Touch the Future Now at Staples
Community Newsletter: Q&A: Is peer-to-peer software such as LimeWire legal and safe to use?
- 3/23/07 12:14 PM
Lime Wire and Other PTP Networks
by pmchefalo - 3/9/07 4:27 AM In reply to: Is peer-to-peer software such as LimeWire legal and safe to use? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Brandy,
By Fair Use(!) here's a quote from the LimeWire Web site on the subject:
"Copyright Infringement:
Copyright laws and laws pertaining to patents and inventions protect original works of authorship and inventions. Individuals who reproduce, distribute copies, receive copies, publicly perform or display works or inventions other than their own and without the consent of the owners or holders of rights, or their authorized agents, in original works of authorship or inventions, may be in violation of copyright, patent or other intellectual property infringement. Lime Wire LLC does not encourage or condone the illegal copying of copyrighted material. This is not intended to be legal counsel or advice. If you have any questions, consult your attorney."
The Lime Wire site refers us to a Federal Trade Commission document called "File Sharing: A Fair Share? Maybe Not." that amazingly is not available at its link right now. (Hacked away I'm sure by Digital Rights Management (DRM) fanatics, many of whom I am sure will also respond to this question.) You can see the FTC guidance to safe use at:
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2003/08/filesharing.htm
So, in short, using Lime Wire or any other peer-to-peer "sharing" program is not illegal per se, but violating copyright law by downloading the copyrighted materials you may find on a "peer computer" for your use, IS a violation. That is the "dodge" used by Lime Wire LLC: If you use their product for illegal purposes it's your problem, not theirs. In general if some company tells me to "consult my attorney" before using their product I think: Watch Out!
As a more practical matter: to be part of a peer-to-peer sharing "community", you allow other people to access YOUR computer as a "friend"; sometimes you are getting files from them, and sometimes you are serving files to others. Since this is all anonymous, you have no idea what these unknown people may try to do to your computer if they know of an exploit to make your computer do other things than serve up files.
Further, many of the "extra" software packages you can get online from sharing networks are themselves infested with adware/spyware/malware. Lime Wire states that their package includes no malware; other peer-to-peer client downloads did/do. From my practice, the only PCs I find with "root kits," the software that hides under the operating system to take control of the PC, were on PCs also hosting peer-to-peer sharing software.
My recommendation: use an online music store asscociated with a vendor you trust. You pay now, not later, and stay away from your lawyer!
LIMEWIRE
by kris4245 - 3/16/07 8:19 PM In reply to: Lime Wire and Other PTP Networks by pmchefaloLimewire is a lil different from WNMIX. I have used both and I just love limewire. It loads fater also. I have had it for 6 years without any problems.
I owned it on LP so why not I copy it from Limewire
by swrdo - 3/16/07 10:35 PM In reply to: Lime Wire and Other PTP Networks by pmchefaloI spent several fruitless houes and dollars on equipment to transfer music from my LPs to my HD and then decided to try LimeWire instead. I, at one time, owned in excess of 1500 albums from the 60s and 70s and the task of doing all that transferring, much less the cruddy quality I was ablre to get from my disc, was simply overwhelming.
The music I had was bought legally in the LP format so downloading it from LimeWire was really no different as far as I can see than wasting hours and hours trying to save it LP to HD.
On the other hand I would agree that downloading something you have not paid for in some way, as I did, is highly questionable.
By the by after all was said and done i donated the whole collection to a local charity so do I have to erase my HD now. I think not.
My new music with no crackle hiss and pops.
by avtronic - 3/18/07 11:08 AM In reply to: I owned it on LP so why not I copy it from Limewire by swrdoBuying a license (i.e. buying "a" record) on one medium does not entitle you to future copies on different mediums. Chances are the recording you are downloading, versus your LP's, are not even then same recordings session. If they are, they probably came off a CD that was digitally remastered. In other words some one has gone to extra expense to make the recording suitable for today's standards. Also, revenue is generated for the label and/or artist each time the music is released on a new version or different compilation. Downloading this new version and discarding your old one is possession of material you do not have rights to. It's like saying you own Star Wars on BetaMax so you are entitled to the new "Digitally Remastered" version on DVD for free. You said your self that your LP transfers sounded cruddy. This is why new recording are made/remastered and sold. People will always find loop holes in the law and then say it's legal. Obviously they care not weather it's right or wrong just if they can do it with out getting arrested. Don't let this be you. I was just at a thrift store and purchased 20 classic rock and 80's rock on CD's for a buck a piece. They are now down loaded to my digital library and the originals put in storage. This is a far better alternative solution.
p2p sharing
by Diabolical-Mess - 3/17/07 5:48 AM In reply to: Lime Wire and Other PTP Networks by pmchefaloit seems to me that if somebody ask me for a song or movie & i gave them this item, then it would be a gift. if i buy a cd or dvd & give it to you as a gift for a birthday, christmas or whatever, is that illegal? if i buy something is it not my right to give it away to whoever i wish? does it matter if i give it to you via hand deliver, us postal service or internet ? i have never done any p2p sharing since the early days of napster. back then the 28k modem & my slow computor made it more hassle than it was worth. just a thought.
Limewire...
by Wolfie2k5 - 3/9/07 4:37 AM In reply to: Is peer-to-peer software such as LimeWire legal and safe to use? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Brandy,
Limewire is a P2P (Peer to Peer) sharing application along the same lines as the old Napster, WinMX, and a plethora of others. Users log in, share their files and search for others with music or videos or what not to download.
The problem with Limewire (and the other P2P sharing apps) isn't that the application itself is "illegal" to use - it's the content being shared. And therein lies the crux of the problem. SOME content is perfectly legal to share. Either the song or video is public domain, or the license for the song allows people to share it with reckless abandon. New groups sometimes grant licenses like this in order to "spread the word" so they can gain a listening audience.
Then there's the rest of the content universe. Most music and videos out there are NOT freeware. Most music by popular artists are protected by copyrights and such and if you download them, you could seriously be violating the law. ALL feature films are likewise protected by copyrights and downloading them IS likewise a big no-no.
The problem is determining exactly what is legit and what isn't. None of the P2P apps have any indicators that will tell you if the song's OK to download or is a one way ticket into trouble. You have to do a bit of research to see if a given song or video is OK to download or not.
And if that weren't enough... It gets worse. The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) have been fighting back on a number of fronts. You've probably heard of 7 year old kids being sued for downloading a couple of songs. The RIAA and MPAA have software that can trace songs back to their point of origin by way of the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the person allegedly sharing the content. Never mind that the software in question is by NO means foolproof - there have been cases where they've tracked a song to an IP address only to find that the computer located at the address in question has NO trace of either music or video files, nor the programs allegedly used to share the files, NOR any trace that they were ever on the person's hard drive.
The other main methodology behind the RIAA/MPAA's plans to combat piracy is to "pollute" the sharing system with bogus files. On the one hand, the files may contain the first 30 odd seconds of a given song or a few minutes of a given video, but the rest of the file is garbage or lots of 0's - dead silence. If you download it from one of their agents, they record your IP address and send you a nastygram demanding money. If you get it from someone else, they still win because the file is incomplete junk and you've wasted time and effort downloading it.
Needless to say, MOST people nailed in these operations by the RIAA/MPAA get sued for copyright infringment. Most of these people usually cave in and pay their ransom (read: settle out of court) instead of fighting back. The reason behind this is obvious. It's far cheaper to pay a few thousand dollars than to hire a lawyer, go to court, and ultimately potentially lose the case - and then have to pay THEIR lawyer's fees as well as your own on top of whatever punitive damages the court decides you need to pay the RIAA/MPAA member in question.
As far as saftey's concerned... It's not worth the effort either. Software obtained from services like this can be corrupted, or otherwise infected with who knows what viruses and such. It can cause more problems than it solves.
So the bottom line - while it may be an appealing means to get your music, video or software fix, you may find yourself in heap big trouble. The "glory days" of downloading stuff willy-nilly on P2P networks are over. Unless you're filthy rich or you're a world class hacker who can cover your tracks on the web with the skills of a cyber-ninja and are an expert in solving softare problems, it just isn't worth the hassle.
It's far cheaper to buy a CD, rip the tracks you want and keep it in your archives OR buy the track/video from a legitimate source than to get busted by the RIAA/MPAA stormtroopers for sharing a few songs or go to court and really get the shaft.. Thus far, the RIAA/MPAA have an almost bulletproof record in winning the cases where the case went to court.
the rights of every one
by balonga - 3/16/07 4:54 PM In reply to: Limewire... by Wolfie2k5I think you forget that this people of the RIAA/etc... are acting dishonestly walking over the rights of others (from privacy to possibility of backup) to protect themselves. This is like using a canon to get rid of a thieve killing whoever is out there. RIAA, like MS and his intrusions and many others the like, should be stopped and not Limewire and the innocent user. Let's reason prevail.
"Innocent User"
by eric90230 - 3/16/07 5:10 PM In reply to: the rights of every one by balongaIf you're getting free music that the owners want to sell, then you're not an innocent user. You would be stealing. Regardless of the alleged actions of the RIAA or anybody else. It's _your_ actions that you should be contemplating in that circumstance.
RIAA & The Artists
by saskiacentral - 3/16/07 5:24 PM In reply to: "Innocent User" by eric90230Anyone that sides with the RIAA is an idiot, you obviously don't understand how it all works, many artists never got heard until P2P came into exitence. Artists get very little money from their contracts, why do you think rappers are so rich? Because they own their own record companies, look at all the others, no were near as rich, the odd non-rappers that do get rich are because they either started their own record company or found another fellow artists.
If you profit from downloading then you deserve to go to jail/get sued. Free downloads/uploaders should be left alone.
Even Microsoft admitted that software piracy increases their sales.
The way of the economy is that businesses follow demand and supply the right goods at the right time to get a profit, RIAA is trying to dictate what they think we should have, its not going to work and will continue not to.
"You would be stealing"
Who is really stealing here?
And also the real alternative is the Russian sites, cheap and legal under Russian law, screw what RIAA says otherwise.
Sounds right, but if you think further it doesn't stand up
by writie - 3/17/07 1:54 AM In reply to: RIAA & The Artists by saskiacentralI've heard this before: the idea that the artists are getting robbed by the record companies anyway, so what difference does it make? If you think about it, what the person (not Otester, by the way) is saying is that "the record companies are stealing the artists, so we will too".
It's a sad fact that only about 4 out of 5 records ever break even. And while there is lots of talk about the RIAA and nasty majors, the indie sector has taken a blast in the face over the past few years. Its market share has dropped and I'd say about 90% of the labels are smaller now than a few years ago.
Lastly, the Russian sites are just another form of piracy. I have yet to hear of one single artist or label that has received one cent from them. How could that be legal?
yah
by saskiacentral - 3/22/07 3:25 PM In reply to: Sounds right, but if you think further it doesn't stand up by writieThey pay royalty fees that go directly to the artist.
RIAA--Nothing but a bunch of money-mongers
by iMaverick - 3/17/07 9:25 PM In reply to: RIAA & The Artists by saskiacentralI come from an era where there was nothing wrong with sharing your media. Vinyl-to-cassette, cassette-to-cassette, CD-to-cassette, VHS to VHS, you name it, nobody really cared as long as you didn't sell the copy for your own profit or broadcast it without their knowing. Even OS's and software were encouraged to be shared in order to broaden their influence in the market. Now suddenly in this digital age it's a "mine-all-mine" kind of attitude despite the millions and billions they already have, and despite the fact that you've bought such media, or at least someone did, it's still their property regardless.
Bottom line is, I'm sick and tired of paying for their lifestyle...quit being greedy!
so true
by boomarella - 3/18/07 11:36 AM In reply to: RIAA--Nothing but a bunch of money-mongers by iMaverickI say use it. I use it every so often. I used to use it A LOT but now it’s just less time to purchase on iTunes although some things are not on iTunes that I want so I find it there. People shouldn’t be afraid of the RIAA. The RIAA should have lowered their cd prices YEARS ago instead of being so greedy.
Within Limewire’s preferences it specifically asks you if you want your downloads to go directly to iTunes. I think Steve Jobs would have put an end to that long ago if that was an issue, don’t you?
It’s all ridiculous and the RIAA is masquerading as the good guy crusaders when in fact they are the worst of the worst.
umm...
by joyce36_ca - 3/19/07 10:51 AM In reply to: so true by boomarellaquote: "Within Limewire’s preferences it specifically asks you if you want your downloads to go directly to iTunes. I think Steve Jobs would have put an end to that long ago if that was an issue, don’t you?"
So... what do you expect Steve Jobs to do to prevent another program from savings its music downloads into iTunes *open* file folder structure?
Answer: not gonna happen, regardless of Jobs' feelings on this subject. Any solution along these lines will be too problematic to implement. Oh, and Jobs is philosophically opposed to DRM, by the way.
Nothing wrong?
by joyce36_ca - 3/19/07 10:37 AM In reply to: RIAA--Nothing but a bunch of money-mongers by iMaverickI come from the same era, and copyright law still applied back then, so yes there WAS something wrong with all the swapping and sharing. So why didn't it receive as much attention? Oh yeah... the WEB didn't exist then.
Some of you really need to think your arguments through before posting. Sheesh.
Bottom line: quit punishing artists for the sins of the RIAA/MPAA. Lobby for change.
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