Forces out of my control.

There’s nothing better than getting woken up by a slap to the foot by your dad at 6 am telling you to stop being a digital pirate. ARRRRGH! But it’s what I am!
So I’m sorry Interwebs, but if you are going to keep trying to get me in trouble with people for taking things from you, I’m just going to stop sharing all together.

Really I think it’s stupid because the thing that “nailed” me was How I Met Your Mother. I wanted to watch the episode on my TV and not stream it for free of the computer so I downloaded the data file instead. It makes me laugh that CBS is going to bully my internet provider into slapping me on the wrist when people watch it for free whenever they want off the CBS website, their DVRs or the burned copies they make of the episode. Seems a bit hypocritical to me.

Whatevs, all it forces me to do is turn off the “upload” switch to my sharing network. For those of you who aren’t in the know, the dated copyright laws of 1977 state that you can’t reproduce or distribute something that has been copyrighted. That doesn’t mean you can’t take for yourself.

All those ads and campaigns about how downloading movies and songs is illegal? Well it’s not. The Internet is public domain and free access. If you stumble across something, it’s yours to keep. The catch is if you give it back out to someone else. Then you’re in trouble.

Remember all those kids being busted for having thousands of songs from Napster? They weren’t in trouble for possessing or downloading them, they were in trouble because they got caught giving (or uploading) them back to the community.
The best way to protect yourself from uploading is turning it off completely so you can’t get caught. When you do this you can’t share the files you yourself wanted and it kind of debunks the whole point of a network. Some services don’t even let you take unless you give.

As a back up, I use Peer Guardian. It daily checks for spy IPs (that’s the digital address for a computer) from big bad mean companies who want to bust your balls and bans them from handshaking with your computer to discover what you’re up to. If you do intend to download, Peer Guardian is a must.

You’d be surprised what other websites PG will block because the website solicits your address and gives it to these same companies as a way of telling marketers where you’ve been and where you’re going.

In reality if my internet provider doesn’t want to grow a backbone and be grateful for the money I dump into using their spotty at best service, I’ll go somewhere else. Do you hear that Time Warner? Well do ya?

In the meantime, I’m going to go get me an eye patch and a parrot to put on my shoulder.