What worries young file-sharers

Whether they're downloading games, music, or software, kids 8-18 are concerned most about viruses (60%), then lawsuits (50%), spyware (43%), and whether or not downloading copyrighted material is wrong (29%). This is according to a just-released Harris Interactive survey sponsored by the Business Software Alliance, which has a particular concern about copyright theft. Eighty percent of US 8-to-18-year-olds "understand the definition of copyright, and yet more than half download music, 32% download games, and 22% download commercial software illegally," the BSA's press release says, adding: "As youth grow up, their knowledge about copyright increases, but their illegal downloading habits do, too." Home is where the downloading is: 55% of tweens and teens download free music, software, movies, and games on a family computer, 52% on their own PC, 34% at a friend's house, and 13% and 8% at a public library or somewhere else, respectively. More TV ads about piracy may be in the works, because the BSA found that kids learn "respect for copyrighted works" first from TV (59%), then parents (44%), the Internet (44%), friends (30%), and finally at school (18%). And their downloading prefs? Not surprisingly, music first (53%), then games (32%), software (22%), and movies (17%).