I was discussing this topic with someone and I realized that I don't know shit about the legal issues involved in illegal download and sharing of files over the internet. Can a person be prosecuted for downloading torrents and files from P2P softwares ? What anti-piracy laws are applied against this type of a crime ? What is the punishment ? I do know that people who distribute or upload files have been prosecuted. But what about the people who just download them ? Now it can get a bit fuzzy with torrents, cause you download and upload stuff simultaneously.

There was a case at my university where some of my friends were downloading movie torrents on the lab computers, and Warner Bros contacted the University and issued them a notice. The University officials came over and sealed off all the computers. However, no legal action was taken against my friends. The illegal content was deleted and they were issued warnings. Is it difficult to prosecute people who are caught downloading stuff ? Or the companies don't bother to go after every individual downloader ? what does the law say, anyways ?

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Download and review ! Omega_M - In the Mix (Beta Version)

Originally posted by twilightki : It feels like something you'd listen to at 4 in the morning, or listen to in your car while you're going in a tunnel.

I've never seen a poor DJ or a poor rock band or heard of any music companies going bust due to file-sharing. I would never have bought any of the vinyl that I did (a lot) if it weren't for me downloading the tune first. There is no way in hell I would ever buy the tunes/films that I download were they not available illegal for free. The music industry is not losing money, it is pissed off cos it's not fleecing consumers out of even more money than they already squeeze out of em!

So fuck everyone that says file-sharing is wrong, cos that's BULLSHIT

Oh yea, sorry I have no idea bout the legal stuff other than yes, it is illegal and therefore I assume you can be arrested or fined if you do it

It's not theft as its commonly called. It's copyright infringement.

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Originally posted by George Smiley I've never seen a poor DJ or a poor rock band or heard of any music companies going bust due to file-sharing. I would never have bought any of the vinyl that I did (a lot) if it weren't for me downloading the tune first. There is no way in hell I would ever buy the tunes/films that I download were they not available illegal for free. The music industry is not losing money, it is pissed off cos it's not fleecing consumers out of even more money than they already squeeze out of em! So fuck everyone that says file-sharing is wrong, cos that's BULLSHIT Oh yea, sorry I have no idea bout the legal stuff other than yes, it is illegal and therefore I assume you can be arrested or fined if you do it

shared mp3s are usually sampled at 192 kbps. The quality is too poor for the DJs to use them in clubs.

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Download and review ! Omega_M - In the Mix (Beta Version)

Originally posted by twilightki : It feels like something you'd listen to at 4 in the morning, or listen to in your car while you're going in a tunnel.

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Originally posted by Sunsnail It's not theft as its commonly called. It's copyright infringement.

How is it a copyright infringement, when I'm using the product without paying a price ? that's theft. It would be a copyright infringement if I illegally distribute or sell the product.

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Download and review ! Omega_M - In the Mix (Beta Version)

Originally posted by twilightki : It feels like something you'd listen to at 4 in the morning, or listen to in your car while you're going in a tunnel.

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Originally posted by Omega_M How is it a copyright infringement, when I'm using the product without paying a price ? that's theft. It would be a copyright infringement if I illegally distribute or sell the product.

there is a huge differenece legally between distribution and sale. for instance. if you went to a party and gave out for free 3 g of pure columbian cocaine to all your guests, you would be charged with possetion, so long as oyu can prove that no monies were exchanged when you gave it away for free....

same goes for mp3's if you are selling them to people, thats sale of stolen property. by freely giving away what you download for free, your merely infringing on the copyright holder's right to control distribution and sale.

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Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN I have 3 hobbies: gaming, DJing & correcting maladjusted fools on the internet.

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Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN Yeah, I’d like to know what horrible, scarring incident in your childhood turned you into such an ignorant, intellectual-hating philistine?

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Originally posted by George Smiley I've never seen a poor DJ or a poor rock band

well you wouldnt have heard of them if they were poor now would you? id say the illegal mp3 trade would have an impact on new artists.

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Originally posted by Omega_M How is it a copyright infringement, when I'm using the product without paying a price ? that's theft. It would be a copyright infringement if I illegally distribute or sell the product.

I'm just telling you what it's considered.

Theft is considered depriving someone of their property.

I wouldn't get in the same shit if I was giving away photocopies of one of my favourite books now, would I?

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Whenever you go and buy something, you are affecting someone somewhere, be it environment, a person, or a community - you're making a statement with what you buy. So make it a smart choice ... Its a big picture

If the book industry prosecuted you, yeah you'd be in shit too.

///Can a person be prosecuted for downloading torrents and files from P2P softwares ?
hell yeah. downloading copyrighted material is a big no no. during the demise of napster (and everyone given a fair warning), the RIAA, on request from the artists, sued individuals serious wads of cash. (the initial lawsuits had $50k fine per song, multiplied by 3-4 songs a person can squeeze through a dial up line per night, and more upon investigation of the hard drive, etc. The fines have since gone down (at a request from the courts for the RIAA to quit stamping college kids, SSI-income families, poor people (pretty much the majority by landslide of filesharers), with 10 zillion dollar lawsuits. There is also CONSPIRACY to commit copyright infringement, which can be simply handed out (and documented thus) by going to your neighbor's house and noticing he has uTorrent on his computer. I read on digg yesterday that the MPAA was hosting their own movie-sharing site, just to catch people who would engage in filesharing (to which people say it illegal to perform illegal acts to catch criminals)



// What anti-piracy laws are applied against this type of a crime ?
copyright infringement(duplication, buying/selling copies without proper royalties, SHARING). Conspiracy for infringement(which includes 'supposedly' cracking anti-copying software encryption).



//What is the punishment ?
zillions of dollars in debt to downloading. If you are found to be part of a warez group organized to sharing files, jail time.


// But what about the people who just download them ?
illegal. $ fine. If the material is copyrighted and no royalties are being paid in the event that they should be, it's considered stealing revenue from a company. The more people that don't pay for attain the material, the less money the owner receives.

// Is it difficult to prosecute people who are caught downloading stuff ?
there has been a recent influx of people (namely students) who are successfully defending cases from the RIAA and MPAA, and the students are fighting back by countersuing asking for compensation for any debt they incurred paying legal fees. When it comes to a university student already in debt to men who drive to the court in a Benz, I think the judges are being a bit more level headed and quite sympathetic toward the students. Seems the chairmens of these organizations are in a stuggle between suing students or stopping them in their tracks from continuing the illegally fileshare.
no way is it difficult. Torrents usually have you IP shown to the world, as well as "l337" statistics to see how much of a beautiful sharer you are with the world. The big organizations can put up fake torrents filled with 600MBs of a dead avi file just to see which IPs connect, then use a lawyer to contact your ISP to send a cease/desist or launch a further investigation. It's almost too easy, considering the fact that they sometimes sue dead people or even non-existing who fall under no ISP service, no social security number and no billing address.

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i NEVER used any torrents or torrent sites. I dont use Limewire / Kazaaaa or crap like this. I buy many CDs, and I download quite a bit too. But the stuff I download is (oldskool electronic music 1975-1998 mainly) rare, out of print often and the labels have for some part become defunct. I listen to new stuff rarely. Plus I am in Canada. I dont worry about stuff like this.

I dont download movies - I BUY my movies, all of them. I buy all my books. And I rarely download pirated software - I actually paid for a few programs, and others are freeware or licensed. I only have 2-3 programs that are pirated I think.

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Whenever you go and buy something, you are affecting someone somewhere, be it environment, a person, or a community - you're making a statement with what you buy. So make it a smart choice ... Its a big picture