Confession

I'm a bit of a computer junkie. I love surfing the net, building and maintaining websites, keeping up to date on what's current in the tech world. I can even believe in the philosophy that humans are evolving into a better connected species because of the possibilities opened up through the internet. Having access to the knowledge trough out there makes us the most informed generation in history. You can also get really off-color jokes from friends and family, access to porn and bomb making and a whole load of things from humanity's darker side. You get what you want and what you choose to contribute. That's the key. You can sit on the sidelines and surf or you can become the source for some of the vast content out there. I'm at my most frustrated when I can't find an hour to put pen to electronic paper. So what's the confession part of this? Well, in that darker world of "file-sharing" I am a user and abuser. It's not something I'm particulary proud of. Computer technology can make the most upstanding of us into common criminals. I have downloaded my share of music, TV and movie files over the years. A file-sharing technology called Bit-Torrent allows this to happen. The expectations as a user of this technology is that you'll download something and pass it along. It's a beautiful thing. It's also unethical and illegal. You're ripping off the creators of the content the moment you click "download." The Bit-Torrent technology makes matters worse because you're not only stealing the property, you're distributing it to who knows how many people. So you're a drug user and a dealer blinded by the freely accessibly technology. HBO's mobster hit The Sopranos just started its sixth season. I've caught every episode over the first four seasons legally by renting DVDs at Blockbuster. When the fifth season came out on DVD, I tried out the Bit-Torrent and downloaded the 13 episodes over a 24 hour period and watched at my convenience during construction of our house. Last week, the fresh first episode of season six came down the pipeline without a hitch. No time to watch it, of course, but I'll save it for later. This weeks episode two was even easier. I'll just fill my hard drive at work with these episodes and watch them on my little computer monitor after hours when I have 13 hours to kill. That'll make total sense because when I actually do get the time to watch them, the whole sixth season will be available on DVD and I'll be able to watch the shows at home on the big screen in surround sound in a comfy chair with some popcorn. Six at night Wednesday, I get a call from my internet service provider. It seems the second episode I downloaded (and distributed) had a program attached called Media Sentry. It figures out who has been using Bit-Torrent for this particular episode and alerts HBO, who in turn hires somebody to call all the internet service providers out there to alert them about certain offenders on their networks. "We have been contacted by HBO. They'd like you to stop using Bit-Torrent to distribute their copyrighted program, The Sopranos." The tech at my ISP went on to say that they weren't shutting off my service but I'd been given a warning. It felt like lead mobster, Tony Soprano, had just broken my legs. I also felt like a 12-year-old boy who's Mom just caught him sneaking a peak at Playboy. I really had no idea you could be monitored that way by your ISP. What else do they know about me? Anyway, the lesson's learned and the silly habit's been broken. Maybe it's time to join the solid citizenry who actually buy HBO and Tivo the episodes, or actually walk into a music store and buy a CD. Old habits really are difficult to break. I've had a history of pilfering intellectual property. Just look at my Mad Cover Site. I had an early battle with Mad's lawyers on that one, but that's another story.