Scott in Baltimore wrote:
I'm a bit leery of some of that stuff lately, mostly because one of my
friends has had two warnings from the same copywriter, and he has the
same cable company that I have. (the warnings come through your isp)

Maybe I'm just paranoid.

Stay away from the sites with the copyright violations. Most
have been shut down lately anyway. I only share the legal stuff.
Anything that's been officially released is banned. Many torrents
get banned because one track has been released.

It's mostly the uploaders that get popped, as I understand it. Usenet is
much safer but not immune to the same penalties.