More great examples of 'legal' BitTorrent sites. Filesharing goes beyond piracy. Movies PublicDomainMovies StarWreck (star trek parody) Cactuses Star Wars. In places such as France and the USA, ISPs may impose punitive measures. More common, however, is civil action taken by copyright holders or their representatives. This can be expensive. If you are experiencing speed issues when using a VPN, the following tips can help: Use a VPN server close to you. How to Find Legal Torrents. Client: This is the software used to download, manage, and seed torrents. Magnet Links: An alternative to downloading.torrent files, magnet links provide all the information needed to identify and locate torrents via a cryptographic hash. The main advantage of this is that there is no longer any need to store.torrent files on servers. Is Downloading Retro Video Game ROMs Ever Legal? Here’s what you need to know about the legality of emulators and ROMs in the United States. Emulators Are Almost Certainly Legal. After all, ripping a CD you own with iTunes or other software is broadly considered legal, at least in the United States. So is ripping a ROM you own any.
No. It’s quite legal to download torrent files.
BUT WAIT …
Before you run off and start downloading last week’s bootlegged theatrical movie release, you really need to understand why that particular download, and others like it, probably are illegal.
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Torrent files
(Caveat: I’m basing this on my knowledge of the current state of Copyright law. Please, realize I’m no lawyer, and this shouldn’t be taken as legal advice. This is mostly just common sense with the high level concepts we’re talking about.)
“Torrent” files are, specifically, a small file of information used by a file-sharing technology known as “bitTorrent”. To be super pedantic about it, because the “.torrent” file itself has only some administrative information in it, there’s nothing wrong with downloading it.
But that, of course, is not what you meant.
The word “torrent” is also frequently, though incorrectly, used to refer to the actual files being shared using bitTorrent. So while you might use the “.torrent” file to initiate a download, most people call the download itself a “torrent” as well. And that’s more than likely what you’re asking.
It’s just file-transfer technology
But here’s the catch: bitTorrent is nothing more than a technology used to copy files. It’s highly efficient technology, optimized for large files and decentralized storage of downloaded files, but ultimately, it’s nothing more than a way to copy a file to your machine.
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In general, copying a file to your machine is certainly not illegal.
Similarly, the technology you might use to copy a file to your machine is not illegal.
In some ways, you could just as well ask “Is it legal to download files from the web?”, to which the answer is (obviously, I hope), of course it’s legal. We do it every time we view a web page.
The problem comes when we consider exactly what kinds of files are being downloaded.
Illegal file downloads
Download Torrent Legal Issues In Usa Today
Downloading copyrighted files without permission is illegal.
It doesn’t matter what technology you happen to use to do it: bitTorrent, FTP [File Transfer Protocol]
While FTP has many advantages – ubiquity being one – it has one major disadvantage: FTP is not encrypted. This means that anyone watching the data stream can see the files being transferred, or, perhaps more disturbingly, the log in and password information for connecting to the remote site.
As a result, SFTP is often preferred for security reasons when available.
(Click on the term for full definition.)
'>FTP, web downloads, email, or even getting a CD or DVD in the mail. If the material is copyrighted, and you didn’t pay for or otherwise get the legal right or license to receive those files, you are in violation of copyright law.In other words, downloading a copy of a file you don’t have the right to download is illegal, no matter how you do it.
Unfortunately, bitTorrent technology has become confused with illegal file sharing, simply because so much of that illegal activity uses that technology.
So let’s be clear:
- The technology is legal.
- BitTorrent is legal.
- Torrent files are legal.
- Using any technology to download copyrighted material that you don’t have the right to is illegal.
And yes, bitTorrent and bitTorrent-like technology can most definitely be used for totally legal activities. As just one example, many Linux
(Click on the term for full definition.)
Using the confusion for evil
Sadly, people who should know better either don’t, or are purposely using that confusion to further their own agenda.
We’ve heard of ISPs and other facilities blocking or throttling bitTorrent file transfers, or politicians suggesting they do so, “because it’s all illegal”. It’s not. Along with blocking the illegal file sharing that’s going on, doing so blocks the legal and appropriate use of the technology as well.
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Download Torrent Legal Issues In Usa 2017
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