Sunday, October 3, 2010

Downloading Films Should Be Done With Extreme Caution

By Eduardo Lester

We live in a world of on-demand satisfaction. To an extent, whatever you want, you can get and with home theaters becoming a social staple for families, the ability to download a movie that you want at the moment you want to see it is seductive.

Whether it is done illegally through file-sharing software or legally, as with downloading a book into your Kindle, there's an increasing market for downloading the movies you want straight into your hard drive. Many people are still skeptical, worried that any movies they watch will be bootleg copies, or somehow their computers will be at risk from the act of downloading.

These fears were true in the beginning. It took time for the massive file sizes inherent in movies were streamlined as they are today, and the original online movies were nothing more than the most basic bootlegged versions trafficking in both entertainment and copyright infringement.

If a government agency wanted to crack down on sites that gave out free movie downloads, almost all web site owners would have no issue in handing over the list of IP addresses that had used the site in exchange for leniency.

This doesn't happen, but it could, and it has happened with many music buffs who have shared filed illegally having to pay expensive fines in lieu of prosecution. Who's to say that movies aren't the next group that will feel this sort of crackdown?

That doesn't mean that abstaining from any movie downloading websites is the way to go. There are still many sites that are both safe and legal. What to watch out for are any websites that promise you everything for nothing. These sites usually peddle in spyware and adware.

The insertion of spyware software can make it able for the original website to acquire all kinds of personal information from you through the use of keystroke recognition - this can lead to any website you use putting you at risk. Adware works on the assumption that with enough pop-ups you see, the more likely you are to buy a particular product and while this software is not as malicious as spyware it is annoying and both can slow down the performance of your computer.

To make sure that what you're doing is legal and safer, it's best to use websites that charge a fee for joining. Many websites charge only one-time fees at around $40 for unlimited downloads, much like the music site Napster. The fee will most likely protect you from inadvertently downloading any adware or spyware because of the added virus protection that many of these sites contain.

In the end, you can get what you want when you want it in regards to movie downloads. Just steer clear of sites that seem to promise way too much without having anything concrete to back it up. The internet is full of scammers and legitimate businesses and it only takes a small amount of homework on your part to do it right. - 40732

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