Safely Share Your Files Online

By Jennifer Martinez

It's never been easier to share music, pictures and news with your friends, family and co-workers. Thanks to the web, email and file-sharing programs you can download and exchange audio, video and digital photos whenever you want, from any location.

But along with convenience of online file-sharing comes risk. For example, file-sharing programs also make it easy to illegally share copyrighted materials. And whether you download music or podcasts from a web site, upload pictures to an online storage site, or get the latest headlines and podcasts via RSS feeds -- you are also potentially leaving your computer wide open. Your personal information, music and photos are vulnerable to destructive viruses and hackers.

Follow these do's and don'ts to help you share files safely:

1. Don't violate copyright laws  A growing number of online music and movie services make it easy to stream, download or purchase digital files with the copyright owners' permission. By visiting reputable sites and sharing judiciously, you can download and share music, games or movie legally and safely (versus downloading unauthorized copies from a file-sharing network). At the same time, you have to be mindful not to email or IM copyrighted content to your friends, or to put copies from a copyrighted content on a file-sharing network so millions can download it. 

2. Do protect your content  For example, if you share and store pictures online, read the privacy agreement to see what kind of information the site shares, and how they protect your private information. If you store pictures on your hard drive, consider putting them behind a partition to help protect your files if your operating system crashes.

3. Do share only what you want to share  Just as you shouldn't open email attachments from people you don't trust, you should be wary about downloading files from them as well. You never know what you or your kids may find on the hard drives of random strangers on the Internet. File-sharing programs are often left running and continually broadcast your online presence. That makes your computer -- along with any vulnerabilities -- easy for a hacker, virus or worm to find. If you use a file-sharing program, be sure to turn it on only to update files.

4. Don't skimp on security  If you're going to use file-sharing programs, also use a personal firewall, antivirus software and an anti-spyware tool to protect your computer from hackers. Set passwords for read and write access to your shared folders to protect yourself from other computer users who might find an unprotected folder to be a convenient dumping ground for their files. And avoid storing copies of copyrighted files that you have legally purchased, such as songs from a CD or a licensed retail music site, in your person-to-person file-sharing folder.

Although it has never been easier to share what you enjoy with others, it has also never been riskier. However, with the right tools -- and vigilance -- you can protect your personal information and share it with others.