Deterring your child from stealing music online

The topic of stealing music on the Internet is a hot one right now. The Minnesota woman recently on trial for sharing music files using Kazaa wants to appeal the $222,000 verdict against her. A lot of us may have teenagers at home who steal music and we look the other way or have no idea what they're up to. But as a parent you've got to know. From an ethical standpoint, wouldn't you want to teach your child that it's not OK to steal music? The writer, the performer, the label and the publisher all deserve to get paid. Imagine if you went to work everyday and got a paycheck for zero at the end of the week because someone decided your efforts should be for free. From a legal standpoint, you're the one that the industry will come after should they choose to prosecute your child for stealing music. While the music labels will never be able to get everybody -- this is kind of like a speed limit in that it can only be enforced on a fraction of people -- why would you want to play with those odds? It can be very expensive if you are caught.

Fortunately you don't have to outright ban your children from getting free music online. There are several free and legal alternatives. SpiralFrog.com allows you to watch ads and get free downloads from major label artists. Pandora.com, meanwhile, uses artificial intelligence to serve up music that fits your tastes. So if you find illegal downloading software and websites on your computer, talk to your teen and remove them as soon as possible.