Everybody’s doing it, or so it seems. Just open your computer, connect to a P2P network, and you get movies from around the world, even the more recent ones, available for download. For free.

But the question remains whether it is legal or not.

For years, proponents of peer-to-peer networks have said that downloading bootleg copies of movies, music and other stuff is legal, because it’s just like letting a friend borrow your CD. The logic being imposed was that if a person buys a movie or CD, then that person gains ownership of the contents of the CD or DVD he or she purchased. If the buyer makes copies of them, it is within his or her rights to distribute it. Peer to peer networks only serve as the platform that makes the “borrowing” and “lending” possible.

Moreover, people reasoned that if it were patently illegal to download movies over a P2P site, then how come P2P networks like Kazaa, Limewire and Morpheus should stop operating. The mere fact that P2P networks continue to flourish and with new ones cropping up every week, just mean that it’s legal.

However, the fact remains that most of the files available of P2P networks and file-sharing Web sites are protected by copyright. Copyright laws make it clear that sharing and swapping protected movies and songs may be classified as theft. As such, there are rather steep fines and penalties associated with swapping and downloading movies on P2P sites. Moreover, music and film groups have been filing and winning lawsuits against individuals who have been caught swapping illegal files.

P2P networks remain in existence not because piracy is legal, but because they are able to shift the legal liabilities to the end user, while some are not even based in the United States, which makes them immune to persecution in the United States.

No related posts.