File sharing is not illegal!

mygorillanet

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I have been reading about the legal battles Pirate Bay is involved in at the moment. To me its utter nonsense that 'illegal' is the term that is used to label such a fine service. It is more a sign of corporate greed than moral standard that one is not allowed to share or help others share purchased media with others!

I will stand by any file sharing website or directory. I love them and they are the reason why most of us love the inet and our computers...you know why? Coz we can get almost all the latest media gratis!
 

Livewire

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You might not want to bring this up because anyone using torrents to download stuff like I Am Legend or Omega Man or the full NES/SNES/Genesis/GBA/NDS romset collections is clearly in violation of copyright laws - you're obtaining files without paying for them. That's called theft - it's the digital equivilant of walking into Walmart and walking out with the DVD's.

And for the record, I'm the one I was referencing above - I know damn well I'm violating the copyright laws and I'm prepared to face the time if that should happen.

Just don't even try to defend it - theres very few things I can legitimately grab via The Pirate Bay that wouldn't violate copyright.




Now, as for the legal battle they're involved in, that's a tricky one at best because TPB doesn't actually store the copyrighted material. To put it in laymens terms they provide the road map for the cars to find the stuff (map = .torrent, car = torrent client). Whether that's actually illegal or not remains to be seen, but I don't think they'll have any problems. They've been around this long, they're not based in the US, and it's happened before and they're still here.

Just be careful where the argument goes though - there's the end TPB's on (questionably legal), and theres the end most of their users are on (blatantly illegal) :)
 

Starshine

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Look at it from this aspect. Would you allow some stranger to just wander into your house, take your computer, DVD player, TV, clothes, music, etc and just walk out?
You paid for it ( or someone did ) and its yours. If you wanted to, you could sell these items and get paid for it. But is it okay for someone to do so?
What makes it any different by using file sharing services? Someone made the product / music / etc that you are freely passing around.
Either someone paid for it and shared it or they "cracked" the license code and are sharing it that way. Either way, the people that made the material aren't get paid for its use.
 

mattura

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File sharing is not illegal - as long as you created the material and own the copyright!
 

Starshine

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File sharing is not illegal - as long as you created the material and own the copyright!

So tell me, when you visit the torrents and other sites, are you trading material that you own, have copyright of - or are you getting material that you know you don't have copyright of, or the person you are getting it from does?

99.9998% of file sharing IS illegal, because most is trading cracked software or music, when neither user has permission to share the product.
 

noerrorsfound

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you're obtaining files without paying for them. That's called theft - it's the digital equivilant of walking into Walmart and walking out with the DVD's.
No, the digital equivalent of stealing DVDs from Wal-Mart would be downloading a movie from someone and then deleting their copy.
Look at it from this aspect. Would you allow some stranger to just wander into your house, take your computer, DVD player, TV, clothes, music, etc and just walk out?
You paid for it ( or someone did ) and its yours. If you wanted to, you could sell these items and get paid for it. But is it okay for someone to do so?
More accurately: Would you allow someone to make an exact copy of your TV/DVD player/computer/clothes/CDs without taking the original from you?

I'm not saying it's not wrong, but downloading a song is not stealing or theft.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/theft
Definition of theft said:
1.the act of stealing; the wrongful taking and carrying away of the personal goods or property of another; larceny.


Regardless, "file sharing" does not mean someone is downloading/uploading files illegally. You can get many legal things through file sharing, including Linux distributions and legally distributed movies, music, and games. File sharing isn't illegal if the license of what you're downloading permits free distribution.

99.9998% of file sharing IS illegal, because most is trading cracked software or music, when neither user has permission to share the product.
That's "99.9998%" of the files shared. File sharing itself is legal and there's nothing wrong with it. Even if most DVD-Rs were used for burning illegal movies or games, it doesn't mean you should outlaw DVD-Rs as they still have a legitimate, legal purpose. I doubt the percentage is that high, anyway.
 
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iholla

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I know damn well I'm violating the copyright laws and I'm prepared to face the time if that should happen.
Just don't even try to defend it - theres very few things I can legitimately grab via The Pirate Bay that wouldn't violate copyright.


He he... I am with livewire on this one. 70% or more web smart people are always surfing the web for downloadable media.(I am discussing illegally distributed warez) I too know that by doing this, I am infringing copyright laws. The trick is however, that they cannot put us behind bars coz then they'd have to arrest pretty much 70% of all web citizens.

So, I join in defending Pirate Bay and all similar services on the web. The illegality of sharing a file I legally bought and own is absurd.

There's lots of p2p software that facilitate file sharing at the click of a button. Why isnt such software illegalised? How different is Pirate Bay from torrent downloaders, directories, DC++, emule, ares, shareaza etc?

However, the very intelligent(read very greedy) corporate machines are just trying to maximise their profits by ensuring that when you buy a cd album, your cousin needs to buy his own too instead of making a copy from yours.

If I pay for it, I own it. That's why when its stolen, I sue the culprit for it or incur the expenses to replace it. If its broken, damages are paid to me. So why can I not give a copy of that which I own legally to a friend?

The law says its illegal but lets face it...is it really?
 

GamingX

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It's not P2P that is against the law, it is the content that flows through it that is illegal.
 

hatbocs

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If I pay for it, I own it. That's why when its stolen, I sue the culprit for it or incur the expenses to replace it. If its broken, damages are paid to me. So why can I not give a copy of that which I own legally to a friend?

Generally with copyrighted material, you're only buying a license to use it. So that doesn't mean you get to do whatever you want to do with it. There is fair use, but generally it only covers personal back-up copies.

I don't agree with this massive crackdown on file sharing technologies (especially, the DMCA), but the copyright holders have every right to do so. Doesn't mean it's helping their image and in the end I imagine they'll suffer for it.
 

Starshine

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Regardless, "file sharing" does not mean someone is downloading/uploading files illegally. You can get many legal things through file sharing, including Linux distributions and legally distributed movies, music, and games. File sharing isn't illegal if the license of what you're downloading permits free distribution.

Right. You can download and share Unix and a lot of software, because in their license, its allowed. Music and other such files that are found in file sharing sites / software does not have this stated in the license. ( If you clearly read the licenses that go with a lot of the software - it clearly says one computer, one copy or something similiar ) so by sharing said software - you are violating the license you agreed upon when you purchased it.
 

noerrorsfound

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Right. You can download and share Unix and a lot of software, because in their license, its allowed. Music and other such files that are found in file sharing sites / software does not have this stated in the license. ( If you clearly read the licenses that go with a lot of the software - it clearly says one computer, one copy or something similiar ) so by sharing said software - you are violating the license you agreed upon when you purchased it.
I'm talking about music created by independent artists who have released their music under a license permitting distribution. The same applies to freely redistributable movies: Elephant's Dream can be downloaded through BitTorrent. The MMORPG PlaneShift is offered via BitTorrent. In fact, they prefer it:
Please save our bandwidth and use BitTorrent if you can.

There are specific "legal torrent" sites and you can find some here:
http://www.azureuswiki.com/index.php/Legal_torrent_sites.
 
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Sohail

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I don't think file sharing is illegal. Hosting those illegal files however, is.
 

dwd2000

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Being in possession of files you didn't pay for, but should have paid for, is illegal. Technically, you are in possession of stolen goods.
Just to be a Devil's advocate for a minute, let's say I buy a movie from a store and invite friends over to watch it. I am sharing that movie with others and they can watch it whenever they want. What's the difference? My friends have access to the movie whenever they want and don't have to pay for it. One copy was purchased legally, and many people have access to it.
Someone is probably going to say that copies were not made and the original can't be used in two different places at the same time.
Okay, agreed, so what about this?
I record the same movie from the TV, from a movie channel that doesn't have commercials. I record a few copies. (they run more than once) I lend or give them out. I paid for the service.
Personally, I think the problem with file sharing programs, is the fact that they are easily targeted by law enforcement agencies. They just have to start tracing ISPs. It is quite difficult to target the ordinary person who makes copies from the TV or something and lends the copies out. Don't even think about selling copies. That is piracy and very serious.
That's my 2 cents.
 

N4rk0

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Well , how many here say , file sharing by itself is not illegal , it become illegal when u start sharing material that u don't have the right to share ... simple , no?
 

bigjoe4

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Filesharing ilegal stuff is illegal filesharing legal stuff is legal
 
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callumacrae

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It is illegal to get copyrighted stuff unless you have the consent of the copyright owner. For example, you give them some money and they say that its alright. Or you buy the cd.
 

galaxyAbstractor

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"bittorrent is legal, downloading copyrighted material is illegal"
 

furtoosh

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Illegal redistribution and modification of copyrighted material = most of torrent files. The cases of fansubbed anime and ripped movie DVDs and music CDs are examples of illegal file sharing
 
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