WHAT EXACTLY IS ILLEGAL TO DOWNLOAD AND WHAT ISN'T?
WHAT ARE THESE BIG MUSIC BUCKAROOS LOOKING FOR.
HOW OLD DOES A SONG HAVE TO BE BEFORE IT CAN BE SAFELY DOWNLOADED BEFORE THE MONEY HUNGRY MUSIC INDUSTRY DECIDES TO COME AFTER YOU?
DOES ANYONE KNOW THE FACTS?

All copyrithed material. If you want to know if a file is copyrithed or not ask www.google.com .

US law:

"In General. — Copyright in a work created on or after January 1, 1978, subsists from its creation and, except as provided by the following subsections, endures for a term consisting of the life of the author and 70 years after the author's death."

and

"Copyright in a work created before January 1, 1978, but not theretofore in the public domain or copyrighted, subsists from January 1, 1978, and endures for the term provided by section 302. In no case, however, shall the term of copyright in such a work expire before December 31, 2002; and, if the work is published on or before December 31, 2002, the term of copyright shall not expire before December 31, 2047."

http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap3.html#302


This has nothing to do with the "hungry music industry" - this law is made by our goverments and ALL people have to follow the same law. You as a private person and the "hungry music industry"!

Morgwen

Where do you live? If you are in Europe, I woudn't worry too mutch about being caught in flagrance of sharing within gnutella. otherwise the courts would have been filled with 50% of under 30ies!!!

Hi CARLO!

In Germany they changed the law, its now possible that they sue you... the provider have to give the IPs - so its possible that they catch you... but I think compared with the USA the risk is low.

Morgwen

But, (I believe) not yet in Spain...
Not yet...

Its only a question of time...

Morgwen

Re the legality of downloading copyright material, it looks like it's OK to download but not upload in Canada. Apparently several years ago we put a tax on CD's so that downloads were 'paid for' just like radio broadcasts.

http://techcentralstation.com/081803C.html

more details here

http://grep.law.harvard.edu/article....33&mode=thread

Needless to say, this law is untested as far as I know, and could well change, just as it has in Europe and elsewhere.

HI MORGWEN!
Missed me, eh?

I know that it is possible for the officers, but here in Italy we know quite well that there's an ocean between certain laws and their application. And in a democracy, a violation of a law which involves such a large amount of population risks to influence the "Law" itself. It is irrealistic to bring in tribunal even a little amount of the p2p users. The day i'll get charged, you'll hear me laughing from Germany as i present myself to the court.

Yes, there aren´t many "older" members around.

I remember your Limewire thread.

http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...&threadid=5022

Morgwen

Canada has collected about 60 million Canadian dollars in our usual compromise to try to be fair to downloaders and industry alike. Of course, this means lots of complaints from vested interests, but meanwhile users are happily going about our affairs mostly unaware that we are already paying for our "free" music downloads.

"As far as computer hard drives are concerned, we say that for the time being, it is still legal," said Claude Majeau, secretary general of the Copyright Board
http://news.com.com/2100-1025-5121479.html

Here's an excerpt from the FACT SHEET after the Copyright Board's latest ruling