download illegal stuff?
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what are your chances gettin sued by the RIAA if you
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what are your chances gettin sued by the RIAA if you
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28 Posts
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From everything I've been reading and researching, it is NOT punishable if you have DOWNLOADED the song/movie/program. It's only punishable if you SHARE it or BURN it or INSTALL it (if it's a 'cracked' version with install codes). If it's a song or a movie, you can actually listen to it and/or watch it from your computer and then discard it.
Obviously, you are in a p2p situation in order to get the song or movie to begin with, but from what I understand if you aren't sharing anything you have and your shared folder is empty or disabled, you haven't done anything legally wrong and punishable....
And from what I understand also, ISP's monitor not so much what you DOWNLOAD, but rather what is being UPLOADED from your end regarding file sharing.
TONI
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Under copyright law as well as several other laws if you KNOWINGLY (and even in some instances WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE) are a participant at any level of illegal activity you can be charged and tried for your criminal behavior and activity.
The option is pretty much up to the prosecutors and/or the damaged party (holder of copyright). Normally because of cost considerations "small time" violators won't be bothered although they may well get a "threatening" letter from the copyright holder or their attorneys.
To put it in focus, it is much like the get-away car driver who never even entered the convenience store being charged with murder if his partner in crime killed someone in the store and that happens all the time because of the "big time" type of crime it is.
Consider well the legal meaning of accessory as well as participant.
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There are more than a few exceptions,not to mention 50,000+ here:http://www.download.com/
Or http://garageband.com/
There are thousands of ''top 40'' artists who support p2p but due to their contracts with ''BIG MUSIC'' won't publicly say so.
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... more power to them, but they are not allowed to give away copyrights they no longer own or are not the sole owner of.
If they're not talking, you should be careful in your guesstimate of thousands who support P2P. If really nailed down I would be surprised if in it's current state, even hundreds would do so. I don't know a lot of people or entities that would like others to just give away the fruits of their labor.
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At least that's what I get from: http://www.eff.org/share/
The whole attraction of file sharing is NOT to pay for the music. ANY scheme that compensates the artist will require paying for it. It seems as if they are supporting a new third-party distribution system or something. If P2P compensates the artist, why not just buy the song from the producer?
Evie 
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How is downloading a music file, any different legally from running a tape on your boombox when they have the top 40 playing on your favorite radio station? I've NEVER heard of anyone being prosecuted for VHS taping of televised concerts, or from taping songs off their radio, and some FM stations send out some great clear stereo too. To charge for what was and remains freely available from the radio seems a bit ridiculous. There's a difference in using one's own media to record a sound, and the rights someone else may have to sell their media upon which they have recorded a sound, hopefully of a better quality source. What I've seen of mp3 files, with their odd conversions leaving pops, clicks, varying volume levels, they are of little better quality than a recording one can do themself from a good FM station onto a cassette tape.
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If you are that worried about it use a dialup service. Make a quick connect, download whatever you wanted, then drop the connection and make a new dialup connection which will result in a quick IP change. It's a royal pain to try and track down a single connect and disconnect and then positively identify who made the connect, especially weeks later when a subpoena comes through. RIAA goes after broadband connectors who deal in high volume. If you are truly paranoid, use Juno free and register it as Mickey Mouse on Lollipop lane or something similar. War drivers often park in a motel lot and use their open Internet wireless intended for guests too. Basically, if you "accidentally" downloaded some copyright material, but not in bulk and haven't been sharing in volume, the RIAA isn't going to worry with such a gnat.
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