Is it Legal?

[Prison Mike]

Ya i am trying to convince my friend that LimeWire and Ares are illegally allowing you to download music! He refuses to believe it!

Can you guys help me out by showing proof that both these programs are illegal?????

[Alasdair]

It's illegal because he didn't pay for the music.

He's not going to get caught though.

Your friend is a moron if he doesn't believe information he can simply get from a google search, and we're not going to change that.

[biohazard]

Ok so LimeWire is not illegal and neither is its use. It is however illegal to downloaded copyrighted material from it (which is the only reason that people use it). I have talked to a kid who said his friend was caught, and the feds took his computer... My suggestion is don't use it. Or if you do, make sure you don't use it for a purpose that will get you caught. Also make sure you know how to keep yourself from getting caught (switching the files to other folders) because I'm pretty sure they can mainly only catch you if you upload stuff to it (which it does automatically unless you tell it not to). I has never illegally downloaded things from LimeWire, but I do know people who have.

[WesScog]

Ya i am trying to convince my friend that LimeWire and Ares are illegally allowing you to download music! He refuses to believe it!

Can you guys help me out by showing proof that both these programs are illegal?????

Those programs aren't illegal. But using them to download copys of unbought copyrighted material is illegal.

[Alasdair]

You'll only get busted for file sharing if you download a LOT (1000+ files) from public p2p programmes (limewire, bittorrent, etc).

If you don't download much, or use a private network like I did in uni, you have zero chance of getting caught.

The feds don't have the time or resources to go after a kid who's downloaded a few CDs. It takes a lot of downloading to catch their attention.

The feds who are in charge in investigating internet issues deal with things that are much more important - child porn, terrorist plots, and internet fraud!

[DarkMirageProductions]

Yea, it's kind of illegal. But if you take a file and put it out onto a bittorrent client and it's copyrighted, you're screwed.

It's illegeal technically, but I still use it. Why go buy music when you can have it free?

(But I don't use a client or anything that can give you a virus. I just use internet directory searches.)

[UndergroundMark]

Yo all, It has been released a few months ago that the feds have released "dummy" files ontom limewires gutnella networks etc. Files (that are technically non malicious virus) that track your computer when you download them... (Disguised as copyrighted material etc. Then they bust you for TRYING to download illegally.. Watch out man,

[caseyatwell]

The program it's self is not illegall,....But if you download music off of it and you did not pay for it you can get in trouble.

[Prison Mike]

Just to make it clear it's not me downloading the songs, it is my friend. I've actually turned to the light and decided that it's breaking the law, my friend on the other hand is a moron and would probably shoot himself in the leg if he ever handled a gun (ya, he's that much of an idiot and has absolutely NO SELF-CONTROL)!!!

[Alasdair]

Just to make it clear it's not me downloading the songs, it is my friend. I've actually turned to the light and decided that it's breaking the law, my friend on the other hand is a moron and would probably shoot himself in the leg if he ever handled a gun (ya, he's that much of an idiot and has absolutely NO SELF-CONTROL)!!!

How is he an idiot for downloading music? Everybody does it.

You don't have to worry about making it clear that it's not you, it's not like the feds are going to be watching this forum, say "HEY THIS GUY SAYS HE IS DOWNLOADING ILLEGAL MUSIC", and track you down.

HEY FEDS. I DOWNLOAD MUSIC ILLEGALLY FROM THE INTERNET.

[Prison Mike]

No my friends not an idiot for downloading music, i meant his so much of an idiot that he'd shoot himself in the leg if he ever handled a gun.
my friend on the other hand is a moron and would probably shoot himself in the leg if he ever handled a gun

[forkazoo]

How is he an idiot for downloading music? Everybody does it.

You don't have to worry about making it clear that it's not you, it's not like the feds are going to be watching this forum, say "HEY THIS GUY SAYS HE IS DOWNLOADING ILLEGAL MUSIC", and track you down.

HEY FEDS. I DOWNLOAD MUSIC ILLEGALLY FROM THE INTERNET.

The Feds don't generally care. Government is occasionally involved in IP related raids, but seldom for something like downloading music. They are much more likely to get involved if there is a fake CD manufacturing plant, or something like that.

It's the RIAA that will go after you. And, since they aren't government, they aren't held to the same standards of evidence that the government would be before things go to court. RIAA can basically file a lawsuit against anybody they want since it is a civil case rather than criminal.

[reid5425]

You know, you can actually download limewire pro off of limewire, I think.....weird

[FyceDesigns]

It's illegeal technically, but I still use it. Why go buy music when you can have it free?

Why tell somebody to leave when you can kill them? Same(ish) concept. Limewire isn't illegal to use, but it is illegal to download unpaid-for material.

-Fyce

[ciwi286]

You know, you can actually download limewire pro off of limewire, I think.....weird

Not anymore...I dont use limewire (eMule for the win!) but my friend just got Limewire and wanted pro so I told him to search limewire for it and the only one that came up was put there by limewire so if you clicked on it it opened up a browser window on the page where you can buy limeiwre pro!

[SmiJa]

Using programs like Limewire or any Torrent program isn't illegal itself, but downloading items that were not paid for is illegal. The chances of getting caught is very slim, and if they were really watching good enough I would have been caught long ago.


P.S. - I only download some stuff because trials just don't cut it for me to make a decision on buying software, so i just download it and use it until i can afford to buy it.

[bwell]

Why tell somebody to leave when you can kill them? Same(ish) concept.

-Fyce

uh, no, not even close.

[Westcroft]

It's not illegal in Canada... but it's 'frowned upon', sometimes if your ISP is snoopy they'll send you cease and desist letters with your bills, but they can't do anything else. Fortunately I purchase my CDs and DVDs... nothing beats having a crisp new hard copy that doesn't eat away at my computers storage.

[bwell]

nothing beats having more cash and not contributing to the devil that is the music industry*

[DeadFishProductions]

Just to make it clear it's not me downloading the songs, it is my friend. I've actually turned to the light and decided that it's breaking the law, my friend on the other hand is a moron and would probably shoot himself in the leg if he ever handled a gun (ya, he's that much of an idiot and has absolutely NO SELF-CONTROL)!!!

Yeah of course it's "your friend"

Your "friend" is downloading illegally. Your "friend" sometimes has {buttercup}{buttercup}{buttercup}{buttercup}-erotic thoughts Your "friend" has erectile dysfunction...

Don't worry we understand... ;)

[biohazard]

Ae careful about it though. If you are in college, and you use the internet there to download music, the government might not do anything about it, but your school is likely to inflict severe consequences on yo' unlucky ass. (happened to a few kids at my bro's school) You're easy to catch if you use a school's internet.

[Prison Mike]

Um no it really is my friend, and he actually DOES have erectile dysfunction, it's a big problem. That really offended me, DeadFish.....

[Alasdair]

Ae careful about it though. If you are in college, and you use the internet there to download music, the government might not do anything about it, but your school is likely to inflict severe consequences on yo' unlucky ass. (happened to a few kids at my bro's school) You're easy to catch if you use a school's internet.

I just used a private network when I was at uni, accessible only to students (or at least people connecting from the university for internet. It was pretty awesome, I got insane upload/download speeds like 1 gig/min