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by star2b087 on September 10th, 2003

star2b087

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Is it illegal to use file-sharing services such as WinMX or Kazaa?

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  • by lunatik on December 7th, 2003

    lunatik

    Illegal? I ain't no illegal.

    If the question of copying something is legal or not, ask yourself.

    Does this infringe on the commercial viability of the thing in question?

    If the answer is YES, then it is illegal.

    But you say - I wasn't going to buy it anyway. A fine legal point however there is the law about just and fair use. ( you can't eat a hamburger and say it wasn't any good) you have got fair and just use of it, so the provider is entitled to payment.
    If you only hate 1 bite and said - this is crap, you don't have to pay then.)

    There is also the philosophy that says - if you download something, use it once and delete it, you have not infringed. This will vary from state to state.

    SO SUE me! - I ain't got nothing. So you can't get anything!
    Be careful what you ask for. Just really be sure you don't have anything over $2000.00 US. or it could be attached.

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  • by AB-Joel on September 15th, 2003

    AB-Joel

    There is nothing illegal about the file services themselves. What is illegal is the distribution of copyrighted software or other types of files.

    When it comes to music, it is generally only illegal to distribute music that was ripped from CDs. If the music was recorded live (bootlegged), those files are not copyrighted and are safe to exchange. Of course, the actual act of bootlegging live shows is illegal, but that's a different topic...

    Distribution of software is usually illegal, especially if it comes with a serial number or a "crack" that allows you to use the software without paying for it.

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  • by lawgenius on November 12th, 2004

    lawgenius

    Under Dutch national legislation is it legal to download music with a copyright so long as the material is kept for personal use and not distributed or sold to third parties.

    This law is unaffected by any of the EU Directives on copyright law.

    So if you want to download lots of music...go to the Netherlands!

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  • by Christopher Woods on June 12th, 2004

    Christopher Woods

    As mentioned, it depends where you live in the world - for instance, in Canada recently (earlier in 2004) a judge ruled that file-sharing isn't illegal, however in the U.S. the might of the record companies and movie industries can often persuade courts to follow cases to the prosecution stage (you have to remember, with the movie and music industries, it's the monetary might that counts as well). Biased statistics over the "billions lost" to peer-to-peer filesharing help their cases, but there's not much that joe normal can do about that...


    If you REALLY nit-pick, technically the act of filesharing is not illegal - it's the legality of the content that can be used as a means to sue people. So basically, if you want to stay on the right side of copyright law, you either have to only share 100% legal content (or files that are approved for sharing by the people who created them), or not share anything at all.


    Of course, that's in a perfect world.

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  • by Nohbdy on June 11th, 2004

    Nohbdy

    There is no specific law that states that these sites are illegal. All you have to go off of is precedent. It all depends on how copyright law is interpreted. For example: Metallica sued napster for giving out their songs for free; in that case the court interpreted the law to say that it was illegal. Think of abortion, the only reason that is legal is due to a case in the supreme court (Roe vs. Wade). Abortion would still be illegal today if the court made a different descision.

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