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Question about Bit torrent

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That's like asking if psp is legal.
Music downloads?
Depends on whose cloak you are hiding under as for legalities.
Have you heard of Megaupload and Kim Dotcom?

Though advertised as formatted for Android, torrents don't work.
And you be asking for viruses.
And you will NEVER get your money back.

And yes.
It's piracy.
 
JayC said:
Is it illegal to use that program? I'm not trying to get fined or see jail time.
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I use torrent's quite a bit. I torrent ligit stuff though so thats the difference. At moment I'm sharing OpenSuse 12 and Fedora 17 both from the Owners Site's. This is perfectly legal as both companies agreed to have it used as a bittorrent.

Doing Movies, Non Free Software, Music, and other things are illegal.

torrets are a great way to share files with friends (as long as you own the rights to those files) and family.

I love the fact that it runs in the background an I can just forget it until its all downloaded.
 
Torrents are not illegal. Its WHAT you download that makes it illegal.

Open source Linux distros? Perfectly legal (in fact its encouraged since it takes load off the servers of whoever distributes them).

Copyrighted material not intended to be free? Illegal.
 
I haven torrented a number of linux distros as well as other software (legally). At one point when you updated WoW it was done via torrent, although through their own program.

A friend of mine has a band, I converted all of their old stuff to mp3 and torrented it back to the band. That was a private torrent to which only they had access.
 
i see a couple people have answered, but:
NO, bit torrents are not illegal in any way. however, receiving/sharing copy-righted material with anyone, even if you own the material personally, is illegal.
 
sleedeane said:
That's like asking if psp is legal.
Music downloads?
Depends on whose cloak you are hiding under as for legalities.
Have you heard of Megaupload and Kim Dotcom?

Though advertised as formatted for Android, torrents don't work.
And you be asking for viruses.
And you will NEVER get your money back.

And yes.
It's piracy.
Click to expand...


Part of the issue with filesharing is there is always some smartass who has to disregard all respect for their fellow man and the equipment. Fortunately I use linux so I have not been virused.
 
atljatl said:
i see a couple people have answered, but:
NO, bit torrents are not illegal in any way. however, receiving/sharing copy-righted material with anyone, even if you own the material personally, is illegal.
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That last part is not strictly true, depends on the word own.

If you own copyright to material, you own distribution rights and can torrent it.

If you buy a CD or DVD, you own a piece of plastic, but you don't own any distribution rights to the content, in which case, torrenting it is illegal.

If you have access to copyright material not your own, but publicly dispensed by the copyright holder as free to re-distribute, torrenting it is legal.

If you are using torrent downloads to gain access to things being sold, then you are trying to get something for nothing and ought have the common sense to know that's theft, and is illegal.

A car isn't illegal. Operating one without a license, tags, insurance or while under the influence, is illegal.

Torrent software - same thing.

OP, just say, how do you intend or want to use it? That's the crux of your question.

If for media piracy, be advised, laws are stricter and in addition to fines, you could face jail time, so it's not worth the risk.

And any site saying that they are not responsible if content is copyrighted is run by fools. Long before Megaupload, I documented here the first case of an operator getting a long term of hard time in a Federal penitentiary.

But for all of the legal uses, torrents are great.

Just like cars.
 
JayC said:
So I should just stay away from kat(kickasstorrents) then?
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My Magic 8 Ball says -

3.gif
 
EarlyMon said:
If for media piracy, be advised, laws are stricter and in addition to fines, you could face jail time, so it's not worth the risk.
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Not to advocate theft, but fines and jail time is far less for shoplifting the cd or dvd than pirating it.
 
I am paraphrasing a meme I saw once, but it said something close to "Illegally download a Michael Jackson song, 10 years in prison; actually kill Michael Jackson, 4 years in prison." Something isn't quite right. I do not advocate stealing in anyway, but it does seem a little harsh compared to the punishment for other crimes.
 
danaj said:
I am paraphrasing a meme I saw once, but it said something close to "Illegally download a Michael Jackson song, 10 years in prison; actually kill Michael Jackson, 4 years in prison." Something isn't quite right. I do not advocate stealing in anyway, but it does seem a little harsh compared to the punishment for other crimes.
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Again most of this goes back to the copyright system and how screwed up it is. I am a Leftwinger though when it comes to "intellectual" property. I feel that if you don't want others to have it you should keep it to yourself. I think all music, art, software, and other "intellectual" property should be opensource. Its ironic of how we keep creating "Criminals" when our jails are already so full.

Look at how much money the Tax payers would save if we 1) changed the copyright system, and 2) legalized marijuana. Those two alone could not only save us money but help create enough jobs that we could bring back production in America making it again one of the Strongest work forces in the world. Well I guess I should stop dreaming and wake up now :rolleyes:
 
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