Legal Question in Technology Law in California

Re: download a movie from bit torrent sites

The legal ramification that first comes to mind is being sued for unauthorized use. It isn't worth the risk.

Re: download a movie from bit torrent sites

In strict legal terms, the question to be answered is this: Are you getting something for nothing when you download? Since you are, you are stealing - downloading is simply the method employed.

In practical terms, unless you're a massive abuser, no one is likely to be knocking on your door any time soon. Its more effective to monitor those who make the movies available for nothing.

Re: download a movie from bit torrent sites

As I'm sure you already know, downloading copyrighted material without authorization from the copyright holder, even for "personal use," is usually illegal.

Not only that, some peer-to-peer file sharing programs such as BitTorrent also upload the material to tens or hundreds of other users, without any obvious indication that the software is doing so -- sometimes after one has finished downloading the material, and even in the middle of downloading.

It is impossible to know for certain whether the copyright holders will find you or that they will be interested in suing and/or prosecuting you, but it does happen --your IP and MAC addresses can be logged -- and proof that you were uploading the material, making it available to many others, is going to result in far worse consequences than merely downloading the same material for "personal use."

If you do get caught, expect to get a letter from a law firm demanding thousands of dollars, and threatening a lawsuit if you don't pay up. If this happens, hiring a lawyer to fight the lawsuit is going to be more expensive than the amount of the demand letter -- and far more expensive than the cost of viewing or renting the movie legally.

As I understand it, sites that merely provide ".torrent" files, like the site you mentioned, do not themselves provide copyrighted materials -- but they do facilitate piracy by others, and to participate in the piracy scene is to take risks that aren't worth taking.

Re: download a movie from bit torrent sites

The bottom line is that it's illegal.

It's stealing if you obtain a copy of a movie, song, book, etc., without paying the rightful owner of the copyright. Period.

If you use a bittorrent client, chances are, you're also "hosting" parts or all of the file, which is another form of copyright infringement.

A successful lawsuit against you could result in an award in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Big risk to save $20 or $30 bucks.