Study: EU Kids Ignore Risks of MP3 Sharing

A European Commission study has found that children in the EU know that downloading pirated music is illegal, however they justify it with a wide variety of excuses. Among the most popular were that everyone was doing it; downloads were for their use only; and that CDs and DVDs are too costly. Many didn't believe that downloading harms the artist at all.

The threat of legal repercussions is not what is stopping many from downloading pirated MP3s. In fact, many cited the risk of infecting their computers with a virus as a bigger deterrent. Almost all polled said they also planned to continue downloading music.