illegal files
 

To all computer experts, please help~

I am posting this message for my SOB brother...

He told me that he used limewire to download a few illegal stuff... and now he is scared...

Is there anyone who can help?

Really - thanks a lot~

from,
an ANGRY/WORRY SISTER

Define "illegal"

And... scared of what?

Ivan
"In the dark we make a brighter light"

Make sure you run a virus-dector program if he downloaded software.

It is unlikely that he will get into any trouble... although continued downloading of such material could be a problem in the long run - my suggestion is to delete the illegal downloads and to cease such activities. For the most part, assuming it was music downloaded, the industry seems to be focusing on the folks like Napster & AudioGalaxy and sending 'cease and desist' letters to individuals. While there is no guarantee that there would never be any action taken.... given the numbers of people participating in such activity if your brother deleted the files and stopped downloading illegal material he will probably be ok.

This is my personal opinion... please don't take it as fact.

If your brother downloaded child pornography, delete it, and do no do it again. Local police forces usually monitor internet activity for things such as child pornography.

Thank you for all of your replies.

Those who have younger bro/sis, or those who have children can imagine my situation... It's not easy make my brother to be 100% honest with me...

He didn't tell me what kinda illegal files those r... but he said it's not music... so I assumed that it's porn. after all, what can a 20 yo boy can be interested in...

He said he deleted everything already. What worries him and me is that will he be arrested by the police...

BTW, any parents have good method to discipline a young man?

Again, I appreciate all your help~

from,
an ANGRY/WORRY sister

You do not need to discipliine a 20 year old.

Relax...

the chance that he is caugth is not very high, the RIAA and MPAA is searching mostly for uploaders... and if he is unlucky, you will get a letter from your ISP in which they ask to stop downloadind/sharing files... the worst thing they cut your connection off...

But he will not come into the jail, believe me... so relax a little! :)

Morgwen

If he is downloading like stuff you would normally have to pay for then relax.Unless he is downloading viruses to share...I say realax:)

I'll bet 90% of all people sharing files on Gnutella or FastTrack are sharing at least one illegal file. Seeing as how millions of people have downloaded these programs, there's very little chance that he will even be noticed. The only ID a person is given when using the Gnutella network is a number like 123.45.67.890, and that takes some real detective work and a few nasty e-mails to translate that into a real person's name. The fact that the files were only on for a small amount of time and there are people sharing 10,000 files 24/7 means that the RIAA could care less about somebody with 30 or less files on for an hour. So, relax :cool: