Possible P2P policies

Here are two ways to go for musically minded families (customize away!): 1) Allow use of a service like Kazaa or BitTorrent to find and download legal music (decide whether to allow or disable file-sharing. Possible rules: Keep it legal; try to download only music; have an anti-spyware app installed and scan and delete spyware at least weekly; tell us if you happen to download anything strange. Risk: that kids will accidentally download porn and viruses. 2. Don't allow file-sharing services like Kazaa, Limewire, or Blubster; develop a list of free-and-legal music download sites; and set a family budget for downloading at pay-per-tune sites like iTunes, MSN Music, or Napster. Allow a service like Grouper.com for file-sharing among friends. Of course, these are just a couple of general directions families can take - let me know what's working for you (or which way you're leaning). For more on all this, see today's issue of my newsletter.