legal or illegal

[chickeneater]

is it legal to rent a dvd and rip it? or is it legal to buy a dvd and rip it and distubute online?

[gd_nimrod]

Rent-and-Rip=Illegal
Buy-and-Rip =Legal (for your own use)
Distribution-of-Copies=Illegal

[chickeneater]

ok thanks, but what about file sharing programs like kazaa? are all of the movies i have downloaded illegal? without me knowing because i already have 200+ movies on cd and more on computer?

[gd_nimrod]

Well, i (and a LOT of other people] also use p2p programs to download stuff, whether its illegal or not, and apparently downloading movies you don't have IS illegal, however a cop won't go in your house and check your hard drive for files. And the question of is it legal or not (filesharing) is being brought up in court to kazaa, however its having a hard time being shut down, so we will have to see how the p2p scene will look like in a year or so.

[Enchanter]

It's kind of like MP3 (and/or OGG, MPC, etc.) sharing, I suppose. It's illegal and yet everyone (who downloads stuff from the net) has them.

[chickeneater]

ok thank you very much. I also heard that kazaa was made and based in taiwan so there laws are different about p2p filesharing... and that it wouldnt be illegal.

[Enchanter]

That's news.

Nevertheless, the contents that are distributed within the network will most likely be from the U.S. (and countries with similar rules/law) and hence sharing them remains an illegal act . . .

[gd_nimrod]

But there are so many file-sharing programs these days, and some of them don't even connect to a central server, that I think p2p sharing will never die

[chickeneater]

good. you guys are the best

[Enchanter]

I doubt P2P will ever die. Even if it does, there will always be others to readily take up their place. . .

[gd_nimrod]

Others, you mean other programs or other things like FTP etc...

[Enchanter]

mIRC is good and it seems that it is relatively free from "legal fire" so as to speak . . .

[gd_nimrod]

True i don't know how the RIAA could ever stop such chat programs, in which you transfer file

[chickeneater]

hopefully nothing should cost money to have a fileshare network, like napster now costs money... i like kazaa and overnet because they are free

[Enchanter]

Originally posted by chickeneater
hopefully nothing should cost money to have a fileshare network, like napster now costs money... i like kazaa and overnet because they are free

Were you the one who actually produced the contents (eg. movie or music artists, or the distributors), you would most likely have exactly the opposite thought . . .