Downloading music, and more recently movies, is one of the most popular uses of the Internet today. Getting your favorite tunes or movies off the web is certainly convenient and perfectly legal as long as you follow the recording and film industries’ rules.

You can however, get yourself into trouble when you use illegal sources to download music or movies. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, you’re breaking the law if you download copies of songs or movies from any source that doesn’t have permission from the copyright holder. This means that most of the web sites that allow you to download music for “free” are probably breaking the law. This rule applies for even low quality reproductions. An even worse violation of copyright law is if you make music or movies available for download by others.

In the last year, there have been highly publicized lawsuits filed by the recording industry against Internet users who both downloaded and provided access to illegal copies of music. Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported that the motion picture industry will soon be taking legal action against hundreds of people who illegally distribute movies on-line. The fines for copyright violations can be significant. Under the No Electronic Theft Act, criminal penalties for copyright infringement can be as high as $250,000 or six years of imprisonment.

The recording and motion picture industries are also taking action short of filing law suits against Internet users who infringe on copyrights. Using sophisticated methods to track IP addresses, industry agents are finding people who make music or movies available for download. They then ask the violator’s Internet service provider to force the customer to stop making the illegal material available for download.

If you’re making material available for download, please stop as there is a good chance you’ll eventually be discovered. On a weekly basis, HunTel.net technicians receive requests from agents working for the entertainment industry to force our customers to stop making illegal material available. Our policy is to offer our customers a warning via e-mail. If the illegal material remains available, we will disconnect the violator’s Internet connection until the matter can be resolved.

There are plenty of web sites that allow you to LEGALLY download music for a small fee. Two popular examples are Itunes http://www.apple.com/itunes/ and Walmart’s web site www.walmart.com. You can download individual songs for as low as 88¢ each. There still aren’t many sites available to legally download movies, but one example is Cinema Now www.cinemanow.com.

If you have any questions about the subject of music and movie downloads or any other Internet related question, please contact our Tech Support team at 533-5777 or 1-888-491-9115. You can also send us an e-mail at techsupport@huntel.net.

Thank you for using HunTel.net!