Do you think file sharing is a crime?

Hi Jacruz! I'm one of those who love downloading files from torrent especially movies and dramas. I direct download songs. I rarely download games, software and others. I used to think it's wrong or a crime since it's like piracy. I was even afraid of seeding the files I downloaded because I thought people may track it to my computer and I might get into trouble. But then, if this was a crime, why aren't authorities doing something about it? I mean, I have not heard of people getting arrested because they share movies by uploading it to torrent sites. I don't think it's a crime but it will be a crime if someone who downloaded it reproduce copies of it in dvds or vcds and then sell it. That would be piracy. If you download it for personal use, I don't think it's a crime.

Yeah it is a crime but also giving people from poor countries a small salary so that they can never afford buying the original software,or a movie or the music they like it`s a bigger crime.Paying a programmer from India with 10% of what you pay someone in US is a bigger crime. I think it`s not a crime to download everything you need if you can`t afford to buy these things.

hi jacruz I have downloaded music like mozart, beethoven and bach but these were legal sites and I never shared my music with anyone. I think file sharing is definitely wrong a nd illegal but before I ever downloaded anything I questioned the site and found it was legat and above board.to download illegaly is foolish as it can be and is tracked, its not that hard to track down people on the web.

"what people don't know is that it's wrong." Well that's really just your opinion isn't it? It may be a crime, as in illegal, but I don't really see much of a problem with it. In fact, there has been a lot of music that I wouldn't have been able to listen to otherwise and listening for free is the way that I got into the band which influenced me to buy other cds in the future and attend their concerts, which makes them more money. No, I do not believe that file sharing is immoral. Art is meant to be shared and I think all the great artists know this.

I don't think it matters what I, or anyone else thinks. Stealing is stealing, whether I like it or not. Sure I'd love to have everything free. But oddly, if I'm the one making stuff, I'm really ticked if someone steals my hard work, and refuses to pay for it. Funny that.

Well technically it is in some countries, if I'm not mistake. Of course, one could argue that there are far worse crimes on the Internet that are being committed each day, than copyright infringement. Crimes that do in fact deserve a little more attention. Then again, the same problem is with the smaller crimes as with the larger crimes. Identity theft is a problem, people plotting a lot of different things. Plus some might argue that the real crime is some of the outrageous prices being offered to legally purchase them. Of course one may wonder if they're really losing all that much money. I think a lot of the people out there are downloading said files because they are available. I doubt they would be interested in the material offered if it wasn't available online. Granted some might purchase if its not available but you can argue what people will and will not buy until you're blue in the face. Yet legally speaking to download such things are crimes.

Yes it is crime. Thats why lots of such websites are closed down.

I guess that depends on whether or not there are any laws or regulations stating that it is a crime. If someone creates a file whether it be music or something else and puts it on the internet and states that anyone can use the file as often as they like and however they choose, for free, then I see nothing wrong with it. But, some people make their living by creating music, writing books, drawing and painting and so on. When you get online and download those files, whatever they may be, and don't pay for it then it's the same as stealing. It doesn't matter if you get those files from a site that makes it all seem innocent and legit. It's still wrong. Put yourself in their shoes for a moment. And I'm sure you've thought about it because you've stated in your discussion that it is wrong. But, bear with me for a moment while I make my point. Imagine if you were a songwriter, or painter, or wrote novels. And you did this for a living. Would you want people to get online and steal your work regardless of how well they might justify doing so? Of course not. Now, you might decide to give some of your work away for free and you'd certainly have the right to do so. But, if you gave it all away for free you wouldn't survive. It's no different if, for example, you mowed someone's yard and did all that you said you would do and that they expected you to do and in turn they refused to pay you. They would be stealing your services. Everything costs money and people produce products and provide services to make money to purchase the things they need and want. Taking something that doesn't belong to you, without paying for it or earning it in some way is stealing. And it's wrong whether it's stated to be a crime or not. Unless, of course, if it is a gift.

Sometimes it's not a crime to share stuff that's creative commons like jamendo tracks, freeware, shareware, and free android applications for others to download. Opensource software with a free gpl license is my favorite to do so. It's free and you can give it away on free filesharing sites.

its surely a crime. as you are downloading copyright content. The software creator companies like m'soft or any other never allows to download their products over torrents or file sharing services. They provide downloads right from there websites only which makes them genuine.

It depends on the type of files people used. if they share freeware files, then it is not. But usually people share license softwares. So it is crime because company spend million of dollars in developing but people never pay for what they've got. That's why it's sometimes depressing to become developers.

Yes it could be a crime because they stealing the copyright of someones files plus the company lose huge amount of money because of that.

As what the previous mylotter said...By law it's a yes but why don't they track all those who provide sites for free downloading and do punish them instead for us users who just want to have a free access of everything in the internet. To think that for us internet users we paid our providers for accessing the net and it doesn't matter it it's prepaid or postpaid.

It is crime on copyright really if you get caught. The problem with torrent is it has no particular website or permanent address to be sue. That is why it is very difficult for the law to be enforced. So better not to get caught.

By laws? Yes.. But for IT wizards it should be free, so they do it for us free. I used to it sometimes. Download for free is everywhere.

i think nobody owns the internet is like saying no body owns water, or nobody owns electricity.... meaning, if you do file sharing download, i think it doesn't matter because there is actually no set of password to forbids us, if there is, then by allowing us to access it by providing us password, therefore, it is still legal to download files.... if it is a crime, then all of the internet users (95 percent) will be locked up in jail....

Well, if you're trying to go against the copyright law then pretty much you are committing a crime but it's hard to pass on a free download. It's kind sad how many businesses are bankrupt because of the internet and how people can just rip files from a DVD or CD and drop it off on the internet. Yes, I do download these free files because console games are expensive and I can't find the old games out in the shops so I go online to download these games and burn them. Because of these sites, DVD rent stores are running out of business. But it was going to happen eventually because of how much the internet has transformed our lives.