Most students know it's against the law to share copyright-protected software, games, music, and movies online--yet many admit to downloading such files anyway, according to a new survey.

Educators and others agree that anti-piracy education is a key component to encouraging ethical computer use among students. But only 18 percent of the students surveyed said they learned about copyright law from a teacher or other educator.

The nationwide poll, conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of the Business Software Alliance (BSA), asked more than 1,100 students--ages eight to 18--about their attitudes toward copyright law and internet behavior, including uploading and downloading copyrighted files through online peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks.

According to the survey, 91 percent of students knew that books are protected by copyright law; 88 percent knew that movies are copyrighted; 88 percent, music; 86 percent, software; 83 percent, games; and 64 percent, web sites.

Yet more than half of students (53 percent) admitted to downloading music files, and a third (32 percent) said they download games. Fewer kids said they download large digital files, such as commercial software (22 percent) and movies (17 percent).

"Unfortunately, many kids and teens continue to download copyrighted works illegally--even though more than half of them know there are laws against downloading digital works," said Diane Smiroldo, vice president of public affairs for the industry trade group.

"What's most alarming is that eight out of 10 kids and teens understand the definition of copyright and nearly all of them, especially teens, are aware that software, music, and movies are protected by copyright," Smiroldo said. "The fact that kids know stealing software is wrong, and yet they behave like it's OK, clearly illustrates a challenging ethical dilemma."

Students indicated they are more worried about technological problems while downloading digital media than they are about the ethics of stealing, the survey revealed.

When illegally downloading, young people worry more about accidentally downloading a computer virus (60 percent) than they do about whether they can get in trouble with the law (50 percent) or accidentally downloading spyware (43 percent). Only 29 percent worry that the act is wrong.

Girls worry more about all risks, and boys (19 percent) are more likely to say that none of these things worry them.

Risks aside, those who think it's OK to download software illegally gave the following reasons:

• I do not have money to pay for software (51 percent);
• I wouldn't use the software if I had to pay for it (35 percent);
• Lots of people do it (33 percent);
• It doesn't hurt anybody when I do this (26 percent);
• No one has ever told me not to (19 percent);
• I won't get in trouble for doing it (15 percent); and
• My parents have said it is OK (8 percent).