You may have asked for that virus you just got
Recently, I was helping a client with her computer when I noticed a security alert pop up in the bottom right-hand corner of her screen. The alert detailed a virus that her security software had detected (thank goodness for the security software). When I clicked the link for more information, the virus was described as one that is commonly obtained from a file downloaded using a file sharing service.
Right around that same time I noticed an icon on her desktop for LimeWire. Can you guess what LimeWire is? If you said a file sharing service, you are correct.
How LimeWire works
More specifically, LimeWire is a software application that assists you in locating files on other people's computers. This isn't as scary as it sounds (well, at least not yet, keep reading). The other people's computers have to be using LimeWire or a similar software file sharing application as well in order to grant access to allow files on their computer to be accessed.
Once you find what you are looking for on someone else's computer, often a music or video file, you can initiate what is called a peer-to-peer connection with that person's computer to download the file to your own computer.
If you are thinking that this sounds illegal, most of it is. No, using the LimeWire program itself is not illegal. But grabbing a copyrighted MP3 file off someone else's computer is. Sure, there are a handful of people that use LimeWire to obtain public domain or otherwise legal files from other computers but no one I have ever talked to using LimeWire was interested in finding public domain or copyright-free music.
The risk you take
Back to the virus. If the whole issue of illegally obtaining files from other people's computer isn't enough to scare you off, this should be. There are people out there that get their kicks off sharing files on their computer that on the outside look like a popular music file but in reality install a virus on your computer.
So the next time you think you are being sneaky and building your music collection for free over the Internet, you'd better be careful. You just might get more than you bargained for (or dare I say what you deserve).
Don't believe me? Just ask my client how she felt after it took me 30 minutes to remove the virus.
2 comments for this blog post so far...
March 06, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Marla
P. I have a girlfriend that was expressing how she kept her mood in check around the house by listening to her mp3 gospel music and went on to talk about the quanitiy of music, when someone else at the table commented on the cost of CD’s my friend without batting an eye explained how you can bootleg this music from online sites. Gospel and bootleg shouldnt be used in the same mouth, or on the same computer, bad juu-juuu
March 11, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Patric Welch
@Marla: Bad juu-juuu indeed. She will soon learn that what comes around goes around ;)
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