LimeWire and other P2P file sharing networks still falsely claim to be safe...

If you have teenagers or college kids in the house, then it's a pretty safe bet that you've heard of LimeWire. Many kids, young adults, and even older adults for that matter, use peer to peer (a.k.a. P2P) file sharing networks like LimeWire to download, share and trade music, photos, and software, all for free. P2P is a communication network that enables users to connect their computers and share files directly with other users without having to go through a centralized server. The problem is that most people don't realize that peer to peer file sharing networks put users at great risk in a number of ways. Here are the top five ways that I've come across when I've fixed people's computers in my travels...

P2P Risk #1: P2P Networks Can Kill Your Hard Drive!

Kids will say that P2P doesn't hurt your computer's hard drive, but it does. This is because P2P doesn't simply download one whole file from another user's computer into yours, like a single direct transfer. P2P downloads little chunks of the file you want to download from thousands of users at one time. For example, if I wanted to download the song "God Bless America" on a P2P network, when I click the download button, it won't simply download the file from one user, let's say John Doe, whose computer is somewhere else in the country. Instead, a P2P network at any one time might say that 1000 users on the P2P network are sharing the same song, and your computer will download little pieces of this one song from a bunch of those 1000 users, sort of like a "data cloud", and it will reassemble this song on your computer as one single file as it's being downloaded.

So, when you download just one song from a P2P network, you could be connected directly to hundreds, if not thousands of computers across the internet as the song downloads! Downloading and sharing files like this makes your hard drive run constantly, with the possibility that it will wear out, or even crash, from extreme overuse. Notebook and laptop computers are at a higher risk of this than desktops, because portable computer hard drives are more susceptible to overheating and failure than hard drives in desktops or towers. Also, all of the files on your computer will become fragmented, little pieces of them scattered all over your hard drive, which will gradually slow down the computer over time, and your hard drive would need to be regularly defragmented.

P2P Risk #2: P2P connects you directly to thousands of other computers, unprotected!

Despite the fact that you may have the best hardware and software firewalls on the market, a P2P program like LimeWire, which connects you to their P2P network, actually punches holes through your firewall to transfer data to the P2P network. This means that your computer is not completely protected from hackers, viruses, spyware, or identity thieves when you're using a P2P network! Congress has been investigating P2P networks for safety issues, and recently, in response to the reopening of an investigation, an executive for Lime Wire told Congress that their newest version of their P2P program is "the most secure file-sharing software available." However, this does not mean that you're protected when you're on the LimeWire network, because P2P hackers will always find a way to break through and get into your computer.

P2P Risk #3: Most P2P networks are illegal!

Actually, a P2P network itself is technically not illegal. Any lawyer that works for a P2P network will say that the network is not liable for what content is available, that its users who are sharing the content are the ones who carry the legal burdens. So, do you know what this means? If you download hundreds of copyrighted songs, movies, games and software programs from a P2P network for free, the P2P network is at no risk of being sued, but YOU ARE, for theft and for breaking copyrights! Many people get busted daily for unknowingly (or knowingly) downloading and sharing hundreds of copyrighted files! They literally get grabbed up by the police, and dragged into court to face the movie or music industry that caught them in the act!

The P2P network cannot be sued, because they include all of the legal fine print that exempts them from blame when you install their P2P software and check Yes on their legal agreement! And guess what? People have even been caught distributing child porn over P2P networks as well, which means that there are always internet police out there watching what you're up to on a P2P network! I’ve been seeing reports from around the country of RIAA cases against individuals being filed!

P2P Risk #4: Your files could be accessed or stolen!

(This is a branch off from the second risk, but an important one.) There are thousands of hackers out there who pray on unsuspecting P2P users' computers, and the users don't even know it! Because P2P punches holes through your firewalls, a P2P hacker can simply slip into your computer, copy or take any of your files, and leave, without you knowing a thing about it! So, if you do your banking or business on the computer, and also use it to access a P2P network like LimeWire, your sensitive files and information, even your identity, could be stolen right out of your computer! Teens using file-sharing software such as LimeWire or Kazaa could be making their family's personal information, social security and bank account numbers, available to identity thieves. If you have the software on your desktop, depending on how you set it up, it shares everything on your desktop with the world.

P2P Risk #5: Your computer could turn into a zombie!

(This is another branch off from the second risk.) When a computer is taken over by a botnet virus or spyware program, it can be manipulated remotely by a hacker to be used any way that they see fit! Yes, a hacker could use a botnet to remotely control your computer, and use your computer to send other people spam, spyware and viruses! This also puts you at legal risk, a branch off from the third risk above, because the hacker could use your computer to target other users on the web, or even banks or government computers! When a computer is breached and it becomes part of a hacker's botnet, it is called a zombie. If your internet provider catches onto the fact that your computer is part of a botnet, they can legally suspend your internet service until you fix the problem, or they could cancel your internet service entirely, because at that point, even your internet provider would be at risk of being sued by someone!

If P2P networks like LimeWire are so risky to use, then why do people use them?

First, most people don't understand the ramifications of using a P2P network. They figure, hey, everyone else is doing it, so what's the harm? Well, you could be legally harmed and even do jail time if you were caught downloading copyrighted files or illegal files like child porn from a P2P network, no different than if you were caught for drug possession, or DUI, etc. The problem is that the law also protects the people that run P2P networks, via their legal agreements in their software. Most of us, including me, simply skip over these agreements and simply click OK or I Agree to continue and install software, so we're not made perfectly aware of what we're getting ourselves into in the first place.

Second, in most cases, everything you get in a P2P network is free. And how many of us have gone to tag sales and looked for the free pile of stuff first? How many of us run to the grocery store with that free coupon for that extra gallon of milk or dozen eggs without a second thought? Of course, we all have, because everyone loves to get something for nothing.

So, for example, how do you get the music that you want to download without getting into trouble?

Well, that's pretty easy. You look for a decent, legal online service, and you pay for the stuff that you want. Yes, it's not as good or as entertaining as getting it for free. We know that teens and sometimes even adults love to take risks, to shoplift the occasional candy bar, or eat some fruit at the grocery store without paying for it. But is it really worth the risk? You can buy songs online nowadays for $0.99 each or even less, which is cheap enough if you really like a song.

Some of the better-known legal online stores are iTunes, Amazon MP3, Napster, Rhapsody, eMusic, Lala, Amie Street, ShockHound, (I sell my own music on these sites), and there are many others. Yes, there is a paid version of LimeWire, but I personally wouldn't trust the paid LimeWire service any more than the free one! All in all, to keep yourself legally safe, and to protect and extend the life of your computer, my best suggestion is to buy songs legally online. Don't bother with LimeWire and the other P2P “free” file-sharing sites, there's too much risk involved.