Highkite

Well, unauthorised access to a computer, aka hacking, is a criminal offence in the UK and, forgive me for this, I thought it was a crime in the US as well. Also, using publicly available computer access for what could be considered a crime, e.g. illegal downloads, could also get you a criminal record.

As for your RIAA, they really pose no threat to non-US citizens and our BPI (British Phonographic Industry) tends to play by the rules and go after uploaders rather than downloaders. However, the BPI has recently announced that they are going to adopt the RIAA policy and may now go after downloaders as well.

Protection versus anonymity:

Remember that unless you use someone else's network, i.e. one where you are not a registered user, a publicly available computer (internet café or library), etc. once your IP address is captured, say by the authorities or an organisation with enough resources, it then becomes very easy to trace you.



UK Bob