Downloading and legality?

If I download a piece of software or a film off of a P2P network I have no way of knowing for sure if it's copyrighted. How can I be breaking the law?

Once I find out it's copyrighted I delete it but I have been uploading it while downloading it due to the P2P protocol, how can ignorance (of my action, not the law) not be a valid defence?

There are many films and pieces of software that are not copyrighted and are valid to download for free. Should I go and check the legal standing of every one before clicking the link? Also the files are not always accurately labelled, I could be down(and up)loading copyrighted material accidentally.

colette

Instead of downloading, watch them for free online at Ninjavideo, OVGuide, Hulu, ect. If you must download, right click the file and select unshare so you don't upload. All good movies or tv shows are copyrighted. If you must download use rapidshare. It's not a p2p, it's a site that hosts files and you can download them in pieces. You can get the unpacking program Winrar to make the files play. Play it safe and don't use p2p software.

Dan

Actually, there is probably not a single movie, game, or piece of software that is NOT copyrighted - you are simply misunderstanding copyright law. For example, an up and coming band might want people to hear their song for free, while they still have a copyright to the song, they put the song up for download, in which they effectively are consenting to distribute it for free while still holding copyright to the song itself. Only the copyright holder has the right to give such consent, or even to distribute the material at all. So you may wonder, how do you know if they gave consent? Well look to who is distributing the song - if the company itself is giving it away then they have consented to it. Regardless, ignorance of your action is not a valid defense because the action itself is what is illegal. You must presume all material downloaded is copyrighted, because it is. Copyright exists the moment the material is created. You can't steal a CD from a store just because it's not in a box can you?

Pkr

Do you seriously think any reasonable jury is going to buy your story that the you didn't realise that the latest hollywood blockbuster was not copyrighted? Ignorance of the law or your actions is not a defence, if you are going to download something via P2P it is your responsibility to ensure that you are legally entitled to download that file. To suggest you cannot find out if something is copyrighted is nonsense, people who release films/games etc which are free of copyright are usually pretty proud of the fact and will make it easily known, if you really can't be sure if you have the right to download it then don't.

King O

Nobody cares. I've downloaded the adobe pack and it's illegal as hell. Just use this and don't worry; it blocks over 775 Million known anti-p2p IP addresses...or you could just download via warez.

http://phoenixlabs.org/pg2/

ACAB !!kill cops!! ACAB

Everything is yours.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-copyright

PAUL S

the way p2p is going, everything is copyright until you can prove its not. i have known a few friends who downloaded games/films which were not copyright but they still got a letter from their ISP saying a case is being made for copyright infringment... they thought it was bull until they actually had to prove they were not downloading illegally.

so i would say... dont download, and even if your sure it is a legal download, make sure you have proof that you can download legally, just in case.

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