"Do you remember that video file we saw? The one where the girl was having noodles at the beginning of the tape?" my friend asked.

A moment of extreme unease settled in as the next few ominous words came through the phone line. "You know she committed suicide shortly after she knew it had been released," my friend said.

Like many other hot-blooded males, I come across porn from time to time. This particular video file had been forwarded to me by e-mail.

"I heard she was a really good girl with a warm loving family," my friend continued.

This wasn't the first hi-tech clip I had seen, though. E-mail and other file-sharing systems make sharing porn easier than ever these days.

With the increasing ubiquity of video technology available on even the cheapest mobile phones and digital cameras, similar clips have appeared all over the Internet and been made available on CDs at the usual places.

As a former IT columnist, I am amazed at how careless some couples can get when it comes to video technology.

Few of these files are released intentionally. But computers do need repair from time to time, and the supposedly secret files on them are easily uncovered by snooping computer people at your usual IT places.

Some of these "technicians" at Pantip, Tawanna, IT City and Seri Centre seem to be the least educated, moralistic, or responsible and, the most insensitive people in the world. If you have a naughty clip on your hard disk, they won't think twice about forwarding it to their friends.

I've also heard about hackers who enjoy remotely accessing vulnerable computers. With the current high-speed Internet connections and computers being kept on constantly, keeping personal porn on your computer is increasingly risky if you enjoy your privacy.

Then, of course, there's the spiteful boyfriend. In England, a university student was sentenced to a couple of years in prison after he released a full video of an entire session with his air hostess girlfriend. When he found out that she had cheated on him, he opened up a website making the video available to everyone on the Net.

The morbid side of our nature encourages us to view such video files once we have access to them. Our moronic side then persuades us to send the files to all our friends. If only we thought twice about it, perhaps we could keep this moronic behaviour in check.

"If I were the girl, and I knew someone was just about to watch a private video of me, I'd be desperately hoping and praying that the person would be moral enough not to open the file," a female friend said emotionally while discussing this issue.

The first lesson here is to prevent it from happening.

I know it's difficult, and preserving your sexier memories might be impossible otherwise, but unless you're a certified computer expert, forget about digitally recording private activities with your partner.

Secondly, don't be an accessory to crime. The simple act of forwarding a video clip, or even viewing it, is a reprehensible act and deserves scorn.

There may be no enforceable laws yet, but if you really thought things through you wouldn't view dubious video files that come your way.

Unfortunately though, the girl who had noodles felt she could only choose between living in shame or killing herself.

Comments on this column can be sent to relations@nationgroup.com.