Andriy Slynchuk has created a list that we as internet users might unconsciously be
doing illegally, while we are living our digital daily lives. Some are not as serious as
others, but with some you might end up in jail and or with criminal charges. So he is
giving us some ways to avoid these mistakes that are so common, but might make us
targets for undesirable outcomes with the law, or just getting sued.
I will go over the 11 things he has addressed:
– The first two are about the same, using unofficial streaming services and using Torrent
services. This is just us, just trying to stream anything like movies and shows for free,
using unofficial or illegal sites where movies and shows have used pirated copies for
you to watch. So yes, it is illegal because you are doing copywriter violations and you
can get in trouble if caught and even will have to pay penalties.
– It can be a little confusing trying to understand what is in the public domain, but any
picture outside of it, well it is owned by someone, and permission and even sometimes
might require payments, if you want to use any of their images, not everything you see
on the internet is free.
– The sharing of other people’s personal information like passwords, addresses is illegal.
Taking and posting someone’s picture without consent, well it is self explanatory, can be
illegal if it is taken on their private property.
– Cyberbullying is becoming such a great threat with young adults these days, especially
because everyone has access to social media via smart phones. There are laws now in
place to help protect those individuals, and authorities have the right to take action that
can create criminal offence charges or imprisonment.
– Recording anybody in secret without consent is illegal. You must obtain permission to
record.
– Identity fraud is big, and it can cause big consequences with the law, taking or
impersonating anyone is illegal. Even using inaccurate information in social media falls
against its “terms and conditions”.
– Using other people’s internet might be illegal and dangerous, there are no real laws
prohibiting it, as there are no laws allowing it either, so it’s in all personal discretion
because it might be considered stealing.
– Collecting information on children under the age of 13, but it should be raised. There
are too many predators out there, and every case should be reported and not just
blocked. Children might become victims if they become exposed to websites with illicit
regulated content.- Extracting audio from YouTude it is kind of obvious, it falls into copyrighted content.
– Making illegal searches on the internet? Well who is watching right? Many of the
activities done in the internet are monitored by authorities, they are certain topics that
can be flagged. Like if you search how to make a bomb, hire a hitman, child
pornography and many more, it will flag you and it will be reported to the police, and
even higher authorities so it can be properly taken care of.
He recommends 4 simple steps to keep you out of trouble;
1- Limit the information you share
2- Create strong passwords
3- Browse in incognito or private mode
4- Use a VPN
There are many things we do that we might think might not harm anyone and might
think are not illegal, it is just common with us because we have done it many times,
well, we haven’t been caught yet, but the risk is there. We all should be responsible and
ought to try to be cautious while using the internet.
Resources:
Slynchuk, A. (2021, June 1). 11 illegal things you unknowingly do on the internet. Clario.