Education 2.0: The College Student's Guide to File Sharing Annotated
A list of items that I highlighted from the article--see link above for the article in its entirety.
Heard of Napster or BitTorrent? Both are peer-to-peer networks through which your computer, equipped with the proper software, can find files to download.
The actual file transfers happen between your computer and other computers using protocols that distribute the file-sharing load among all the computers, or "peers," on the network. As a true P2P network without a central server to be sued, raided by police or otherwise confiscated, there's little chance of BitTorrent ever being shut down. The protocol's great popularity means there's no shortage of juicy intellectual property to fill every last perpendicularly stored bit your hard drive has to offer. Many colleges block BitTorrent traffic Direct Connect is somewhat risky business for college students who seek large quantities of internet content. Every new public hub you visit is one more that might reveal your queries and the files you're sharing When privacy is at a premium and download speed doesn't matter, it's hard to beat one-click hosting services like Megaupload, RapidShare and Sendspace While one-click hosting is fairly private at the moment and darknets keep content away from prying eyes, it's all for naught if your university actively monitors traffic and is determined to shut down peer-to-peer activity. We recommend you check your college's "acceptable use policy" and similar documents to determine their position on file sharing before engaging in potentially illegal activity, or at least make sure you save three grand, the going rate, in case you get caught. For the legal perspective, go right to the source: the United States Copyright Office FAQ
