Sometime around age 14, I downloaded my first mp3. If I think about it, I can remember hesitating. How would the file reach my computer? Would it take hours and hours, tying up my family’s phone line? Most importantly, I wondered whether it was legal.

Unfortunately, I dismissed my fears and downloaded that mp3. If I hadn’t, if I had hesitated a moment longer, I would have realized that the download wasn’t free. I was paying, trading away moral clarity – the ability to say without reservation that I am a moral person, someone who weighs the consequences of his actions, a good person.

Years and countless downloads later, an advance copy of “Family Guy: North by North Quahog” arrived in the mail from my father, who receives screeners for his job. He knew I loved the show and thought he could trust me with it. Excited, I quickly watched the episode. It was great, funny, hilarious! I jumped online to one of my favorite message boards and found a topic started about the new season of “Family Guy.” But just as before that first download many years ago, I hesitated. I wasn’t 14 anymore. I was 23, grown mostly. And this time I wasn’t taking, but giving away. I hadn’t done that before. It wasn’t a single mp3, either. It was a television program yet to air.

But I had something wonderful nobody else had. People shared all the time online without consequence (so I thought). I sent the episode to an online friend. Soon, the file was spread to other message boards, public torrent sites and the world.

Quickly, Fox investigators traced the leak to my online friend, who gave them my message board user name. I knew my father, who loaned the preview DVD to me in good faith, was in jeopardy of losing his job if Fox chose to pursue legal action aggressively. I also was facing massive fines, anywhere from $30,000 to $150,000. In addition, a new federal law, the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005 passed in April, suggests jail time (up to three years) for leaking copyrighted material. I contacted my father, and we decided the best thing to do was tell the truth, to call Fox ourselves, not waiting for the certain e-mail, phone call or, heaven forbid, summons.

There is a culture of sharing on the Internet. Morpheus, Kazaa, DirectConnect, EDonkey, BitTorrent, AOL IM Getfiles, FTP sites – the list goes on and on. Many of the users of these sites/programs are like me: young, having grown up with file-sharing technology, computer savvy. Many of them, like me, have abandoned moral clarity in favor of the joy of sharing, the thrill of the unpaid-for product.

Well, I’d like my morality back, if it’s not too late. It is undoubtedly wrong to download, share, distribute, heck, even watch material that has been stolen and put on the Internet. It is immoral to undermine the work of artists, writers, producers and anyone who creates the music, movies and TV shows we love, a work force of more than 350,000 Americans.

There is a perception of anonymity on the Internet. In many ways, the Internet lends itself to this fallacy. Users create handles that seemingly mask them. People often use dynamic IPs. Some say and ostensibly do anything without reproach online. Free speech, free expression, free property? No.

If you act like a criminal online – using an alias, stealing – you might wake up one day and find you are one. And worse than any fine is the waiting: the slow, horrible waiting for the consequences of your actions. You will think, “How much will this set me back? $3,000? $30,000? $300,000? Will I go to jail?”

This is what those who share files illegally can look forward to. No, I am not writing this from jail, and my father still has his job. But had we not turned ourselves in – had I not finally done the right thing – who knows?

My advice for illegal file-sharers: stop. Stop now. It’s not worth it.