New World of Illegal File Sharing
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The faint glow of the monitor illuminates the smile of a small timid man perched on the forward most edge of his rolling desk chair with barely contained excitement. He knows that his feelings are a little bit juvenile but it makes him feel truly alive to get something for nothing. It won't be long now; he is ninety eight percent complete. He thinks to himself how good a steal it is to get a full length album using Kazaa without having to spend a dime. Ninety nine percent, just a few seconds longer now. Done, his smile widens. Pulling open the Media Player he hears an unexpected thump from the other room; his smile fades into a querulous frown. Bright lights from all directions burst in and surround him as he huddles confused in a room now full of broken glass and heavily armed shouting men. "Shit, this is the end of the line now", he thinks to himself, "They got me for downloading free music".
Sharing music and other files over the internet started raising the hackles of the recording industry almost as soon as it came into existence...