Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[jeffguroo]

qwerty7uiop

[cntryboi347]

[Gruszka]

Downloading games, films, music is crime! But If I don't have money to buy new game, I'll download it for internet. Yes' I know. I'm thief.

[eda]

i use dowloading proggrammes(limewire)
nearly everyone does this.i know it is not good but i dont feel guilty either:P besides i am a student and i dont have enough money to buy all films,CDs i want.i try to buy my "mostly" loved ones.but for others....i am sorry
but i do use it for my personel enjoyment.i dont copy them or sell them
greets nice topic jeffguroo


PS :cntryboi347,you buy "all" those sort of thing with your money right? dont you even rent or borrow anything?
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invasion is so succexy so succexy.

[ebb]

1. Not all file sharing and downloading is necessarily illegal. Some files may be out of copyright, or the owner may have consented to free distribution ("shareware" or "freeware"). Some musical groups have allowed this, believing that the free marketing serves them well, and betting they can make up the "loss" on the other end.

2. Many are copyrighted and available from the owner for a fee. Downloading these without paying is (with a few exceptions -- the law is replete with exceptions, always) stealing, plain and simple.

That you don't have the money to pay the fee (or, more accurately, prefer to use your money elsewhere ) -- so what? You may not have the money to buy a car either -- and you may need one badly-- so, it's OK to steal one?? Just because someone leaves the keys in the ignition (or better: can't remove them from the ignition because of a technical problem with the car, which requires the keys be left in) isn't a license to steal.


3. Absence of copyright notice or warning does not equal absence of copyright. In fact, countries adhering to the Berne Convention (on copyright) are affirmatively prohibited from requiring copyright notice as a condition of copyright protection. All industrialized countries adhere to Berne -- the US being one of the late-comers.

4. Even if material is copyrighted, and even if the author does not give permission, some types of downloading may be permissible even over the owner's objection. The copyright doctrine of "fair use" is quite intricate. You may be familiar with Google's project of downloading zillions of copyrighted works -- this is very controversial and the subject of some interesting lawsuits. I personally think Google's plan is "fair" under US copyright law but many other knowledgeable intellectual property lawyers would disagree. Chacun a son gout.

5. Systematic downloading of copyrighted files for commercial redistribution is in all probability criminal, as well as a civil wrong against the owner. The software and music industries have worked on criminal prosecutions here, especially against some young people who think it's cool, on the theory that the sword always looks more formidable with a little blood on it.

Heavy-duty "poor student" users are also good targets here.. after all, the more innocent the blood, the more formidable will the sword appear to later prospective free-riders. And these cases make good publicity, which is the essence of deterrence anyway.
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"This is insolence up with which I will not put." Winston Churchill, upon reading a newspaper�s criticism of his having ended a sentence with a preposition.

"You can get more with a kind word and a gun, than with just a kind word." Al Capone.

[Gruszka]

Thera are also games to download for interent for free. They called 'abandware'. There are old but very good games.