How illegal is downloading a torrent?

[Clockwork_princess]

Just now, LAwLz said:

You do realize that Linus has been sponsored by several fairly obscure brands as well as companies that he has no experience with before, right?

He has also (silently) had to drop several old sponsors after outcry from the community because his sponsors were so shitty. Two examples of dropped sponsors I can remember off the top of my head would be that clothing curation company (got a ton of flack on the forum before finally being dropped) and that university (which was objectively terrible in almost all metrics, it was quite possibly one of the worst universities you could choose).

So one can only assume he learned he can’t get away with that anymore and would only use brands he knows he can trust, 

 

even in his youtube livestream called responding to pixel 2 comments he talked on about sponsors and all that. Saying how he dents so many getting like 3 a day that ask to sponsor him, and how he looks at them and talks to them a lot before hand, maybe find that VOD and you can see 

 

[LAwLz]

6 minutes ago, Clockwork_princess said:

So one can only assume he learned he can’t get away with that anymore and would only use brands he knows he can trust, 

Or maybe he learned that people don't seem to care and blindly trust the brands he chose to get sponsored by?

I mean, even though people were upset at several sponsors in the past it seems like barely anyone remembers it and goes on like nothing ever happened.

 

Remember when he made a really bad build guide because the sponsor required him to use certain parts, and the video was made several months before it was posted so when it was actually released it used a bunch of outdated parts? My guess is that he was contractually obligated to post that video even though it would have been best for the viewers and his reputation to just scrap it.

 

Sadly I barely watch Linus' videos anymore, nor do I pay close attention to which companies sponsors him, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are more examples like those.

One more than I can think of would be Synergy. Symless are literally hosting the source code on Github under GPLv2, but Linus is still trying to make you pay for it because they are sponsoring him.

 

Anyway, my point is that you should not assume something is good just because Linus says reads some PR spiel they paid him to read.

If anything, you should be wondering why they had to pay Linus to mention them, instead of Linus bringing it up organically because he genuinely likes their products.

[captain_to_fire]

1 hour ago, dalekphalm said:

But I remain steadfast: My personal opinion is to not touch a free VPN at all.

Yes! Free VPNs are slow and they tend to sell personal information or bombard the user with ads. 

[moderategamer]

Torrenting isn't illegal it's when you download illegal torrents that it becomes illegal  

[Rodinski]

On 30/10/2017 at 2:50 PM, IamODIN said:

Say like i downloaded Photoshop and using it. 

will i go to jail in the US? and if yes. how long?

Also, 25 to life. 

[Ithanul]

9 hours ago, Misanthrope said:

Just use Gimp. Yes it's clunky, hard to get, horrible GUI and quite lacking in feature parity. It still better for amateurs than giving money or notoriety to Adobe.

Or, Krita.  Even supports Wacom tablets.

Also, available across several OSes.

 

[Clockwork_princess]

1 hour ago, LAwLz said:

Or maybe he learned that people don't seem to care and blindly trust the brands he chose to get sponsored by?

I mean, even though people were upset at several sponsors in the past it seems like barely anyone remembers it and goes on like nothing ever happened.

 

Remember when he made a really bad build guide because the sponsor required him to use certain parts, and the video was made several months before it was posted so when it was actually released it used a bunch of outdated parts? My guess is that he was contractually obligated to post that video even though it would have been best for the viewers and his reputation to just scrap it.

 

Sadly I barely watch Linus' videos anymore, nor do I pay close attention to which companies sponsors him, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are more examples like those.

One more than I can think of would be Synergy. Symless are literally hosting the source code on Github under GPLv2, but Linus is still trying to make you pay for it because they are sponsoring him.

 

Anyway, my point is that you should not assume something is good just because Linus says reads some PR spiel they paid him to read.

If anything, you should be wondering why they had to pay Linus to mention them, instead of Linus bringing it up organically because he genuinely likes their products.

I don’t assume they are good I just assume Linus is not lying in his video,

 

he states they do not sell data in the ads for tunnle bear, maybe if he never brought up data tracking I would be like okay so they must do something bad if they have no notice of it.

 

There are many computers who offer paid server for what you can get for free elsewhere. They just make it easier for the user in most cases.

[Scared Donut]

Depends on what you download, most companies wont pursue this. Some ISP's may throttle your connection, or send you an email asking you to pay a 'fine". 

 

But most likely nothing will happen.

[Drak3]

4 hours ago, Ithanul said:

Or, Krita.  Even supports Wacom tablets.

Also, available across several OSes.

 

Krita is more oriented towards digital drawing and painting. Gimp is picture editting.

 

Tidbit, Krita's mascot was created by Tyson-Tan in a competition. He's got a bid in for LibreOffice's mascot competition right now.

[Ithanul]

9 hours ago, Drak3 said:

Krita is more oriented towards digital drawing and painting. Gimp is picture editting.

 

Tidbit, Krita's mascot was created by Tyson-Tan in a competition. He's got a bid in for LibreOffice's mascot competition right now.

Well people paint with GIMP and Photoshop.  Always best to know what options are out there.

[Drak3]

1 minute ago, Ithanul said:

Well people paint with GIMP and Photoshop.  Always best to know what options are out there.

Few, amd those that do, because they don't know of good alternatives.

[dalekphalm]

56 minutes ago, Ithanul said:

Well people paint with GIMP and Photoshop.  Always best to know what options are out there.

Yeah the people painting and drawing with Photoshop are doing it because they don't know they're doing it wrong.

 

They should be using a different program, such as Illustrator, etc. Just because you can do something in a program, doesn't mean you should.

[Ithanul]

8 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

Yeah the people painting and drawing with Photoshop are doing it because they don't know they're doing it wrong.

 

They should be using a different program, such as Illustrator, etc. Just because you can do something in a program, doesn't mean you should.

 

There is nothing wrong with using GIMP or Photoshop or any other application to draw.

Otherwise, there sure a good chunk of professional digital artists doing it wrong by your opinion.  May want to call up ImagineFX while you at it and inform them that their guides on digital art in Photoshop is doing it wrong.  It boils down to personal preference of the artist.

 

I was stating an option.  The OP did not state exactingly what the application was being used to do.

[Tcrumpen]

Torrenting itself isn't illegal it's WHAT you're torrenting that could be illegal. Torrenting is actually a very useful way of keeps your files backed up but storing parts of them on different machines

 

As for will you get caught, the chances of that are very slim, although illegal yes the police don't have the manpower to persue 1 person using photoshop they are more concerned about people sharing say child porn via torrents etc.

[Sylvie]

If you already own the media, it isn't. If you don't, it's technically illegal, but nobody really cares in all likelihood. Just be careful about distributing, otherwise you can end up in a lot of trouble. I'd recommend buying what you can. 

[Sir Asvald]

On ‎31‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 10:41 AM, hey_yo_ said:

But it has been shutdown since it’s a very good way of infecting PCs with viruses. 

That's how to it was. I remember getting so many viruses.

[Kawaii Koneko]

On 10/30/2017 at 3:41 PM, AshleyAshes said:

1) It's not criminal, you can't be arrested for it

2) It is illegal, a violation of CIVIL law, you could be SUED FOR IT but for individual users it's not that likely.

3) If you use pirated creative software to produce creative works for profit then the copyright holder could also sue for money you made using their pirated software.  By purchasing software you also enter an agreement where the software developer has waved any rights to what you produce with their software.  You can actually find a number of stories of even large companies that had to pay through the nose because they got caught pirating software that they used to run their businesses.

I'm not a lawyer but I'm pretty sure you can be arrested for software piracy, even if you are just an end user. However, it rarely ever happens unless they want to make an example. Generally, they go after the people who are actually distributing pirated material, not just Jimmy in his bedroom downloading a cracked game.

 

It is important to note that even if you are just downloading for personal use, you could potentially get in trouble for distribution. Every torrent program I have ever used has had seeding enabled by default. Most people just run with the default settings so they are technically distributing pirated material when they download an illegal torrent. So if they really wanted to get you, they could. 

 

If you already own the media, it isn't. If you don't, it's technically illegal, but nobody really cares in all likelihood. Just be careful about distributing, otherwise you can end up in a lot of trouble. I'd recommend buying what you can. 

I actually download stuff that I already own and I often worry that I will get in trouble for it. I have several of my consoles and handhelds modified so they can play backup games. So when I buy a brand new game for that system, I'll just download a torrent of it and keep the original sealed. Also, if I buy an album, movie, TV show, etc off Amazon or something and I don't want to wait for it to arrive in the mail, I will download it.

 

Of course, I own a legal copy so I'm not doing anything wrong but I still worry that I would deal with a bunch of legal nonsense.

[AshleyAshes]

2 minutes ago, Kawaii Koneko said:

I'm not a lawyer but I'm pretty sure you can be arrested for software piracy, even if you are just an end user. However, it rarely ever happens unless they want to make an example. Generally, they go after the people who are actually distributing pirated material, not just Jimmy in his bedroom downloading a cracked game.

No, you really can't.

Now there are certain circumstantial exceptions.  For example, if you are running a piracy empire to the point that you are laundering money and doing all kinds of things, yes, you are violating all kinds of criminal laws in addition to just 'pirating'.  Also if you are selling bootlegged material as legit, that's a kind of fraud.  And things like that.  Also, it does vary by nation, but speaking for most Western nations, no, you can't be arrested for pirating something and you won't find anything in criminal law.  Copyright is pretty much exclusively in the realm of civil law, so you can be sued but it's not a CRIME.  Not that I'm saying it's not ILLEGAL, but it is important to remember that there are two sides to law, criminal and civil law.  You can't be ARRESTED for it.  (Though it is apparently a crime in Japan, granted that's also not a Western nation)

[Kawaii Koneko]

6 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

No, you really can't.

Now there are certain circumstantial exceptions.  For example, if you are running a piracy empire to the point that you are laundering money and doing all kinds of things, yes, you are violating all kinds of criminal laws in addition to just 'pirating'.  Also if you are selling bootlegged material as legit, that's a kind of fraud.  And things like that.  Also, it does vary by nation, but speaking for most Western nations, no, you can't be arrested for pirating something and you won't find anything in criminal law.  Copyright is pretty much exclusively in the realm of civil law, so you can be sued but it's not a CRIME.  Not that I'm saying it's not ILLEGAL, but it is important to remember that there are two sides to law, criminal and civil law.  You can't be ARRESTED for it.  (Though it is apparently a crime in Japan, granted that's also not a Western nation)

Well, you may be right. The question is whether or not simply downloading pirated content is criminal or not. The FBI is pretty clear about criminal copyright infringement.

 

"The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000."

 

I'm actually having trouble finding a story about someone being arrested for simply downloading something without sharing. Everything I find seems to just involve them getting sued and/or fined.

[Sylvie]

7 hours ago, Kawaii Koneko said:

I'm not a lawyer but I'm pretty sure you can be arrested for software piracy, even if you are just an end user. However, it rarely ever happens unless they want to make an example. Generally, they go after the people who are actually distributing pirated material, not just Jimmy in his bedroom downloading a cracked game.

 

It is important to note that even if you are just downloading for personal use, you could potentially get in trouble for distribution. Every torrent program I have ever used has had seeding enabled by default. Most people just run with the default settings so they are technically distributing pirated material when they download an illegal torrent. So if they really wanted to get you, they could. 

 

I actually download stuff that I already own and I often worry that I will get in trouble for it. I have several of my consoles and handhelds modified so they can play backup games. So when I buy a brand new game for that system, I'll just download a torrent of it and keep the original sealed. Also, if I buy an album, movie, TV show, etc off Amazon or something and I don't want to wait for it to arrive in the mail, I will download it.

 

Of course, I own a legal copy so I'm not doing anything wrong but I still worry that I would deal with a bunch of legal nonsense.

I'm not too worried about downloading things that I already own, but I can understand why you feel that way. 

[moderategamer]

10 hours ago, Kawaii Koneko said:

Of course, I own a legal copy so I'm not doing anything wrong but I still worry that I would deal with a bunch of legal nonsense.

Just because you own a copy of some media doesn't make it legal to pirate that material. Software and media content doesn't even allow you as a legal owner of their content to for example copy the contents of a Blu-ray to your pc as they only permit the use of the content from the original source.

[TheKDub]

On 10/30/2017 at 2:50 PM, IamODIN said:

Say like i downloaded Photoshop and using it. 

will i go to jail in the US? and if yes. how long?

 

Downloading a torrent in of itself is not illegal. Piracy of software however, that's another story.

 

If Adobe doesn't find out, it's unlikely for anything to happen, however if they do find out and come after you, you could face fines up to $150,000, and possibly other punishments as well.

[mr moose]

EDIT: never mind, I misread your post. Sorry.

[mr moose]

On 11/1/2017 at 8:30 AM, LAwLz said:

 

I mean, even though people were upset at several sponsors in the past it seems like barely anyone remembers it and goes on like nothing ever happened.

 

 

This right here is nearly every consumer on the planet.   When consumers like a product they keep using them regardless.

[Kawaii Koneko]

15 hours ago, moderategamer said:

Just because you own a copy of some media doesn't make it legal to pirate that material. Software and media content doesn't even allow you as a legal owner of their content to for example copy the contents of a Blu-ray to your pc as they only permit the use of the content from the original source.

It's a bit of a legal grey area. The only real issue comes from the circumvention of copy protection as far as I can tell, at least in the US.

 

I find it highly unlikely that any judge would actually convict me for downloading a copy of something that I actually own. They would probably exercise their discretion. At least I would hope so lol.

 

Legal issues aside, I know I am 100% morally in the clear. I am buying the content after all.