P2P Question!

Hey everyone! I was just wondering if the free peer to peer programs such as kazaa are legal to use.Thanx!

 

Yes, thats lovely,but is it legal?

 

It depends on what you do with it. If you download stuff that is in the public domain it's fine. If you download copyrighted material, it's illegal. You can probably use it with impunity if you disable your file sharing. But it would still be illegal.

 

I'm not saying I would do illegal dwnlds, but what is the worst that could happen?

 

I'm just wondering if the police can find where I'm at and arrest me.

 

The police won't arrest you, but the RIAA could find you and sue you for lots of money. I believe it's $1500US per song downloaded, and it could be even higher. They generally go after big offenders (download 100s of songs at least) rather than small timers because they have to pay lawyers to subpoena your ISP to get your records. The worst that could happen is that you could be reduced to poverty and barred from your ISP forever.

 

Mmmmmmm...... Apple Pie...

 

The key is sharing. If you disable file sharing so you are not offering copyrighted material to anyone over the web, you would almost assuredly be okay.

Note I said almost. I'm not a lawyer.