Are torrents legal?

[Maxdamantus]

Using a torrent to download files has the same laws against them as just downloading them from an HTTP/FTP server.. Also, the laws differ depending on what country you are in.

[Dragonfire]

Yeah I agree with you. But it is much easier for people to transfer or download stuff through torrents and its much harder to catch them. If you download through an http or ftp server, one can easily get the ip address of the website's server and then they will be fined.

 

So its better if you don't do it.

[AverageJoe]

This is good, I found it quite funny!

http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/4577/piratexb4.swf

[joemama718]

ahahah. thats so great xD yeah...torrents are legal/illegal depending on what you do.

[Dragonfire]

Hey I can not seem to figure out how torrents actually work. First I got this torrent software 'bittorent' then I download the .torrent file from the net added to bittorrent. It shows the status 'downloading' but nothing is actually being downloaded. The download bar isn't increasing.

 

Then I tried limewire pro on it. It opened with it but nothing is downloaded. whatever .torrentfile I use and whichever software I try nothing happens. Help needed. Anyone have any idea why this is happening.

[Kyougi]

Hey I can not seem to figure out how torrents actually work. First I got this torrent software 'bittorent' then I download the .torrent file from the net added to bittorrent. It shows the status 'downloading' but nothing is actually being downloaded. The download bar isn't increasing.

 

Then I tried limewire pro on it. It opened with it but nothing is downloaded. whatever .torrentfile I use and whichever software I try nothing happens. Help needed. Anyone have any idea why this is happening.

*sigh*

 

Here are how torrents work. Each .torrent file is actually a text file. In the text file is an address. This address is called a tracker. Whenever you load a .torrent file into a bittorrent program, the bittorrent program connects to the tracker to get a list of IPs that are actively connected downloading/uploading. If your torrent has no uploaders or a high downloader to uploader ratio, then it's going to be hard to download anything. Simple as that.

[kalamarko92]

Torrents are legal until you:

• don't get cracks from them
• don't download pirated software and
• don't share illegal content

kalamarko92

[Addium]

The torrent tehnology is legal,but file shared on torrents is not!

You can put your family photos on torrent and its legal then!

[joemama718]

Torrents are legal until you:

• don't get cracks from them
• don't download pirated software and
• don't share illegal content

kalamarko92

 

um dont you mean they're legal IF you don't do those things? lol...

[Dragonfire]

Yeah, it is legal if you do not do the stuff mentioned above but that's not how they're supposed to be but nowadays it is mostly used for cracks, pirated software and illegal content downloading. So if it were without those stuff then really less people will use torrents for downloading files. Don't you think that a group of security experts can somehow restrict people of using torrents for downloading illegal stuff. It is really hard and is gonna take months or years but when it is done then the rate of piracy and cracks of software will go down and the people will start buying the software if they really want to use it.

 

Just think about it.

[moce]

The Torrent-Network has not been invented for sharing illegal content, but many people use it for this.

There are still many legal things shared on the network, especially big files that would cause a lot of

server traffic like Linux Distributions.

[Quantum Media LLC]

This goes along with dragonfire's post.... if there are security personelle sitting around making sure that these files are not distributed or keygens or serials, then why so many??? Makes you think that some of these files may work properly, but have something wrong with them that these security analyst have maybe put in???

[joemama718]

i doubt theres security personelle checking to make sure these files are not being distributed...after all, it's the Internet.

 

Yeah, it is legal if you do not do the stuff mentioned above but that's not how they're supposed to be but nowadays it is mostly used for cracks, pirated software and illegal content downloading. So if it were without those stuff then really less people will use torrents for downloading files. Don't you think that a group of security experts can somehow restrict people of using torrents for downloading illegal stuff. It is really hard and is gonna take months or years but when it is done then the rate of piracy and cracks of software will go down and the people will start buying the software if they really want to use it.

 

Just think about it.

 

yes, the government may be able to keep track of EVERYTHING you do, but it would be like picking a grain of sand out on the beach...theres so many people sharing illegal files (internationally) that it's extremely difficult to stop it...it's not only hard, but its very close to impossible. to control the distribution of illegal "stuff" you'd have to be able to determine whether a file is illegal or not...(and sometimes whether it's legal or not is a question unto itself) and to figure whether its illegal or not you'd have to actually obtain the file and scan it, open it, view the source code, or something - you can't figure it out by just looking at the file name. and that would be impossible to check all the files on the internet. and i'm not exagerating "impossible" - as soon as, assuming it's possible, all the files on the Internet are checked and approved to be legal, someone can immediately create a new file and put it out there.

 

i'm doubtful that it can be stopped.

[Quantum Media LLC]

well, i think that software companies will all start using telephone register. Your product will not work unelss you call us and get a product code, and it can only be used once.

[Dragonfire]

Some of the companies only allow the license key to be used once and require that you enter your name , email add. etc as well so that pirated copies may not be used. It has already started and probably many companies will start using this method.