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Your teenager might never think of shoplifting a music CD. But untold thousands of kids are downloading music from so-called peer-to-peer music services -- the digital equivalent of shoplifting.
If a stroll through your computer's history reveals visits to sites such as Grokster, Kazaa and LimeWire, chances are the apple of your eye is downloading music illegally. And you could be liable for any infringement of music copyrights that occurs on your computer.
The Recording Industry Association of America has grown increasingly aggressive in suing individual consumers who are involved in illegally distributing copyrighted music. In fact, in late November the association announced that it had sued 754 consumers, including computer network users at 12 colleges, including Boston University, New York University, University of California at Berkeley and Michigan State University.
Penalties are especially severe for file sharers
who seek to profit from illegal downloads. They can get up to five
years in prison and $250,000 in fines. Even file sharers who don't
profit from their activities can be punished criminally with up
to three years in prison and $250,000 in fines; and civil liability
for damages ranging up to $150,000 per infringement (per song).
If you are wondering which digital music player to
buy, see the main story, "Getting
in tune with digital music services" and the side-by-side
comparison in the sidebar "Comparing
the best-selling digital music players."
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