TORRENTS: Legal or illegal?

[miguelboom]

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If you want to issue opinions on P2P, then do so, however, don't call the technology illegal just because it happens to be used for illegal purposes. The technology of torrents IS TOTALLY LEGAL. How is that a subject up for discussion? Shall we then discuss the legality of many other things such as DVD/CD writers? kitchen knives? medical drugs? Discussion for the sake of discussion without purpose is wasted energy. This thread however asks if torrents are legal. The simple answer is yes just as asking if kitchen knives are legal ... the simple answer is also yes. People then can turn around and pirate with torrents and kill with knives, that however belongs to another thread and discussion altogether. The technology is not liable for the use of that technology which has and is used for a wide variety of legal purposes. Downloading Linux is completely legal using Bit Torrent. Cutting chicken with a knife is also legal where I live, I don't know about your local laws, but I assume cutting chicken with knives would be legal where you live. You are right, my opinion is not needed, but I have never given it in this thread because I have answered with a simple fact ... it is legal.

[olmightysmiter]

TorrentSpy Ordered To Pay $110 Million In Piracy Case

The Motion Picture Association of America announced that it won a permanent injunction against the site for distribution of pirated video.

By K.C. Jones
InformationWeek
May 8, 2008 02:54 PM

The Motion Picture Association of America has won a $110 million judgment and a permanent injunction against TorrentSpy for distribution of pirated video.

The MPAA announced its victory against TorrentSpy operator Valence Media on Wednesday. The TorrentSpy site shut down March 24.

"This substantial money judgment sends a strong message about the illegality of these sites," Dan Glickman, chairman and CEO of the MPAA, said in a news announcement. "The demise of TorrentSpy is a clear victory for the studios and demonstrates that such pirate sites will not be allowed to continue to operate without facing relentless litigation by copyright holders."

The MPAA characterized the judgment and injunction, ordered by a Los Angeles federal judge, as significant and said the site infringed on copyrighted materials by offering thousands of movies and television shows. The judge ruled that Valence Media willfully induced copyright infringement and contributed to infringement.

Last year, the same court found TorrentSpy liable for copyright infringement. The company tried to argue that it never distributed copyrighted materials because it merely produced indexes that pointed users to other sites.

The MPAA said that the motion picture industry, including foreign and domestic producers, distributors, theaters, video stores, and pay-per-view operators, loses more than $18 billion annually as a result of movie theft. It attributes more than $7 billion in losses to illegal Internet distribution and $11 billion to illegal copying and bootlegging.



You might wanna read this one up: http://www.informationweek.com/news/...leID=207601055

[dodie]

TORRENT APPLICATIONS are not Illegal.

shared Copyrighted materials are ILLEGAL

FYI: The first Torrent creator, created TORRENT application for free.... and it's never illegal in the first place. The people and the fans are making the illegal part.