Am I a criminal?

I was sitting here downloading some tunes from bearshare wondering that. Is what Im doing illegal? If it is how is it allowed? I mean, child porn is illegal, and its nowhere to be seen. If this is a crime, why is it so accessable or at least, shouldnt there be some sort of disclaimer?

In the UK it is a civil offence not a criminal offence to share music. It is illegal non the less.

It is difficult to shut down places such as torrent sites as they do not actually host the files themselves, therefore are not really doing anything illegal, yet.

Another difficulty is that the average sharer does not profit from gaining the files, as in do not sell on the goods.

Its a tricky subject, but mark my words in the future laws will be passed to make it easier to prosecute a file sharer. Catching them of course, is a different matter.

YES, downloading songs is illegal. And frankly, I am certain that everyone knows that it is illegal. Just because it is easy and accessable does not, somehow, justify downloading. Accessability is a very simplistic and even childish excuse that an adolescent or youngster would use to justify shoplifting..."but the candy was right there where I could take it!"
It's an excuse all right but that's exactly what it is...an excuse not justification.

Personally, I might not agree with the rules, the laws but they apply to you and me regardless of our "beliefs". It all has to do with copyrights and protecting the intellectual property of others. Ironically, when you downloaded the program that you use to download music, you had to specifically agree not to download copyrighted material. Therefore, you are culpable legally as well as morally to violating the law.

If you continue to download music anyway, I think that it important that you, at least, try to protect your privacy. If you are going to be a criminal, you might as well try to be a good one. Try using Peer Guardian. It will slow down your downloads a bit, but it will also block connections to agencies that would have an interest in your on-line p2p activities. Peer Guardian will also help eliminate pointless downloads of "false files" that many recording companies are using to try to flood p2p sites.

Again, I can understand the temptations of downloading free movies, music, games and programs but the reality of the situation is clear. Downloading copywritten material is a crime. So you should also be prepared to accept the consequences of your actions. "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime."

(p.s., I use Shareaza 2.2)

Stealing copyrighted material is illegal, yes. Simply because the theft is rampant doesn't mean that its acceptable. Discussion of hacking, phreaking, and other illegal activities is not permited, per the TOS.



Meanwhile, thread closed.