Inside the Mind of a 9 Year Old File-Sharer
Written by enigmax on October 21, 2007Everyone knows that a significant number of file-sharers are teenagers and young adults and they get their share of press. But what about the true kids - the under 10’s ? TorrentFreak makes itself feel old trying to keep up with the agile mind of a 9 year old file-sharer.
Like most publications, here at TorrentFreak we regularly interview adults. However, when a recent conversation with a child turned to file-sharing, we took the opportunity to give the P2P kids a voice. We had a little chat with a 9 year old girl who wants to be called “Hannah” (after Hannah Montana) and she talks to us about LimeWire, BEBO, YouTube and her perception of the rights and wrongs of copying - even her frustrations with DRM.
“Never work with children or animals” said WC Fields. TorrentFreak takes a chance:
TF. Hi Hannah! How old are you?
- I’m 10 in 12 days
TF. What sort of music are you listening to right now?
Sean Kingstone, Shayne Ward and High School Musical 2
TF. Where did you first get into music?
- On the music channels, on MTV.
TF. When did you get a PC?
- People had computers but I couldn’t go on them but my Dad bought me one last year. I have internet.
TF. What do you do on the internet?
- MSN, talking to friends and cousins, games and dressing-up games [dolls]
TF. When did you first start using the internet to get music?
- My cousin showed me YouTube and then LimeWire and I was like “whoa cool!”
TF. What was cool about it?
- Because you can put anything in and it will come up and you don’t actually pay for it. Well you have to pay for the internet and LimeWire comes with the internet but you have to pay for that so LimeWire isn’t really free.
TF. Ok…I see….Do you get music from anywhere else?
- My cousin gets it from BEBO. She copies it from other people’s pages and puts it on her own.
TF. Do you think it’s ok to copy the music?
- Yes it’s ok because she only does it to make her page better.
TF. So you’re sure that it’s ok to copy it? What do you think about copying?
- I suppose it’s not ok to copy but people copied it off her site so she just copies theirs. It’s like, you’re copying my t-shirt so i’m copying you on shoes.
TF. Ok, so a bit like copying school work?….Hmm….ok, let’s talk about copying on the computer again. When you started using LimeWire, did anyone ever mention that if you did certain things you might be breaking some laws?
- Why would they put it [music] on the internet and invent mp3 players if it was against the law?
TF. Confusing isn’t it?….You mentioned you like Sean Kingstone - what if I told you that Sean Kingstone’s boss might send you a letter asking for money because you shared his album on LimeWire? What would you say to him?
- W.E! [whatever!]
TF. Come on, play along with me. What would you say if he did?
- I’d say “tooooo strict!” and anyway he can’t make me do anything. He’s not the boss of me, he’s the boss of Sean Kingstone.
TF. What do you think might happen if you didn’t pay him?
- Nothing. I’m too young to be charged by the government so he can’t charge me.
TF. Would you carry on using LimeWire after he sent the letter?
- Yeah!
TF. Why?
- Because you can get good albums off there. Duh!! My CD’s don’t work in my mp3 player so LimeWire is the only way to do it. I bought High School Musical 2 on CD but it won’t go on my mp3 [player]
TF. How would you make LimeWire better?
- To speak to the person sending the music to make sure they send the right one, sometimes they send stuff that doesn’t even play.
TF. Do you know what a pirate is?
- They have parrots [effects 'arrrrr']
TF. Do you think its legal or illegal to copy a CD or DVD?
- Some men right, they sell you a DVD at the market but when you get home it doesn’t play, that’s illegal.
TF. Why is it illegal?
- Duh!! Because they tell you it works and when you get it home it’s rubbish and jumps in the middle and its a waste of money!
TF. Do you think you should be paying for stuff off LimeWire? You have to buy CD’s from the shop…
- You have to pay for CD’s because they’re actually on a disc not on the computer. My cousin, right, she uses LimeWire when she doesn’t have any money for CDs.
TF. Did you ever download anything by anybody and then go to see them?
- I got stuff by Lee Ryan and Simon Webbe and then I went to see Blue. Why don’t you ask me what my favorite hobby is?
TF. Ok, what’s your favorite hobby?
- Dancing to music, it’s fun!!
Thankyou, Hannah. That’s it! Have a nice birthday!
Previously: ShareTV Evolves Into a TV Torrent Community
Next: How To Bypass Comcast’s BitTorrent Throttling
271 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)
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Cuz…
I enjoyed and agree with your post.
FAKE
I enjoyed reading this interview, it goes to show just how big an influence technology is on children. It is up to the parents of this child to understand what she is doing on the internet and to teach her right and wrong.
Goes to show how out of touch parents of today are.
True or false, the idea of interviewing different users of Torrents and Filesharing it’s very good. In psychology we do something alike, called the study of “social representations”.
So, for those who say “pointless arcticle”, die off XD.
A Chris Hansen reference, it had to happen.
Pictures or it didn’t happen.
Poah what a crap.
Sure, this was told you by a 10 year old… Not invented by your imagination.
Stop crap like this please, become a serious information portal again.
Its sad when a kid this young is using limewire without realizing the possible repercusions on her family. I hate the record companies to, so I try to support bands more indirectly (after all, its not like any money I spend at a store will actually go to a band).
I find this article interesting. Especially when she says:
“- To speak to the person sending the music to make sure they send the right one, sometimes they send stuff that doesn’t even play.”
The way she talks about downloading as people sendning her files. Never looked at it like that myself :D
“I bought High School Musical 2 on CD but it won’t go on my mp3″
This comment made me giggle a bit.
This is great. TF is documenting a before and after case. Keep us up to date TF and let’s see how her life turns upside down after her first RIAA lawsuit.
tests show kids generally have higher iq than older people… its just that they know less info… nice post..
cute
This is a great artilce. I’ve read most of the comments and I agree with many that it shows the views of someone that has very little to no knowledge of the government and its rules/laws ect. If you pay attention, anyone that thinks this article is pointless or that the opinion doesn’t matter, can’t even present proper grammar. As soon as we get intellignent people commenting and sharing their opinions on interviews like these, we may know the true view of America on important points like the article.
I am sure that there are many people older than her will answer stupid answers because simply they lack of the knowledge of technology not because they are stupid .
Interview seems fake
this testimony was fabricated or coerced, cute tho.
makes me hate the RIAA more.
[quote]- I suppose it’s not ok to copy but people copied it off her site so she just copies theirs. It’s like, you’re copying my t-shirt so i’m copying you on shoes.[/quote]wow, nice analogy. that’s the worst bunch of crap i’ve ever heard…
The interview seems incredibly fake.
My 6 year old knows that not all pirates have parrots :P
What would a 9 year old know about paying for internet access anyway?
Idiotic child. A near 10 year old shouldn’t already be exposed to limewire, you should wait a few more years. When these types of ideas get planted into childrens heads, they’ll have trouble going through life.
This does not seem to conform to the normal speech patterns of a 10 year old. I would be hesitant to consider this article authentic.
[quote]TF. How would you make LimeWire better?
- To speak to the person sending the music to make sure they send the right one, sometimes they send stuff that doesn’t even play.[/quote]
Her PC is riddled with trojans then…
[quote comment="191724"]This is why America is dying. Stupid freaking kids are being raised with horribly skewed, material-based opinions on what is right and wrong. Parents need to get a grip on their kids.[/quote]
I don’t think she’s American; judging by the fact that she likes Shayne Ward and Blue, I’d say she’s probably British.
[quote comment="191875"]I don’t think she’s American; judging by the fact that she likes Shayne Ward and Blue, I’d say she’s probably British.[/quote]
British seems to fit with some of it, but “not the boss of me” is more of an american phrase.
limewire sucks! long live torrents
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