Is downloading music on limewire legal?

[joe501]

Is downloading music on limewire legal?

I download about 25 tracks a week and need to know if downloading music on limewire is illegal. I live in the uk and already 30 or so people have been fined £2000 for using p2p file sharing programs.
Is there a way to combat being caught if it is illegal?
Any help would be appreciated..

[Mr. AB]

You should be able to find this info on the internet! Here is a few links that might help, but I'm not sure what the law is in your country?

http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/...ownloading.asp

http://www.answerbag.com/c_view.php/521

http://www.whatsthedownload.com/what...ong/index.aspx

Hope this helps

ARE YOU REALLY THAT STUPID TO EVEN ASK THAT?

[Mr. AB]

Did I say something wrong? Only trying to help! Why are you being so rude?

[Karmic Cowboy]

Originally posted by 314159
ARE YOU REALLY THAT STUPID TO EVEN ASK THAT?

Don't be a dick. I happen to have the very same question, though I live in the states.

[Nervously sharing]

Well, guys, what a way to treat Joe501!

Joe, this is the answer you were looking for and I hope it helps all the others who read this thread. I am referring to UK law as it currently stands.

Having P2P software (Limewire, Ares, whatever) installed on your computer is perfectly legal

Searching for files using that software is also legal

Downloading files, oddly enough, is also legal

Using the files for your personal use - making CD's for the house or car stereo etc, as long as it is YOUR own use - is also legal

So what is the illegal bit?

Redistribution of the files is illegal, be it by digital, electronic or physical means - IE, emailing a song to someone, sharing it with people over the internet via Limewire etc, or making CD's which you either sell or give away. The redistribution breaks copyright law since the ONLY situation in which YOU can do that legally is if the OWNER of the copyrighted work has given you express (not implied) permission to do so.

Hence, when you download using P2P software, you are ok, but the person(s) you are downloading from are acting illegally.

In another thread UKBob has mentioned the other dangers of the activities of the Music Industry by employing agents to monitor people with vast collections of tracks they are sharing, and the distribution of useless silent "tracks" and even trojans and virus's contained in "tracks" deliberately unleashed by the unscrupulous music industry.

Bottom line is, everyone can learn something from this situation, and make progress and move on... what could that be? simple! if the Music Industry dropped the "maximise profits" stance and started charging realistic prices for CD's many more legal copies would be sold, and far fewer people would bother downloading in this way. But, the music industry never learns, does it!

Ross.

[Nervously sharing]

Sorry to reply to my own reply...! I forgot to say one thing for nervous people like joe...

If you are that worried about being caught do this..regularly

Set limewire to close completely on exit, and to NOT share partly downloaded files - use the limewire options to achieve this.

(first time you do the following, start with step 3)

1. use Limewire to download a file (juse one file)

2. as soon as it is 100% completed, close limewire immediately and fully, make sure it is not still running in the system tray. you can set the options for this within limewire so you only have to click on the large X in the window corner to close down completely.

3. Use windows explorer to move the file you just downloaded into another folder, one which is not set for sharing - note the first time you do this you should move ALL files out of this shared folder before starting limewire at all!

4. check your "incomplete" folder and delete anything in there too.

in future only ever download one file at a time, and then close limewire, move the file to an alternative folder before restarting limewire - this will mean you are sharing 0 files and the music industry cannot accuse you of sharing which is the essence of the copyright breach problem.

Ross.

[Only A Hobo]

Doe anyone know if The Music Industry has a view on the sharing of Bootlegs? And BTW thanks fto most :-) of the posters above for the useful information!

[Mr. AB]

That is a good idea "Nervously sharing", moving files like that so a person can't share -only take. Its called freeloading! If everybody did that Limewire wouldn't exist... Sorry but if I couldn't share my files with the Limewire community then I wouldn't use Limewire... If a person takes, the least they could do is give something back.

For shame...

[Nervously sharing]

Hi again! yes, Mr AB for shame! you are quite right, this is a community program, but you have to remember that it's use is primarily the sharing of copyrighted material... I personally keep a small number of files in my share folder and move them out in batches when they get to about 25, dropping them to about 10 and then download some more.

I am led to believe that the music industry is targeting people with large numbers of share files, eg, over 800! so for most people this is not going to be a problem and they can continue to share, until or unless the industry decides to ramp up the action and pursue people with ever smaller numbers of files over time.

These guys are businessmen pure and simple, and if they want to take everyone to court, then they can! But it does make you wonder WHY they dont just reduce the high prices of CD's (particularly in the UK) so that many more people will just buy the damn things.

There is another point - when you buy an artist's CD, unless it is a classic, or a compilation, then it is going to contain tracks that you don't like, or want in many cases. If you pay £10 ($18) for one single CD album, and then find that out of nine tracks, you only like seven of them, that makes the CD cost 20% more, if you think about it!

Finally, my previous posting on the subject in this thread was answering the original question of legality, and then I went on to explain how to maintain legality for the more paranoid among us. I hope this won't deter many people from sharing, but I suppose those who are nervous already, are unlikely to be the kind of people who had much in their share folders anyway.

Ross - apologetically