HTML Ready Article. Click on the "Copy" button to copy into your clipboard.
By: Peter Nisbet
Many people use file sharing to download P2P games and P2P movie files. Most believe this to be illegal because of copyright issues, and most people are correct - mostly! In fact, it is not always illegal to use file sharing software to download free movies or get free video games online - it is only illegal when those files are protected by copyright law.
Take books for example. It is illegal to copy the content of books and use it for any purpose, yet Walt Disney and others made their fortunes by copying fairy tales written by authors such as the Brothers Grimm and converting them into movies. Nobody prosecuted Walt Disney because by then the Grimm tales were in the public domain.
P2P movie downloads are likewise not illegal if the movies concerned are in the public domain, or if the makers of the movie allow them to be copied. P2P games, whether for PC, PSP or Xbox, are also perfectly legal to download if they are not covered by copyright. People developing new movies or games can use file sharing technology to distribute them to the public free of charge. Why should they do that? Here's why:
1. Publication is free: the video or computer game developer does not have to pay to distribute their game to the public. P2P games can be distributed freely to anybody that wants them and that is linked to the file sharing network.
2. It's quick and easy: it is significantly easier to distribute a free P2P movie or P2P games by means of peer to peer file sharing than posting disks, or even by providing a download link on your website.
3. It is controllable: you can take the link offline whenever you have achieved the maximum number of downloads you are prepared to offer free of charge.
4. It is anonymous: those copying your P2P games or P2P movies do not have your email address, and cannot keep pestering you for more.
For these reasons, peer to peer file sharing is a preferred way for many young singers, songwriters, games developers or movie makers to offer strictly controlled numbers of free copies of their work online. Their objective is to have their work noticed by others, and perhaps get some good free reviews published online.
Such reviews could be a condition of the download - it doesn't matter. The whole point here is that not all P2P movie downloads and P2P games that are acquired through file sharing software are illegally obtained, and that neither the software itself, nor using it, is illegal.
What is illegal is using file sharing to download material that is still protected by copyright law. If you aren't sure how to tell if a file is protected, it should be fairly obvious. Any games currently in the shops or movies currently in circulation in theaters or in DVD format can be assumed to be copyright-protected. In fact, anything produced commercially for that last 60 years can be regarded as protected: the U.S. recently changed copyright rules to 60 years, likely at the insistence of the movie studios.
Some pre World War 2 movies might be legal for you download: these P2P movie downloads are probably OK and will not result in you being prosecuted, and old video games might also be in the public domain, so many P2P games are also OK to download using file sharing software.
Let's say you take the chance of downloading P2P movie files that are currently on show. What are the chances of being caught and prosecuted? Very, very low in fact, but I do not recommend it. Although the movie studios and games companies are generally after the Asian businesses that copy P2P games in bulk - by the thousands - and sell them on the open market (such as eBay) - even these appear to escape capture.
The same is true of P2P movie downloads. You see obviously pirated videos on sale on online auction sites and in local markets, and when you buy them the quality is dreadful: they can't even download and copy them properly! Nevertheless, it is possible for you to download bootleg movies and P2P games using file sharing software and be caught doing so. It's your choice, but the P2P software is available and that software is perfectly legal.
P2P software is not illegal, it is the way it is used for P2P movie downloads and P2P games that is illegal. There are many ways to use file sharing online in a legal and useful way, and artists offer their work free of charge, enabling you to use P2P file sharing to download it. However, make sure that what you download is not copyright protected and is not a recent publication or there is a chance, no matter how slight, of you being the unlucky one. It is illegal after all, so you can't complain!
Author Resource:->??More information on the legal aspects of P2P movie downloads and P2P games is available on Pete's site Online Free Movies where you will also find information on legally downloading movies and P2P Games for PSP and other games consoles.
Article From Content Workers
Source: http://www.contentworkers.com/Art/257095/1/P2P-Movie-Downloads-and-P2P-Games-The-Legal-Aspects.html
pink eye ray charles bruce lee dev the incredibles bonnie and clyde cortisol
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.