The Internet is used by a lot of people to download music, movies, games and various other soft wares for free. The legality of this practice is, and will be for a long time, a hot issue. Some countries want to totally stop the downloading of copyright protected materials, like the U.S.A. Other countries, like France, want to allow this type of downloading, but only for personal use. And there are quiet a few countries that do not care at al. The Internet has no borders, and it will be a very long time before all the counties of the world have agreed on how to legislate this music, movies and games downloading.

Of course there is an ethical issue. A lot of people consider the downloading, for free, of copy right protected material as theft. I have heard all the arguments by now. I did hear them in the 70’s when cassette recorders became available and very popular. I heard them when CD writers became available and I hear them now when downloading over the Internet is becoming more and more popular.

In my opinion it is theft if you copy anything and sell it. If you copy something for your own use that is o.k. with me. I have noticed that I, and a lot of people I know as well, still buy the “real thing” if we like it, and I also have noticed that I am getting selective.

I hardly buy anything anymore from the real top performers. I think they simply earn enough as it is. If I come along a new group I like I usually copy a few songs, and I might go out and score their CD if I really like them. I noticed that I must have been doing this for a long time.

I had a look at my CD’s and saw that most of the originals were indeed the earlier work of a certain group. If I had more of them, it were usually copies I had downloaded some how from the Internet.

I know there are quit a few people who use this “selective downloading”. A friend of mine loves the music of a certain performer, but, as he told me, he refuses to pay for his records. He refuses to contribute a single penny towards the legal team that is defending this guy in a child molest case. He has downloaded the music of this performer, for free, from the Internet.

But all this free downloading has a downside. A lot of people are having computer problems because they downloaded something from the Internet. The Internet is a jungle and there are a lot of predators around that are searching for their prey. Predators like spy ware and ad ware. Little programs that you sometimes download as well and that hide on your computer without you knowing it. Some can be very harmful indeed, like the so called key loggers. These programs "remember" every keystroke you make, and send this info to their "owners". This way sensitive info, like passwords or credit card numbers, can get in the hands of the wrong people.

I advice every one who wants to download music, movies, games or any other program for free from the Internet to be very careful. Make sure your computer has very good spy-and ad ware protection, and when in doubt, do not download. If you are not a very experienced Internet user than the best way to download music, full length movies, games and various soft wares for free is to get a download site membership. These download sites will provide you with the right soft ware to search for, and download, all sorts of files from the Internet. They also provide a helpdesk in case you run into difficulties and need some assistance.