS for being pre-loaded with spyware! Your best bet would be to remove it entirely and sweep the computer for spyware after you've uninstalled it.

If you MUST delve into the realm of Kazza, Google "Kazaa Lite." It's pretty much the same program, only without the spyware.

As for telling what's LEGAL and what's not - there's NO easy way to tell.
There's no flag for "public domain" or otherwise shareable files. You would have to do a bit of research on the file to see if the author(s) are allowing it to be shared, or if it's someone's bootleg. You'll have to visit the author/artist's website to see if they've given permission to share the file. SOME artists have, some have not. If you're looking for say, Metallica
- the answer is 100% positive that the file is NOT legal to download.

Fortunately, it's easier to tell if a file is SAFE. If it looks to be WAY too small - like 25 - 50 KB, it's probably a bogus file - complete with a virus. Your typical MP3 file will be at least a couple of MB in size. An AVI file will be typically 500 MB or larger. An MPG file, likewise, will be at least 500 MB.

A note about media files... The MPAA and the RIAA have been posting and sharing bogus files. These files wind up being passed on to others. There's an awful LOT of garbage available on Kazaa. For instance, let's say you're willing to do something <ahem> less than legal (NOT endorsing doing this!) and you're looking for a copy of a recently released movie and you happen to find someone on Kazaa who claims to have it. You might be surprised to find that the file you've downloaded may contain the first 5 minutes of the movie followed by 2 hours worth of black, empty video. The file size looks about right, but the content is not there.

For what it's worth, Kazaa is more trouble than it's worth.

Submitted by: Pete Z.

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Answer:

Hiya Gretchen, the answer to your question is either very easy, or very hard to implement, at least as far as legality goes.

1. Legality
If it is a commercial item, whether song, video, software or book, it's illegal. You didn't pay for it, you can't use it. At least, that is the current argument being made in court by the RIAA, MPAA and other media organizations.

[*1] So yes, all those songs you find, movies, books and programs are off-limits if you want to stay within the bounds of the law. You can use it to download anything that is freeware, shareware or in the public domain. There are songs from commercial artists that are 'given away' on websites and etc, but I am not sure how that would be viewed legally.

2. Safety

To be as safe as possible (there is no way to be 'safe' in any kind of absolute sense) scan everything you download with at least one virus-scanner that is kept absolutely up-to-date. You really only need to scan software and a couple of other file types, but unless you know what you are doing tech-wise, and keep up with all the latest methods of virus-transmission, scan 'em all. I remember when it was safe to open any word document, and along came the macro virus.

Word to the wise...

Get yourself a good spyware scanner. Or two. Or MORE! (Personally, I run Spybot Search & Destroy, Ad-Aware, MS AntiSpyware Beta, and Spyware Sweeper. I almost always have at least 3 of them find something even when I run them one after another).

Another related security concern you may not have have considered is that Kazaa (and many other file-sharing clients) come bloated with spyware and adware and infect your computer as soon as you install them. My suggestion would be to get a file-sharing program that does not bundle spyware and adware. K++ is Kazaa without the 'ware, but reportedly the people that make Kazaa (Sherman) are doing everything they can to destroy its usefulness because they are losing revenue for everyone who uses it.

CNET's Download.com has recently made a commitment to allow NO software that bundles adware to be listed on their site (something that deserves *tremendous* appreciation from the user-community - the editorial on the home page should be required reading), so you might do a search there for p2p or file sharing or just go to http://www.download.com/2001-20_4-0.html?tag=hd.ts then click INTERNET then FILE SHARING for the full list. I like to sort the lists by the CNET Rating (done by clicking on the 'CNET Rating' column header [which really should be marked in some way, e.g. in blue and underlined]). Then I look within the top CNET rated files for the top User rated files and check those out.

To check my own advice I performed the course of action outlined in the previous paragraph and the searches produced a small selection, while of course going to the category produces a long list, but sorted it works. I would not choose Grouper or any of the BitTorrent clients as I don't think they will fit your needs.

I did notice K Lite (a version of Kazaa) when I searched 'file sharing' which is adwared. Ah, I see this is K Lite GOLD and says "K-Lite Gold is not affiliated with Kazaa or Kazaa Lite." Though judging by the one review, it seems to at least have underhanded tactics and misrepresentation in common with Kazaa/K Lite.

While my quick answer quickly grew, I think the more info you have the better (to a point!)

MrFurry

[*1] I moved this down here so it didn't get in the way of the actual answer.
(I'll ignore right now that the media empires that are fighting file sharing with the argument that you have to pay for the rights to use their product (listen to their music, watch their video, etc) have nothing for those of us who have already paid 'for the right to use' a book or CD and then lost the physical media... they want you to go ahead and pay again, which kind of shows that they don't believe their own arguments.)

Submitted by: Chris P.

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Answer:

Hello:

The short answer is no. There is no way for you to know which is legal or illegal software. When I was using P2P software about two years ago, you could find EVERYTHING from music to software to ebooks to whatever. And you can still do it.

Since you are sharing files from someone else's hard drive vs. a central server like the old file sharing systems (remember audiogalaxy?), there is no central computer for any company to regulate. Therefore anybody can share anything. I had times where I thought I was downloading something and it turned out to be something else. The file name did not match what I received. Thankfully I never got a virus doing this. When you use P2P software, you open a port on your machine so that others can share from your share folder. Some programs allow you to turn this off, but that is frowned upon within these networks since that defeats the whole purpose of P2P. If everyone did that, there would be nothing to share. If you are on one of these networks, and you see a song by a signed artist or software, that you would otherwise have to pay to get somewhere else, chances are it's technically illegal to get it. If it's freeware, you can share it over the network, but there's probably another way to get it that doesn't compromise the security of your machine. If you write software or your own music and want the world to be able to download it and listen to it on their machine, that's legal. Put it in your shared folder and see who takes it. And vice versa. There are ways to email or chat with other members of these networks, so I suppose you could ask if the software/music is copyright protected. No guarantee you'll get a truthful answer.

My suggestion is just to avoid them. There are plenty of truly legitimate sites to get music cheap and software cheap, that file sharing has lost it's appeal. And with ISPs turning in members who have downloaded music from these sites, it's not worth the risk to me.

Hope this helps in your decision. If you do choose a file sharing program, I would use Shareaza (if it still exists). It's free of spyware. Kazaa always had spyware associated with it and there was no way to remove that without disabling the program.


Submitted by: Daniel K.

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Answer:

There is no way to determine if the file is safe and virus free before you download it. There is also no way to determine if, say for the sake of discussion, the file containing Bob Dylan actually contains Bob Dylan. It could be another artist or garble. The same is true with peer-to-peer software, movies, documents, etc.

While most of the people in the file sharing community are well intentioned, there will always be a few who upload malicious or fictitious data.

Now the legal side. There are many legitimate and legal uses for file sharing, such as using it to self-publish your own creative works.
But, let's assume you are speaking of the most common use of the technology, sharing music. Most of the files that you will find on a peer-to-peer network, like Kazaa, are not legal. They violate copyright laws. It is only legal if the artist, or copyright holder, has given whom ever is distributing the songs the right to do so.

How do you find legal files? Well, you have a couple of options.
1. You can use a fee-based music service, like Rhapsody or iTunes.
2. You can go straight to a band's website and see if they offer files.
3. You can check out the myriad of free mp3 sites. The songs are submitted by the artist or record labels themselves as promotional tools. Amazon.com has a large selection of free downloads, also mp3.com, and cnet's own music.download.com.
Some of these sites don't allow you to burn the songs onto CDs, but they are legal. You won't need to worry about the Recording Industry Association of America suing you or the FBI seizing your hard drive and arresting you.

You don't want to tell to the murderer that you are sharing a cell with that you are in for downloading Bob Dylan, do you?

Submitted by: Adrienne C. of Tallahassee, FL

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Answer:
Gretchen, I think you should be aware of all the viruses that come through these files as much as any legal implications. Once you download the Kazaa program run a virus scan and you will see how many are attached to Kazaa thru Gain ,Altnet,etc. Keyloggers,etc. I had the free download and paid $30 for the Kazaa Gold, but had to remove it for fear of spam and infections. Many songs were incomplete or not the full version. The larger your music files becomes the more you have to worry about losing thru viruses. I once had to start fresh after having almost 600 songs on files, not all from down loads. Every since that happened, I have been wary of peer to peer programs, although I will go occasionally and download a song. Be aware of software downloads violation, especially large companies like Microsoft. Last note: after buying Kazaa Gold I spent almost 30 minutes calling Kaaza with some of my problems and issues and found that they were aware you several problems that they are not making public knowledge prior to purchasing and there are no refunds, which they say is in the EULA (agreement that no one reads). Good Luck.
Submitted by: John

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Answer:

Hi!

In my opinion, there is just one answer to your question: don't use file-share programs at all !!

What you are doing is to say: "Hi, out there - no matter who you are or what you want to put on my
computer, just do it - it's complete wide-open, and I neither want nor can't control whatever you're
doing - btw: the password and code to my Internet-bank is here:......"

If you were an insurance agent, what would you think of a person doing so with his house and after-
wards complained of being stolen?

Best greetings from

Submitted by: Kim N.

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Answer:

With peer-to-peer (PtP) programs, you get what you search for ... and then some. If you search for the title of a song, movie, or software and you get responses, then chances are it's copyrighted material. If you want truly free, unrestricted items, then you're better off going to the source. For example, brand-name song sites and band Web sites carry some free and super cheap music, and for software, there is a wealth of open-source and very cheap material. PtP can take forever to find, and forever and a day to download.

Further, considering the crowd that frequents the PtP population, there is also a good chance something you download will end up being garbage anyway. Years ago I used to do the Kazaa stuff, but the songs I downloaded were:
- incorrectly named
- viruses
- porn
- malware
- low quality (pops, hiss, dropouts)

I gave up PtP entirely, and have no qualms about spending 99 cents at iTunes, and if I want free or cheap software, I look to SourceForge (I have a Mac now, so the world of cheap software reaches far and wide) or Download.com, or I do a basic Google search. Once I find what I'm looking for, I head either to Download.com, SourceForge, the developer's Web site, or other quality source.

The original spirit of PtP -- sharing of information -- is gone. Don't look for a paper on the human genome project on PtP: rummage around university sites. Federal and state governments host their own sites too, and government material is not copyrighted.

Submitted by: Tim M.

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Answer:

Stay away from Kazaa! (I don't care what version you are running) The P2P networking is very taxing on your operating system, hard to remove and what I have found out after dealing with Kazaa is that only 20% of the files I have ever downloaded from there are worth anything. What a waste of time and recourses!

I wonder how many people have had a Trojan sneak in during a download? Some were designed just FOR Kazaa. ie: kazza.exe is a virus, possibly of the OPTIXPRO.12.C. / Backdoor.OptixPro.12.c type. This virus allows unauthorized access on the computer and stops Internet security packages from functioning. This program is a registered security risk and should be removed immediately.

Use Limewire or WinMX if you intend to "Share" files then call an exorcist to remove Kazaa permanently.

Submitted by: Bruce T.

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Answer:

Well Gretchen G. there is no real way to not break the law on Kazaa since it is purely a peer to peer network and there is not a regulation on the content being traded on the networks. The best way to not break the law or download viruses is to completely stop using Kazaa or any other P2P software. Most come bundled with spyware, malware, or adware so already your computer is possibly infected since Kazaa is notorious for crashing computers. Try paying for your music, through trusted download companies such as MusicNow, Itunes, or Rhapsody; there is no risk of malicious content, you are guaranteed quality downloads at very high speeds, no queuing which is one of the worst parts of using P2P, and best of all they are legal. I find that ninety-nine cents per song is not so bad when you think of all the hassle you do not have to deal with. I hope this solved your question.

Submitted by: Richard D.

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Answer:

Hi, Gretchen G.

I used to use Kazaa for a while on my DELL PC. The reason i quit was that there is hardly any music that doesn't contain viruses, ad and spyware on it. Because of the peer to peer system. However there really isn't any way to know whether the file is legal or illegally ripped of a CD.

Within the first week of using Kazaa my computer slowed down intensely, even though I have a P4 3.6 Ghz with HT and 1 GB of ram. Also when i ran Ad-Ware SE it found over 159 types of adware on my PC. Also AVG 6.0 Professional anti virus found 7 viruses, including Trojans and dialer's

The Safe way is to use Limewire, which i have been using for 6 months without any problems

Submitted by: Tarun I.

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Answer:

The issue with KaZaA and pretty much all peer-to-peer services is that you don't necessarily get what you think you're getting. Yes, you can get good shareware or freeware, but there are also a plethora of people using those services for sharing copies of commercial software, pirate copies of music files, among other things.

Also, there is no absolute positive way to guarantee the functionality nor the safety of whatever it is you download from these services. People can rename files, put virii in files, among other things.

In general, downloading from these services can get you what you want, but don't take anything downloaded from them at face value. If you do decide to use anything downloaded from there, make sure you back up your system before installing it. This way, you can return your system to the pre-installation state fairly easily.


Submitted by: Chris

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Answer:

First of all delete Kazaa out of your system. It is a spyware application that slowly steals hardware space and makes your computer behave very strangely. What you want to do and I know it is a little more costly but download itunes, real player, or windows media player and buy music for $.99. These programs are the best and do not contain spyware or any other harmful virus that may terrorize your system. These are all legal but are a little bit more costly...but what would you rather do? take your computer in to be cleaned of viruses for about $40.00 and have a chance that you are doing something illegal or would you rather get the suggested players and not have to take your computer in?


Submitted by: Taylor R.

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In reply to your question:
Sometimes one of the easiest things to do is to download it and then start looking. If the software has a License Agreement within the package, read it, then you will know. Others are obvious due to the format by which some companies name their software. With a little looking around the package or a quick web search you can find out if what you are downloading is Licensed for free distribution between "people" or whether you are required to purchase an official copy. Also, read up on the documentation on (Kazaa? I believe that is how you spelled it) and see whether they have any kind of special licensing and distribution agreement with the company whose software is in question; they might have an agreement by which software downloaded through their "means" is not legally required to be purchased. Afterwards, you should probably delete your downloaded package if you have found it to be illegal distribution.

Submitted by: James T.

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Answer:

In the first place, according to Big Brother (in this case, the powers that be who have appointed themselves guardians of the wealthy) any unauthorized (unpaid
for) use and downloading of files such as music, video or any other media created for the purpose of generating income is considered illegal. This is evidenced by the ridiculous lawsuits brought by mega corporations against a few industrious college students not long ago. Summing up that run-on sentence, suffice it to say that if you are not paying the owners of the intellectual media which you are downloading, you are technically breaking the law.

As to viruses; most of them are constantly being hunted, researched and ultimately foiled by the likes of Symantec, the makers of PC-Cillin and others, and as long as you have virus protection you are in no more or less danger than ever; it's like the flu.
Some get it, some don't regardless of inoculations.

The pay version of Kazaa claims not to place spyware; if you believe them then I have a nice piece of bridge property in Brooklyn that I'd like to interest you in.
However, running Ad-Aware and Spybot S+D does a very good job of rooting out most of that cyber-excrement.
I don't think anything gets rid of all of it, unless one is extremely competent in registry tinkering and spends 90% of their waking hours editing their registry.

I have found BearShare to be a lot easier to deal with than Kazaa, and though the free version downloads files a mite slower than the pay one, the ad ware/spyware is easy to get rid of, and the over all experience blows Kazaa away. Not that I would ever advocate getting anything for free, mind you! This is one man's opinion.

Submitted by: Peter L.

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As regards legality, it depends what you are searching for. If you search for a Movie or a Music Track and then download the whole thing, you already know that you are most likely downloading Copyright material.

If you leave your PC running all night downloading "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" you could hardly pretend that you thought it was legal.

However, if you do a search for Paris Hilton, you will know that whatever you find will almost certainly not be illegal. There is a DVD of her antics available for rent in our local Movie Gallery and I doubt she is getting the royalties.

About viruses - I have on occasion downloaded files using Kazaa Lite which were infected. My McAfee installation caught them every time during the download. I don't worry about this at all.

Submitted by: Terrence P.

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Answer:

Gretchen G.

I HATE TO BE THE BEARER OF BAD NEWS BUT YOU PROBABLY ALREADY HAVE A BUNCH OF BAD JUNK ON YOUR COMPUTER. WHEN YOU DOWNLOAD KAZAA OR IMESH(THOUGH NOT AS BAD). THE KAZAA PROGRAM YOU HAVE TO DOWNLOAD HAS AD-WARE AND SPY-WARE BUILT RIGHT IN. THAT IS HOW THEY MAKE THEIR MONEY FOR THIS FREE PROGRAM. YOU CAN'T UN-INSTALL THE SPYWARE WITHOUT UN-INSTALLING KAZAA. AND WHEN YOU DO THAT YOU WILL PROBABLY BE LEFT WITH JUST THE SPY WARE.

AS FAR AS DOWNLOADING A VIRUS IN A SONG, A GOOD UP-DATED VIRUS PROGRAM (NORTON) WILL USUALLY PICK ANYTHING UP DURING THE DOWNLOAD. AND ALWAYS DO A FILE SCAN BEFORE OPENING.

YOU CAN COUNT ON EVERY C-D THAT YOU CAN BUY IN THE STORES OR THAT YOU HEAR ON THE RADIO IS COPYRIGHTED. THIS LEGAL STUFF IS VERY CONFUSING AND PROBABLY WILL BE FOR YEARS TO COME. THE DICTATION OF WHO CAN DO WHAT WITH WHAT IS VERY CONTROVERSY. YOU WILL HAVE TO LET YOU CONSCIENCE BE YOUR GUIDE.

Submitted by: JACK H.

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Answer:

Unless you're providing a file distribution service to clients or work in the information technology field, there is no valid reason for peer-to-peer software other than downloading pornography. Porn seems to be the only remaining legal download and much of that has been stolen from copyrighted material or requires you to purchase the file prior to receiving it. And with cyber-cops cracking down on child pornography, you may accidentally wind up with child porn and find yourself being charged with distribution of child porn due to the native distribution capabilities of P2P programs. Most program downloads, movie downloads and music downloads are copyrighted materials that are being distributed illegally. While there are a few shareware programmers, amateur movie makers and struggling musicians using this service to distribute their work and "be discovered" they are probably not the types of files YOU would be looking for. And finally, viruses are always a concern. In today's, cyber-world you MUST have a good anti-virus, firewall service and adware/spyware blockers. With these safeguards in place you can surf fairly safely, although you must keep them up to date.


Submitted by: Tony R.

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Answer:

The best way to keep viruses from being downloaded to your computer is to not download files at all. Myself I have found Avast Antivirus to work the best for detecting viruses before they reach my computer. It has found viruses that Norton AntiVirus couldn't and either deleted them or quarantines the viruses that Norton AntiVirus reported that it couldn't do anything to these viruses.

You can get Avast AntiVirus free with a free registration key for home use only at AVAST.COM.

I now download files without worrying about being attacked by viruses. It makes a great Firewall also.

I hope this helps you out to not worry about Viruses from Music files or any other files that you may want to download from the net. Happy computing.

Submitted by: Michael D.

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In reply to Gretchen G's question, peer-to-peer music file-swapping is illegal, whether via Kazaa or any other similar site. Music is, almost always, copyright; that means that in most countries you don't have the right to make copies or distribute it in any form. (Here in the UK, even making one backup copy or a cassette for your own use of a music CD is still a grey area in law.) The debate continues as to the morality of the issue, but as the law stands you cannot legally download files nor offer your own for uploading - and the relevent authorities are successfully prosecuting users of file-swap systems in several countries.

To make Kazaa and similar file-swap applications less usable, many of the files on offer are "nonsense" files - they have the artist and song title as the file name, but contain jumbled sounds or simply silence. It's no great secret that these are being deliberately "offered" for sharing by those with an interest in stopping P2P file-sharing.

You may encounter viruses, probably not through music files, but quite easily if you download programs (since these have .exe files which may well contain nasties!) Keep your anti-virus software up-to-date - but I guess you do that anyway...


Submitted by: Phil S. of Bolton, UK