How many of you have kids AND borrow from torrents?

[DrLove'sKuDang]

My daughter is now 5 1/2 and I have been torrenting for as long as it's been around. Before that it was the original napster and mIRC. Anyways, now that shes old enough to talk about what she has seen, Im actually a little paranoid about her going to school and running her mouth about a movie she saw last night. Then one of her friends will go and tells their parents, then the parents look for it and realize its not even out yet.

Case in point, I just got a BDrip of Hop for her. I checked amazon and its not being released until March 25th. Im actually considering not letter her see it until its actually out in stores. Not that any of the parents are Fed's, but still. For those of you in similar situations, whats your take?

[WilliamW]

I think that the "illegal" material that is downloaded through torrents should be up to the individual who downloads them. I've downloaded a few myself (the entire series of Duck Tales, Mighty Max, and Dark Wing Duck for example).

If you get caught, you are breaking the law. There's no real protection against that.

So I guess the best advice is "Don't get caught."

[deevergote]

She won't know the difference if you wait until it's legally available to show her something. It's cool to be able to provide something ahead of time, and I can definitely see how you'd want to do that for your kid... but I think you're right to feel paranoid. She isn't old enough to understand the illegality of it, so she won't understand why she shouldn't talk about something. All you need is one busybody parent that feels you're "corrupting your child" by exposing her to internet piracy, and your life could become much more difficult for a time. If they put the right spin on it, it could cause quite an uproar, and someone might choose to make an example out of you.

[LadyG]

Yeah, downloading is "downloading" to them, whether or not it is on Amazon or BitTorrent.

I have used torrent as a way to introduce my kids to things like The Back to the Future Trilogy, Gundam Wing, The Brave Little Toaster, or Shirley Temple.

I also use it to "test" movies (kids or in general) so I don't have any "eh" movies in my collection.

***edit
Another factor in the "kids and morally ambiguous doings": Whether or not you draw attention to what you are doing. Do you "log out" of a torrent search when she walks into the room? Act like where her movies come from is fairy land?
Than your prob ok. Kids take social ques from us, so that if we act like we're doing bad things, than they notice what it is we are doing.

[RagingAsian]

had a thing at work when some of y co workers showed a boot leg movie to the kids about 2 months before it even hit threatres. kid went home and told mom.

mom called the director and 5 out of the 6 people got demoted or fired.

[DrLove'sKuDang]

Shes only 5, she doesnt know what a torrent is, and she wont for many years. Whenever we talk about getting a movie, in the house, we refer to it as "getting it from netflix".


But yes, the crazy nothing-better-to-do housewife is exactly what Im worried about. Lets say her kid has been asking for a movie, since all kids want the same shit, and she keeps telling her daughter "its not out until next month".

Then next week my daughter goes to class talking about how she saw it. Then this other child goes home and says, "mommy, one of my friends said they have the movie and saw it yesterday". Then the questions COULD start. It just sucks that I cant surprise my daughter with movies I know shell enjoy all because she doesnt know how to keep a secret. Guess Ill be watching it now... she wont get to see it for another month and a half.

[floored]

show it to her at the begining of vacation. maybe shell forget about it in a week.

[Leung]

i don't have kids but i did download stuff from megaupload. it's a shame that they got shut down.

[Law Grandeur]

i usually try every other source to download movies. if i cant find it and a torrent site has it, then ill grab it from there. ive had a hard time finding a couple movies that were only released on VHS so downloading it on a torrent was the only way.

[Tippey764]

Just don't tell her the name of the movie

[LadyG]

If something like that happens you tell the "concerned parent", "I'm sorry the pine tree up your bum is so large. Why don't you fix that, and mind your own buisness."

Or that's what I would say.

Some of the parents at my children's school are pretty affluent, and could stir up some kind of mess... maybe. Worst case scenario: EVERYTHING that has come off the net is on an external drive. I'd bury that shit in the yard for a day.

But seriously... What could they DO to you?
Do you work for an employer that would care about something like that?

I'm a SAHM, so telling someone like that to F* themselves, would have no effect on any other part of my life.

[deevergote]

The "concerned parent" may not be in direct contact. They may contact the police.
Essentially, it IS exposing a minor to illegal activity, and it IS stealing... with all the recent uproar over illegal downloading, who knows what self-righteous officer of the law might want to make such a thing his pet project?

Granted, as most people view it, it's not a big deal. MOST people probably wouldn't care, but on the off chance that you get a renegade goody-two-shoes that wants to make an example out of you, it could be one hell of a headache.
Remember all the people that got sued for downloading via Napster years ago? It was a short-lived crusade, and nothing really came of it... but I believe one of those that got sued was a young teenage girl.

[Ralphie]

Was the "borrowed " part a joke ?

Are you guys really serious?

I doubt anyone is going to base a federal indictment on a five year olds hearsay.

Don't solicit it or distribute and you will be fine.