Risks perceived by participants

The report highlights the various types of risks associated with file sharing perceived by the participants. Primary concern of most of the participants regardless of age technical knowledge and occurrence of file sharing was viruses. Other perceived risks included junk files, hacking and getting identified as a file sharer.

Viruses
Attack of viruses during the event of downloading unauthorized content is the main risk for many participants. Young and old, tech-Savvy and less tech savvy are all bothered about the viruses threats. Some participants have already experienced threats from viruses and this had hampered their file sharing behaviour. Once they have found a more reliable file sharing application they switched to that. They were disappointed when they realised that the new application was unreliable. Coping strategies are adopted by less savvy participant during events of bad experiences. This way they guard themselves from future virus attacks. Participants with two computers at home could continue to file share using old computer.

Anti-virus software was recommended to participants by friends and family to protect themselves from virus attacks during file sharing. For the tech savvy customers, the viruses didn’t pose a major threat as they knew how to handle the situations and fix them. They even took measures to reduce virus attacks from downloading. Mostly they relied on star rating systems to know the quality of the contents.

Junk files
Downloading unauthorized contents resulted in junk files and this was another risk perceived by the participants. However, the level of concern was not as much as with viruses. Many considered that downloading junk files was frustrating and time consuming. Tech-Savvy participants knew how to guard themselves from Junk files. They used rating systems to understand quality of the content type.

Hacking
Hacking was not a major concern for participants of file sharing. Hacking was one of the risks involved during file sharing of unauthorized contents. Younger participants and less tech savvy users relied on anti-virus software to protect themselves from infiltration. Participants using old computers without any personal information stored on it were less concerned about hacking. On the other hand, tech savvy participants were confident about removing the threats by themselves.

Fear of getting identified
Getting caught is a concern for the younger participants and less tech savvy older participants. However, getting caught was not a risk from file sharing. Many of the participants were worried about the legality of their file sharing activities. Those who didn’t fear of getting caught believed that their file sharing activities were legal. This is because they believed that the files they downloaded were from sites that declared 100% legal. Older tech savvy participants who frequently engaged in downloading and unloading were more concerned of getting caught.

Attitudes towards risks
File sharing activity was regulated when they knew that their friends and family were engaged in file sharing. Younger participants were more bothered about getting caught. They believed that normalizing file sharing activity game them more protection against risks. Belief that everyone participated in file sharing, lessened the risk feeling among the less tech savvy participants. They believed that their activities were hard to trace by the others.

Those who uploaded original contents were considered to be at a greater risk. The risk faced by this section of people was more than the risk perceived by those who downloaded and uploaded contents frequently. Fear of getting caught was not a risk linked with file sharing.