I’m going to ask a question that I asked my daughters this morning. If you are driving in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere and you reach a stop sign, do you stop? If your answer is yes, the reasons are usually- it’s the law, it’s the right thing to do, I don’t want to get caught. If your answer is no, the reason might be- no one’s around so it doesn’t matter.
We had this conversation because of internet pirating. Trying to explain to a 14 year old that everything online is not legal is a big mountain to climb. If it’s on Youtube or a few others sites it’s got to be okay because it gets filtered. Well, yes, but there are literally millions of things being posted and they don’t always get them off the site immediately.
Then I tried to explain about pirating music and movies. I agree it is a confusing subject. It is one I had to delve into not too long ago when a niece told me about a great movie site. I logged on to find movies that were currently in the theaters. This didn’t feel right so I tried to investigate. I found that there were a number of similar sites. How did they get away with this? How is one to know what is okay and what is not?
I finally called a son who works in the upper echelon of Blockbuster. He broke it down simply for me. If you have paid for the movie service (Netflix, etc.) you are safe. If you are watching a TV show or movie from the originators website (ABC, CBS, Disney, etc.) you are safe. If you are watching from other websites you have to be careful. If you are on a website that takes you to another website and maybe even another, be very careful. It is probably not an okay site. Besides, I am told, visiting these sites is a great way to pick up a unwanted virus!
Those websites are not legal. So using those websites is not legal. It is however like the stop sign question- is anyone going to know? Does it matter?
I am a stop at the stop sign kind of person. I am that kind of person because I choose to be. I have a wall plaque that reads- “Integrity is doing what is right when the only one who will know is God.” I used to tell my children that integrity was about the choices you made when no one else was looking.
Technology has put into our hands the means to do many, many things that no one else may know about. We are faced each day with choices that test our character. We are the “masters of our universe”. Our small choices of each day determine how we will choose when the stakes are higher. Will we stop at the stop sign or not? The majority of people will not. Who do you want to be? That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?
We had this conversation because of internet pirating. Trying to explain to a 14 year old that everything online is not legal is a big mountain to climb. If it’s on Youtube or a few others sites it’s got to be okay because it gets filtered. Well, yes, but there are literally millions of things being posted and they don’t always get them off the site immediately.
Then I tried to explain about pirating music and movies. I agree it is a confusing subject. It is one I had to delve into not too long ago when a niece told me about a great movie site. I logged on to find movies that were currently in the theaters. This didn’t feel right so I tried to investigate. I found that there were a number of similar sites. How did they get away with this? How is one to know what is okay and what is not?
I finally called a son who works in the upper echelon of Blockbuster. He broke it down simply for me. If you have paid for the movie service (Netflix, etc.) you are safe. If you are watching a TV show or movie from the originators website (ABC, CBS, Disney, etc.) you are safe. If you are watching from other websites you have to be careful. If you are on a website that takes you to another website and maybe even another, be very careful. It is probably not an okay site. Besides, I am told, visiting these sites is a great way to pick up a unwanted virus!
Those websites are not legal. So using those websites is not legal. It is however like the stop sign question- is anyone going to know? Does it matter?
I am a stop at the stop sign kind of person. I am that kind of person because I choose to be. I have a wall plaque that reads- “Integrity is doing what is right when the only one who will know is God.” I used to tell my children that integrity was about the choices you made when no one else was looking.
Technology has put into our hands the means to do many, many things that no one else may know about. We are faced each day with choices that test our character. We are the “masters of our universe”. Our small choices of each day determine how we will choose when the stakes are higher. Will we stop at the stop sign or not? The majority of people will not. Who do you want to be? That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?
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