Sharing and being found

[Kurt Fury]

Here's a question:

how do those RIAA people who want to sue you find you out, anyway? seems to me that if you didn't share your files -- just downloaded stuff, then moved it from the shared folder -- they couldn't find your IP . . . but then, not sharing defeats the purpose--

am i wrong on that one? I was just curious

[at.morris]

The RIAA and MPAA are only going after people who are sharing files to others. The less you share, the less risk you are at. You have to judge the risk for yourself. Personally I'm relying on the fact that out of the millions of users, it is unlikely to be me. Also, the BPI has said they don't plan to sue anyone - just "educate", so being in the UK is to my favour.

Any yes, not sharing does defeat the purpose.

[phalkon30]

Yep, if you leech (don't share), then you won't get caught, or at least not right now. In the future they may track downloads.

If you leech, then you also hurt the network. Its a tradeoff. I tend to share things like game mods and patches that are perfectly legal, and just settle for sharing a little less than I can.