File Sharing

In Germany, file downloading is illegal as it now is in UK. However there are ways round it! You can use Tor available from www.torproject.org. This routes you from your computer to various others all round the World before it gets to Tor and then on to the file sharing site. It can be traced back but with difficulty due to the number of countries that you are going through. Each computer owner that the signal passes through would say "who me?" Some countries don't have anti file sharing laws etc.,etc. You can join up for free and allow signals to pass through you from elsewhere.

You can also "piggy back" via a local unsecured wireless signal without the person knowing a thing about it! Just go to "connect to" and connect to an "unsecured" signal. This is exactly what happened in Germany. The owner of the wireless router went to court to say and prove that the family were on holiday, when the deed was done, to sue the internet provider for the "letter."

But the courts said that they were responsible for securing the access and fined them, not the file downloader, 100 euros (£86)

A leading English lawyer says that there is no provision in English Law to force anyone to secure their wireless router and their are no rules within the new Digital Economy Bill to do so. It may be changed in the future.

In 2005 a guy in London was fined £500 and given a conditional discharge for one year for using another person's wi-fi connection which kind of makes the lawyer sound silly! It is one of those famous grey areas where it will depend if the judge has a hangover or not so to speak!!!!

So to piggy back or Tor, that is da question? Whether it is nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of a court case or ignore the lot of them and use Tor. (Apologies to Will Shakeyspear).

As it appears in the new Law you will get a threatening letter first, then another and finally cut off. I would bet my last quid that M'Learned Friends will make a killing from this one!!! I would also bet that the letter will be posted out and you might not receive it!!! which could be a further problem.