P2P Software

Opinion

With the surge of internet piracy in the past few years, no one can
deny the power P2P software has. Almost instantly, users can
download just about any form of media they want, most prevalently
music.

The record industry hates them. Consumers love them. Artists have
varying opinions. My opinion, for what it's worth is that these
programs are extremely powerful. I can, and have, downloaded
hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars of music for free in the past
few years. Whenever I new song comes out that I think I might like, I
download it. It's gotten to the point where I don't buy CDs. In fact, the
only CDs I own are either ones from years ago or burnt discs.

Of course I was living in a virtual dream world of musical pleasure
and freedom. Until that is, I discovered a massive collection of
spyware and adware programs bundled with the P2P software I
chose to use. Most of them have these programs, such as SaveNow,
Cydoor, Gator, just to name a few. They'll end up placing unwanted
pop up ads on your computer as you browse the internet. What's
even worse is the fact that they moniter your internet browsing habits
so that they can target their ads to better suit you with products you'd
be interested in. I guess if someone wants to watch my porn, they
can, but I don't know if I like the fact that they could possibly get a
hold of my credit card numbers, along with other exceptionally
important information.

On this issue, I really am quite torn. I enjoy the freedom of P2P
software, but I also realize that it's paid for with a constant struggle
against the advertising campaigns of clever marketers.