Piracy?
 

Not sure it's really piracy if you already own the software ...sure you shouldn't download it if you don't own it but you have the right to make up back-ups of the software ...as long as you have a licsence to use the software you are good to go. It's really usefull if you original software media has been destroyed somehow (like the kids played frisbee with your CD's or something) The licsence # / agreement is still good though ... that's why each software copy comes with a licsence # / code .... If you read the software license agreement you will note that u dont actualy own the software just a licsence to use it !!!!!!

chime in
 

i too believe in tryware if you like it buy it as for music and movies well id rather have the originals if i like the movie or song but alas all good things must come to an end as i myself was contacted by my isp for downloading movies and copywrited materials it seems that if i want to share i must go to a more anoymous share network i am going to try elf i hope that i dont lose my puter or my isp or my freedom just for downloading mummy returns or a music video i guess they are out there and they are watching................

this is a copy of the letter i got
 

Mr. _______, per our conversation, RR has received a complaint from the
Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. on behalf of their clients
(motion picture production and distribution companies) regarding the
unauthorized distribution of a number of copyrighted motion pictures. RR has
identified the source of said violation by tracing the IP address back to you.

Such copyright violations are also considered abuse of RR's Acceptable Use
Policy (AUP). If you will reply to this message that you have read and
understand RR's AUP (posted online) and that you agree to comply with it in
the future, I''ll close my file on this matter.

If you have questions for the MPAA, you may call their anti-piracy operation
at (818)726-8127 or email them at MPAA23@pacbell.net

Thank you for your prompt attention to this, Mr. ________

sharing (c)
 

If I download a program that I would not buy and woudn't use if it were'nt for free, the copyright owners are not losing money.

That's for morale. I feel good. But now for legal stuff...where did I heard that a thief sewed someone 'cause he fell on a knife (left on a counter) while he was burglaring his house? I think it was the movie Liar Liar...still, it reflets how the justice system can be twisted to deviate from "morale" to $ of course...

Get a life!

Re: sharing (c)
 

--
That's very true, but if you told that to the software companies, they'd spit in your face. I don't download software from Gnutella for a few reasons:
-They're big and I only have dial-up, but that's beside the point.
-If people are sharing kiddy porn on Gnutella, it makes me uneasy to think what kind of things people could be putting in those zips and exes.
-"They" whoever they are, could track software easier. (Well, I don't <u>know</u> that, but it would only make sense, right??)
-They're probably all buggy.
Anyway, Mr. '______'s letter is a good chance to bring up some thing. Privacy. Who said RIAA and MPAA could track IPs all over the net? Even if they have permission, it's still not right.

P.S= I'm actually the Yoshi who wrote the original like, 3 months ago, but I've kind of changed my views a bit.

Kirby

______
http://home.swbell.net/mattwtx/kiby.gif

Those damned letters
 

are only a token effort by the Entertainment Industry... They aren't intended to stop the flow of data, they are intended to show that "They Tried"... (in legalese, "made a good faith effort")...
The reason that is necessary is to protect their image (public and legal) when they file suit against the "John Does" corresponding to all the IP addresses they have logged.

I couldn't help but notice the poor fellow who believes that "IP addresses are useless"... possibly because many ISPs give you a new one every time you sign on. However, they are required to keep logs of to whom each Address was assigned...

Please see the "Future of Gnutella" section of my (horribly debris-ridden, still under construction) site
http://members.aol.com/vbhydrophonic/index.html

Re: Re: sharing (c)
 

get a grip!
 

Look lets just get to the point shall we as a child you obviously didn't have the best toy in your class and other kids teased you. Such feelings of tourment have obviously stayed with you. If your twisted sense of moral obligation means that you want to write to microsoft then let me make a sugestion don,t use the F@ckin system moron. For F@ck sake how can you judge one form of a file share against another. the whole point is te guntella community shares stuff so no one pays out and no one makes a profit unlike conventonal froms of priacy i.e. video where a retailer sells his or her unlicenced goodsin orderto make a profit. Now I accept that software houses may want to get every penney out of the public for there software and give nothing away but try to look at it this way we all go and buy some software at some points and stuff we download is likly to be stuff we would not have parted our cash for anyway so buy downloading games etc (like I do) it givesus a try before you buy option so if I like something I may go and by another product of that type in the future as everybody likes to have some genuine stuff.
So in closing all I can say is if you don't like it please don't use the system I'm sure I speak for most users when I say your participation would not be missed besides sounds to me like your the type of person who freeloads anyway.

I had a virus in a mp3.........only happened once, but still......
So what is safe to dl?
Well almost anything you find on the gnutella network, becouse most of the files are clean.
Just scan everything with a good virusscanner* AND a good trojan scanner
*(I found mine on the network) ;)