Limewire filesharing

#15

Not sure if this is the right forum or not, mods feel free to move this.

Does anybody know if file sharing programs like LimeWire are illegal?

Sleepy

I don't think any of the file-sharing programs themselves are illegal, it's the (mis)use of them that can be illegal.

I am not a lawyer but AFAIK, under Irish law it's illegal to make copyrighted material available for download, though it's legal to download it.

Hobbes

Yea the software itself is not illegal. It is when you download stuff you shouldn't that your getting into the illegal part. However lots of places (like boards) consider even discussion on the topic to be questionable because it is very rare it would be use for anything else but that.

Siogfinsceal

once you can get away with doing it who cares if its actaully legal or not?

petes

You will if your caught.

Siogfinsceal

you know wat I mean theres plenty of things that are technically illegal that its easy enough to get away with and is pretty harmless anyway- like installing software on 2 pcs instead of one or getting codes off the net so you can use jbuilder for your final yr project without having to buy it or installing someone elses office 2000 on your Pc

Jimi-Spandex

Siogfinsceal wrote:

once you can get away with doing it who cares if its actaully legal or not?

Maybe the artists who are getting no money for their work?

DonkeyStyle \o/

tbh I wouldn't touch limewire (or it's ilk) with a barge pole anyway... malware & corrupt files ahoy! ... probably crawling with RIAA/IRMA/MPAA types anyway.

Kernel

If someone uses Firefox to view child porn, should Firefox be made illegal? P2P software has legitimate and legal uses, so yeah, it is perfectly legal.

Siogfinsceal

look firstly i dunno wat limewire actually does! as for srtists not getting their money yeah im sure bill gates is broke cuz i didnt buy office 2000
as for music i do pay for it www.allofmp3.com

honru

Siogfinsceal wrote:

look firstly i dunno wat limewire actually does! as for srtists not getting their money yeah im sure bill gates is broke cuz i didnt buy office 2000

ffs...

Siogfinsceal wrote:

as for music i do pay for it www.allofmp3.com

You do know that the money you're paying is not going to any of the artists, but rather to some Russians who've caught on to a loophole through the law?

Using that site is worse than using a free P2P application tbh.

Siogfinsceal

first off freak scenery your sarcasm is wasted on me -im not a tech head -i dont know what limewire does - whatever!
as for allofmp3- a dollar an album i dont care where the money goes to be honest and if it was illegal they would have been shut down by now. a loophole is not illegal, it is a loophole

Kernel

Siogfinsceal wrote:

first off freak scenery your sarcasm is wasted on me -im not a tech head -i dont know what limewire does - whatever!
as for allofmp3- a dollar an album i dont care where the money goes to be honest and if it was illegal they would have been shut down by now. a loophole is not illegal, it is a loophole

You go girl!

honru

Siogfinsceal wrote:

first off freak scenery your sarcasm is wasted on me -im not a tech head -i dont know what limewire does - whatever!

Was I being sarcastic?

Limewire's a P2P application like Kazaa etc., that can be used to share files be it music or documents, whatever. It's not too hard to use, really.

Siogfinsceal wrote:

as for allofmp3- a dollar an album i dont care where the money goes to be honest and if it was illegal they would have been shut down by now. a loophole is not illegal, it is a loophole

It is illegal outside of Russia. The loophole is in the Russian law, not in ours.

SprostonGreen

Its middle management at the record companies who are worried about losing their income, not so much the artists. They still like to rub it in to the rest of the world how loaded they are on MTV Cribs.

#15

petes wrote:

You will if your caught.

how is it possible to be caught downloading from it?

leche solara

The Feds sign up with Limewire and search for popular music that is being shared. They download it and find your IP address. They then get a court order which commands your ISP to give them your name and address then you get a knock on the door

radiospan

It was posted here before that downloading MP3s is not illegal in Ireland (even if they're copyrighted), but uploading them is?

Capt'n Midnight

Siogfinsceal wrote:

once you can get away with doing it who cares if its actaully legal or not?

me wrote:

Forget it

Far too many companies have gone bust because they couldn't compete with 0 cost pirate copies of dos/windows/office for me to consider helping them spread their user base. The more people using open source the more likely commercial users will accept it at work, and that's where micosoft make the real money. So pirating software for home users means microsoft keep a stranglehold on the corporate licenses. Only when corporate users start using alternatives at home will they accept them at work and only then will micosoft drop prices. IMHO

Point is that copying generally only hurts the little guy, the big corporates have such economies of scale that it affects their profit margin not their ability to stay in business, while the smaller companies may go under.

In answer to the original question file sharing programs are legal, (check the license to see if you are allowed to use it), just like CD and DVD writers. Use of them to copy material for which there are no copyright restrictions prohibiting it is legal. Other USAGE may be illegal.

Discussions about the legalities of the USE of the programs should be on the Digital Rights forum --> http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=570

As this is the WINDOWS forum please keep the discussion about the program not the copied material.