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
273 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)
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OK! ;)
Uh-huh…
That’s cute. But, the wrong ideas are being installed into our kids’ harddrives.
You would never get some of those awnsers if you were tlaking to an adult or even a teenger. this ones especially good:
‘Why would they put it [music] on the internet and invent mp3 players if it was against the law?’
“From the mouths of babes” I guess. However, I wouldn’t go around supporting my stance on copyright law by using an interview with a 10 year old =) .
WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THIS?
YOU SOUND LIKE A CHILD MOLESTER TF.
LMAO too right, Hannah
good one about Seans boss
I wanna parrot:’(
Happy Bday xoxox TorrentFreakLover3211
She’s not 9, she’s a 50 year old fat man :P
> You would never get some of those
> awnsers if you were tlaking to an
> adult or even a teenger. this ones
> especially good:
>> ‘Why would they put it [music] on
>> the internet and invent mp3 players
>> if it was against the law?’
I’m a big proponent of illegal pirating (stealing) of electronic data, I will get what I want, when I want it, on my own terms.
However, That a child wants this too, doesn’t justify it. I don’t understand the point of this article.
[quote comment="191595"]WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THIS?
YOU SOUND LIKE A CHILD MOLESTER TF.[/quote]
Lulz
She sounds sassy. :p
It’s interesting to see the logic of a 9 y.o. make more sense than RIAA.
slow news day?
ummm wtf?
I agree with torrentpirate, I too don’t see much point in this article. Quite frankly I would have answered the 11th question in the same manner but I would have phrased it differently.
And about government they may not be able to sue the kid but the same can’t be said for the parent since people are making new ways to sue other people everyday age means very little, so you never know. (I am pretty sure the government already knows that there are kids below the age of 18 or 10 that are also participating in this illegal act.)
The point of the article is the RIAA is screwed. The future generations will ensure the RIAA gets put out of business do to their already free mindset of how music is meant to be.
[quote comment="191595"]WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THIS?
YOU SOUND LIKE A CHILD MOLESTER TF.[/quote]
Wow sounds like you have been watching to much tv propaganda.
But on to the point of the story.
Is to give you and Idea of how kids think about file trading.
In case you’ve forgotten how you thought when you were that age.
I started file trading when I was 12 and my thought process was the same.
Legal or not it got me what I wanted when I wanted for the price that a 12 year old could afford.
Which was zero.
I think the child molest TR XD
> My cousin, right, she uses LimeWire > when she doesn’t have any money for CDs.
Why, cuz you’re buying shoes instead? Only if shoes could fit inside an iPod.
This doesnt sound like a 9 year old, I call bullshit
Attempt #69 (to make my post clean enough for a 9 year old):
I am going to use the example of illegal drugs to make my point, regarding hannah here. When I was young, someone offered me a joint, I tried it and liked it. (Sharing is fun)
I smoked the occasional J after that, and eventually wanted to get my own supply. The people I asked initially were scary, and sold me junk that sometimes wasn’t what I asked for. (Like Kazaa or Limewire)
I eventually got smarter friends, who cared about me and pointed me to my first real grower. (Torrents)
I am a huge proponant of the black market; I think it’s interesting as hell, and it speaks very largely about problems in our community. There exists a demand by the people, a great number of people who outnumber those who oppose and enforce it’s restriction.
You can say what you want here to excuse it, corporate gain/influence, antiquated laws/lawmakers or even political sway. The real problem is that not enough of the majority are given control of the system.
This was a good Blog Post man, keep the good ideas coming.
Take a look at your local Craigslist sometime, see what people are “selling” on there.
You’ll see what I mean :D
I actually thought the article was interesting. The answers are basically simplified answers an adult would give.
I think there are more and more kids sharing music mainly, although not bit torrent so much.. People file sharing at such young ages are adopting different views on it then people at an older age.
This could be a major advantage for the future of file sharing.
I think it was rather cute, and I have to agree with her.
I think this article is to just point out how someone who doesn’t understand politics and economics and copyright bull sees the world, and how things should be.
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.
This was a pretty pointless and stupid article.
Was this interview done via IM or phone or in person…?
try interviewing a smart 9 year old next time
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