Avoiding Copyright Infringement
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Is there really a connection between copyright infringement and Internet safety? Yep, and until now I hadn’t quite thought of it that way either. Let me explain.
US-CERT is a US government agency partnering with the Department of Homeland Security. Their purpose in life is to protect the nation’s Internet infrastructure. And that translates to helping its citizens with known security risks for their computers.
The thing that made me decide why this is important enough to blog about is because users are at risk of downloading something they think they have permission to download, but in actuality whatever they download may contain malicious code or a virus. I’ve warned people to not download files they’re unsure about, but this is something very subtle that may go slip in under your radar.
What if the site you’re visiting tells you have can download a popular ebook (for free or for charge, doesn’t matter). You might think cool. You’ve heard about this book and since they’re offering it for free, it must be all right. I mean, they really wouldn’t offer something like that without asking permission to do so, would they?
Hackers (the bad kind :twisted:) are aware of the natural tendency users have when it comes to downloading files. Sometimes they post software, photos, games, etc. free for downloading, and they could even be name brand products. Who wouldn’t be enticed by this? I love free software, in fact, a lot of the tools I use on my computer are free. However, I don’t do that without first doing a little search about the product to find out what other users have said. Another factor I consider is where I get the link from. If it’s from a site that I trust, then I’m more inclined to carry that trust over to the site I’m going to. But I digress…
The hacker may have planted something a little [cough] special into those files before you downloaded them. Essentially, all they’ve done is remove the barrier to get you to download their file. While it may look and operate like the same thing they’re advertising, there could be a little spy running in the background doing the author’s bidding.
A quick comment about copyright. Although I’m not an expert on the subject, I have to say this article is a little more restrictive on what you can and cannot use without violating copyright law. For example, it has been my understanding that you could quote a literary work under the terms of “fair use”. Of course, asking how long a quote is is like asking how long is a piece of string? 
I’ll leave that up to you and your research, but if you want to share your advice, by all means please leave a comment!
So the moral of this story is find out if you can get permission first or if the people you’re getting the software/files/verbiage have permission to let you have it before you download it. This way you protect yourself legally AND from harming your computer.
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