Torrent and media sharing sites and programs were originally developed to help people share legal files that have no copyright. But, there is always that group of people that come along and have to spoil it for others. After users learned how the process worked, the peer-to-peer world exploded with ways to share and download copyrighted music, movies and software.

File-sharing networks allow users to upload files to a website’s server, making it available for others to access. This is either done as an entire file or through a torrent file, which breaks the original file into several pieces. Sometimes people would use this process to create backup copies of personal files or businesses and artists would distribute their work as a means of Internet advertising.

Although this is rather convenient, it is also risky. First, you must be aware of all security settings in your account or folders and be aware of the content you are uploading. These are important because people who have done nothing wrong are being caught in the mix of legal issues with companies that have been accused of content piracy.

Uploading your music library to one of these websites may be fine to use for storage purposes, but it cannot be redistributed or shared with others. Changing your privacy settings in your account will make it so others cannot see or access your files. Also, it is important to be aware of any possible copyrighted files that are shared with others. This is pirated content. Whether that was your intention or not, it can be considered stolen.

But that isn’t the only way that innocent people are suffering from the Megaupload (among other websites) shutdown. Because of the massive amount of pirated content found on the website, Megaupload has been taken offline in its entirety. So anyone who used the giant file-sharing website has now lost their content, whether it truly was legal or not. Imagine running your business and using the website to share large files between employees! Or losing your entire collection of wedding photos!

After the shutdown of Megaupload, other similar websites are working hard to clean up their content. Some websites have decided to shut down voluntarily, possibly avoiding intervention from the government.

But this just proves that normal people who have done nothing illegal are suffering from other people’s actions. If you happen to be one of these people that has personal content on a file-sharing site, consider creating a backup of your media or remove it from the website altogether. Nothing is safe anymore.