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
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THE GIRL WAS MADE UP. JUST LIKE THE “SCENER” IN THAT ONE ARTICLE WHERE SOME SCENE GUY WAS GIVING AN INTERVIEW. THE STUFF IN THAT ARTICLE WAS SOMETHING THAT ANYBODY (EVEN ORANGUTANGS) COULD HAVE DIGGED UP FROM SITES LIKE WIKIPEDIA.
im 13 and i understand it all..
but she did have some good points haha (: xx
Ahhhhh to be innocent and see the world through the eyes of a child again……though one has to wonder if this 9 year old’s confession is going to have the RIAA sending her a bill for all that music….:-P
The idea of interviewing a nine-year old file sharer would be a good idea, provided the child knew at least the BASICS of file sharing and wasn’t completely ignorant.
BTW, my reference to ‘basic knowledge of file sharing’ includes:
1.Knowing file-sharers may be prosecuted if discovered to be doing so.
2.If you share files and don’t know the preceding fact, you shouldn’t be sharing files.
For people in the USA = Must be hard for you guys to download stuff! Where I live, theres plenty of internet resources and it’s an extremely wealthy country, yet unaware of this underground mecca.
BTW I’m 14.
How does she listen to SEAN KINGSTON ????????????????????????????
Behemoth is the greatest band there is.
I think that some people here have issues.
That was directed to those who obviously did NOT get the point in this.
10 is not too young to be learning technology. If not 10, then when?? Before you know it, technology will be the fruit of the world, and those who frown upon it or don’t know how to use it will have a dilemma in the near future, if not now.
Oh, and who the heck would be that bored in life to make up a fake interview of a 9 year old?
Also, the girl is not idiotic or stupid. Quit insulting her. She’s only repeating what she’s comprehended and learned through her short life so far. When SCHOOL systems start teaching about the RIAA, I’ll call her dumb then, because she should’ve learned it by now.
But since they aren’t, don’t insult her because people are ALL smart, it’s just that they need to know the knowledge to prove it.
Even it was 1000 years, i don’t mind torrent.
Anti-Torrent !
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I’m calling major BS on this one
Hats off to the p2p generation. Fuck the RIAA kids. It’s time to kill the beast.
We need to instill copyleft values in the children. Everyone: Explain to all the children you know how information wants to be free.
[quote comment="191882"][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.[/quote]
ever thought of the fact that she might be from a non-english speaking country and her answers are translated? that’s why some of you think the answers are fake i guess.
you get here, what you were at 9 when TV was everywhere.
for kids, internet, download, contents are everywhere. they will not go back. they will want more.
the same than you when you were kids, teenagers and adults.
it’s her world , not yours anymore.
Artists and editors will understand it the hard way when all the kids of internet will be 20 years old.
I think this speaks to a greater problem with the mindset of younger generations… that because they want something they should have it. There is no idea of earning something, no wonder everyone lives on credit nowadays! I started babysitting when I was 11 to save money for things I wanted. When I was a kid if I really wanted a CD I asked for it for my birthday etc. I think we’re teaching an unreasonable sense of entitlement to children.
This is the funniest comment thread in the world. It’s like the zeitgeist of the internet rolled up and put in a package with a little pink bow.
Both the interviewer and the girl are clearly British. The girl uses the word “rubbish” and refers to bootleggers at the “market”. The interviewer asks about buying things at the “shop”.
Also: there is, of course, the possibility that this is fake. It’s hard to tell where kids are involved, because kids ALWAYS come off so freaking weird in text, because they’re all at such radically different levels of sophistication. We have no instinctive sense of how a child should come across in text, so it always seems off.
Also: I find it hilarious that there are so many people here capable of getting worked up about file-sharing as theft. The market and the law must and will adapt to the realities of consumer demand. Try not to do anything that offends your conscience too much or puts you at too great a risk in the mean-time. That is all.
I guess the point of this article was to rubbish the music industry (’even a little girl can see that!’). All it did is make EFF and other clueless fanatics look like 9 year old girls. Sorry, 10 year old girls.
Ask same questions to her father and mother and post it here.
I’m 8 years old and I agree with the interviewee.
If I’ve got a piece of information, it’s right and natural for me to want to share it with my friends. This is fundamental to our civilzation, and any law that stands in the way of this shocks the conscience.
With the cost of transferring an MP3 file being too cheap to meter, and with marketing and publicity being available for free by internet-speed word-of-mouth, it’s clear that $20 CD’s and million-dollar hype machines are obsolete.
That music companies can maintain their anachronistic business model by exploiting loopholes in the law is a terrible thing, and it’s a terrible thing that we-as-a-society are letting them get away with it.
FAKE!
[quote comment="191691"].
Why SHOULD we buy MP3 players if we can’t use MP3s on them? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think we should break the law just because it’s wrong. We just need to change it. Instead of saying “LOL copyright iz stoopid pirate yar yar yar”, you need to talk to your representatives about repealing the DMCA and other painfully restrictive laws.
I got a lot out of this article. If you didn’t, that’s your problem.[/quote]
[quote comment="191691"].
Why SHOULD we buy MP3 players if we can’t use MP3s on them? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think we should break the law just because it’s wrong. We just need to change it. Instead of saying “LOL copyright iz stoopid pirate yar yar yar”, you need to talk to your representatives about repealing the DMCA and other painfully restrictive laws.
I got a lot out of this article. If you didn’t, that’s your problem.[/quote]
Why should musicians not be comp[ensated? Because the (according to you) majority don’t want ot pay for it? What do you do for a living anyway, what industry are you in? What fi the amjority noooinbger wanted to compensate those in your industry? That’s what I thought.
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