Can My Son Get in Trouble?

If he downloaded them without access to your financial or credit info, you are basically OK. The next thing you should consider is to run your anti-virus program to do a thorough scan of all files, and a malware/spyware program. Lots of free programs will have a good chance of installing these type of programs without your knowledge. Don't access any bank accounts til you know its all in the clear! If you are curious about his whereabouts, check the pc's browsing history. Knowing any young male, you might find some porn links as well. Be prepared for the unpredictable! LOL
 
Thanks everyone,I will see him tomorrow and find out the web sites he got them from.This thread has given me a lot of information,thanks.
 
downloading software, movies, music, etc on filesharing programs is stealing. if he's only paid for "some of them", then obviously he can get it trouble. if the government chose to prosecute to the full extent of the law for each of the games he didn't pay for, your son would have to give up every cent he earned for the rest of his life, and he would still die impossibly deep in debt.

the FBI's anti-piracy warning on dvd's states that those caught stealing or unlawfully copying dvds can get 5 years in prison AND a $250,000 fine FOR EVERY DVD. i don't know if it's the same policy for games, but i'm sure it's something severe. the FBI could bury your son in life-shattering penalties of they wanted to make an example out of him.
 
August said:
downloading software, movies, music, etc on filesharing programs is stealing. if he's only paid for "some of them", then obviously he can get it trouble. if the government chose to prosecute to the full extent of the law for each of the games he didn't pay for, your son would have to give up every cent he earned for the rest of his life, and he would still die impossibly deep in debt.

the FBI's anti-piracy warning on dvd's states that those caught stealing or unlawfully copying dvds can get 5 years in prison AND a $250,000 fine FOR EVERY DVD. i don't know if it's the same policy for games, but i'm sure it's something severe. the FBI could bury your son in life-shattering penalties of they wanted to make an example out of him.
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But he told me that the sites said free downloads.So even if a site said Free downloads he can still get in trouble? That makes no sense.
 
Pepsi said:
But he told me that the sites said free downloads.So even if a site said Freedown loads he can still get in trouble? That makes no sense.
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In a sense, did he download a program like limewire or any peer to peer networking program. Almost anything stored in your pc can be easily transferred.
 
SCBassist said:
In a sense, did he download a program like limewire or any peer to peer networking program. Almost anything stored in your pc can be easily transferred.
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I know that he does have Limewire.but I will ask him tomorrow.
 
Pepsi said:
But he told me that the sites said free downloads.So even if a site said Free downloads he can still get in trouble? That makes no sense.
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of course they're free downloads. that's why people steal. because it's free.

why would a game company make its games available for free on a filesharing program? wouldn't everyone stop paying for games and just download them "for free" if it were legal? they would all go bankrupt overnight.

so unless your son has stumbled upon some ultra-exclusive club that gets all the free stuff they want, he should worry.

you said he has downloaded 500 games and paid for some of them.

let's suppose he's paid for 100, leaving 400 illegally acquired games on his computer. assuming these are all new, mainstream games, they would be worth about $50 each.

400 x $50 = $20,000.

damn.
 
Pepsi said:
He only use pre-paid cards,he will not use a real card on the internet.and he is 27.
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Either way, 500 games is overkill on your hardrive, assuming each averages 1 gig of memory, most pc's have about 150 gigs of memory, It makes sense to assume a majority were flash games. For those with Wii, PS2 etc, he would have to use a formatting and burning program to attain such programs on disc. Even it can be had through limewire.
 
Pepsi said:
My son told me that he downloaded over 500 games off the internet.I want to know can he get in trouble for that? He said he paid for some of them but not all.
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Be Careful.. Without going into too much details, I was sued once few years ago and they can't prove I was doing this and my lawyer advised me to settle for $3,000 which is much much cheaper than going to trial. Grand total from me was over $6,000 including lawyer fees. If I were to lose, I could end up paying as much as $200,000. So I settled without any confession of guilt.

Unless you are very rich and have a lot of free time, I would advice your kid to stop since you would be responsible for his actions.
 
SCBassist said:
Either way, 500 games is overkill on your hardrive, assuming each averages 1 gig of memory, most pc's have about 150 gigs of memory, It makes sense to assume a majority were flash games. For those with Wii, PS2 etc, he would have to use a formatting and burning program to attain such programs on disc. Even it can be had through limewire.
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her son doesn't live with her and he has his own comp. 150gb?? are you kidding me!? is that how it is nowaday? that's not even remotely close enough to my needs. I have over 1 terabyte of HDD. I guess he has lot of blank dvds to burn them.
 
Now I am starting to worry,thanks guys,I going to give my son a good talking.
 
August said:
downloading software, movies, music, etc on filesharing programs is stealing. if he's only paid for "some of them", then obviously he can get it trouble. if the government chose to prosecute to the full extent of the law for each of the games he didn't pay for, your son would have to give up every cent he earned for the rest of his life, and he would still die impossibly deep in debt.

the FBI's anti-piracy warning on dvd's states that those caught stealing or unlawfully copying dvds can get 5 years in prison AND a $250,000 fine FOR EVERY DVD. i don't know if it's the same policy for games, but i'm sure it's something severe. the FBI could bury your son in life-shattering penalties of they wanted to make an example out of him.
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It is very unlikely the government would go after him unless he is making massive copies and distribute them for profit. They rather go after big potatoes.
 
Pepsi said:
He paid for Limewire. :confused:
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4 things

1. this sounds fishy. these programs, like Limewire and Kazaa, generally come in 2 versions: one that is ad-supported and infects the user's pc with spyware, and one that the user pays for, which has no ads, faster downloads and some extra perks. IF he did pay for the Limewire program, that doesn't necessarily make the content he downloaded legal.

2. many filesharing programs have both legal and illegal files in their databases. the vast majority of cases are just guys that make a copy of the software and put it out for others to take. in an attempt to widdle away at the profit losses, some companies started offering their content for sale on these programs. the desired result is that when a Limewire user types in "Coldplay" looking for a cd to download, he'll see all the "free" (read: illegal) album downloads underneath the ones they have to pay $10 for, to remind them, if they didn't already know, that they do actually have to pay for stuff.

3. if we suppose he did pay for the premium Limewire software, that doesn't mean that anything he used it for was legally acquired. this is like if you went to Best Buy, and a guy was standing out front and said, "the store is empty right now. give me $10 and i'll let you come in and take anything you want, it's free!" in court, your argument that you did, in fact, pay a guy $10 for access to the store doesn't make your stealing any less illegal.

4. one thing i didn't consider, though, is if the games in question are demos. most game companies these days offer free demo versions of their games for download on all the big filesharing sites. if these games are just demos, then there's nothing to worry about.
 
RichardDeaf said:
It is very unlikely the government would go after him unless he is making massive copies and distribute them for profit. They rather go after big potatoes.
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i know. i was just trying to instill paralyzing fear and paranoia in him.

regardless, it's still not a good idea to steal massive amounts of stuff and hope you won't get caught.
 
jiro123 said:
her son doesn't live with her and he has his own comp. 150gb?? are you kidding me!? is that how it is nowaday? that's not even remotely close enough to my needs. I have over 1 terabyte of HDD. I guess he has lot of blank dvds to burn them.
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LOL True! I did a mock order and thats the standard!
 
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