Column:

Downloading media illegally has its price

By Christina Stiehl

Published Oct. 20, 2009

There's a popular saying: You don't know what you've got until it's gone. Although this phrase is typically applied to relationships, it has been the story of my life lately in terms of the World Wide Web.

The Internet at our house has been shut off for longer than is bearable. My roommate decided to download an episode of Entourage illegally and HBO was not happy. Neither was our Internet provider nor the other five of us roommates who have been without online access for nearly two weeks.

As a busy college student, I am rarely home in the evenings to watch my favorite television shows. Luckily, NBC and ABC are kind enough to offer these episodes on their Web sites, so catching up on my weekly television isn't a problem. Even Hulu offers a large variety of TV shows from dozens of networks to be streamed, which is a convenient and legal option.

When a viewer gets into the territory of downloading, the waters become muddier. Streaming allows viewers to watch video only on a particular Web site, but downloading means they have the file permanently saved to the computer, thus making them the illegal owner of copyrighted material.

A lot of the time, I think college students get away with downloading illegal audio and video files. I am ashamed to admit I've acquired more than half the songs on my iTunes illegally and one of my co-workers paid zero dollars to own the first four seasons of The Office on his laptop.

Unfortunately, there are many unlucky people who end up paying a hefty price for their illegal files, thanks to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

The DMCA became a law in 1998 and criminalizes people for distributing, selling or downloading copyrighted material via the Internet. Violation of copyright law is a federal crime and can accrue up to a $250,000 fine per infringement if done willfully with intent to profit, according to the letter Mediacom so generously sent us.

Luckily for my roommates and I, we were only served with a warning and temporary suspension of our Internet access. But this was also our second offense, as the first offense was committed by one of our neighbors, who was within range of our wireless Internet. Apparently, business software from a reporting agency tracked the illegal file and our IP address, which alerted Mediacom it was one of their customers who downloaded the television show.

Although Medicom was not involved in the investigation or data gathering, we were warned if we violate the law one more time, we will be faced with a permanent termination of our account or a six-figure lawsuit.

Although I'm happy we haven't had to pay any large sums of money, life without Internet access has been punishment enough. I miss having the vast span of open information ready at my fingertips. Hell, I did all of the research for this article on my iPhone. And even though I wasn't the one who downloaded the copyrighted television show, I will definitely be more cautious when it comes to sharing music or movies. There's no such thing as a free lunch, right?