Awareness about the legality of online file sharing and the potential consequences

The level of awareness regarding the legality of the online file sharing varies with the topologies. Young people and the less tech-Savvy people were less bothered about the legality of online file sharing. They had little knowledge about the potential consequences of file sharing. On the other hand, the Tech Savvy was more informed about the legality and the consequences of file sharing. Less-tech Savvy and younger participants Younger file sharers are less informed about the consequences of online file sharing and their legal status. Most of the younger participants believed that file sharing was lawful and didn’t try to find about their legality. However, older less savvy participants thought that the file sharing process was not fully legal. They justified their act by saying that everyone was engaged in file sharing. This group of people didn’t understand the difference between the uploading and downloading activities. Most of them didn’t realise that they were uploading contents during file sharing. Unknowingly they uploaded the contents. Consequently, there was no link between the legality of file sharing and uploading. They considered certain file sharing sites and application legal and others unlawful. In short, they linked legality with applications and sites. To engage in legal file sharing, they used certain type pf site and application which they thought were legitimate. This section of people was less aware of the consequences of file sharing and therefore thought it would be very serious. Tech-Savvy and older participants Unlike the younger and less tech savvy, this group of people were aware about the legality and consequences of file sharing completely. Their awareness regarding the legal status of the file sharing applications and sites were really good. They believed on the fact that file sharing was illegal. However, they put across a number of reasons to justify their act. Some participants justified their behaviour and said that no one really gets punished for file sharing. They felt that the benefits of file sharing overweighed the punishment. They understood that legality of file sharing depended on the activity rather than on certain sites and applications. Unlike younger and less tech savvy participants, they didn’t believe that certain file sharing sites and application were legal and others were legitimate. They didn’t make any distinction between the legality of uploading and unloading. Awareness of the penalty of getting caught was little among this section of people. They strongly believed that getting caught was unlikely. Participants with high technical knowledge were the only ones who differentiated between consequences of uploading and downloading, in terms of legality.