NETSH
Go Gators
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join:2002-11-06
Port Saint Lucie, FL
clubs:  |  Is it illegal to watch tv via torrents?
I currently use hulu for most of the shows i watch but wondering about the legal side of pulling down shows via torrents? |
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n1zuk
My wood is stacked
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join:2001-10-24
South Burlington, VT
 ·Future Nine Corpor..
·ViaTalk
 ·Comcast
| Short answer:
Completely legal to download almost anything. (Child porn and top secret classified documents are a few exceptions).
Illegal to upload any copyrighted material that you don't hold the copyright, or have been given express permission by the copyright holder to do so.
As P2P (torrents) also, by their design, will upload parts of the file you are downloading, you are breaking the law.
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r81984
Fair and Balanced
Premium
join:2001-11-14
St John'S, NL | reply to NETSH
It is not illegal if you already paid for it.
I have cable, if I miss a show I download it.
Torrents=free DVR
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tcope
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join:2003-05-07
Sandy, UT
·Comcast
1 edit | reply to NETSH
Both post could not be more incorrect. If I buy a book is it legal to steal another one? BTW- you have _not_ paid for the TV show if it was at one time piped into your home. You paid for cable service and that is what was delivered. You did _not_ pay any type of licensing fee to make or own a copy of the program. Does this mean someone is going to seek restitution? No. Just to make this last point more clear... a radio station has permission to air copywrited songs. It's not legal for people listening to put them on tape... but no one is going to enforce this. Same with PVRs.
It is 100% _illegal_ to download anything that is copywrited on bit torrent unless you have permission from the owner.
Illegal to download but not upload? Come on. So I can download a copy of GI Joe right now and it's perfectly legal? You've got to me kidding me. If I'm in possession of a copy and I did not pay a license fee for that copy (a backup is okay as long as it's not used when the original is available) then I'm committing a crime. |
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n1zuk
My wood is stacked
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join:2001-10-24
South Burlington, VT
·Future Nine Corpor..
·ViaTalk
·Comcast
| reply to NETSH
Ethical? No. Legal? As the copyright laws, which pertain to distribution, basically, yes, it is.
The person distributing the file is breaking the law. The receiving party isn't.
Should US Copyright laws make the person receiving the material also a lawbreaker? So far, the US Comgress hasn't decided to make it so.
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QuaffAPint
A Big Thanks To The Troops
join:2001-01-10
Downingtown, PA
clubs:
| reply to NETSH
The 'legality' of it aside, you can be sued, as per the notice here at the US Copyright Office...
»www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-d···html#p2p
...Now, they have generally targeted uploaders, because that's 'easy proof' that you have/had the file. But, it wasn't too long ago, that they went after a usenet provider, where you are doing more indirect uploading and downloading and not p2p.
For now, DVRs keep things nice, until they pass the blasted digital broadcast flag, that will not allow you to record a show and let you watch it at a more convenient time - which has been blocked many times, but will probably sneak through in some form eventually.
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caddyroger
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join:2001-06-11
clubs:
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| reply to NETSH
I was looking for a Law & Order episode. The only way I can get is to buy it. If you can view on the network web site you ok if it by a torrent site then it stealing. Think of the women that got a judgment against her for $2,000,000 for copying music cd off the internet. Down loading programs is the same.
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tcope
Premium
join:2003-05-07
Sandy, UT
·Comcast
| reply to n1zuk
said by n1zuk  :Ethical? No. Legal? As the copyright laws, which pertain to distribution, basically, yes, it is. The person distributing the file is breaking the law. The receiving party isn't. Should US Copyright laws make the person receiving the material also a lawbreaker? So far, the US Comgress hasn't decided to make it so. Sorry to say you are 50% incorrect. The person distributing the file is breaking the law but the person obtaining the file is probably guilty as well. It needs to be shown that they knew or should have known that they were obtaining an illegal file but in todays world, this is not difficult to do. Remember the RIAA going after the mother who's kids had illegal songs on her computer? She did claim she was computer illiterate (defense being that she did not know about the illegal files on her computer) but she still ended up settling before a court ruled.
I think you are confused because we usually hear about copy write owners going after that party distributing the files. There are two reason's for this... 1) they are a much easier target as they are easy to find and 2) it's not practical to go after all the small people downloading from them when you can seek recovery from deep pockets and turn off the leak at the source. The reason the parties who store the files are committing an illegal act is in that they are _in possession of unlicensed material_... not only because they are allowing people to download it.
Put a DVD in your player and read the FBI warning.
"The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copywrited work is illegal"
If you download it... you are making a reproduction.
»money.cnn.com/2004/12/14/news/fo···ndex.htm |
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psafux
Got Grep?
VIP
join:2005-11-10 | reply to NETSH
if the shows creator has authorized it, its legal.
if not, no.
easy. next?
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r81984
Fair and Balanced
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join:2001-11-14
St John'S, NL
·magicjack.com
·Cox HSI
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 ·AT&T Midwest
| reply to tcope
said by tcope :Both post could not be more incorrect. If I buy a book is it legal to steal another one? BTW- you have _not_ paid for the TV show if it was at one time piped into your home. You paid for cable service and that is what was delivered. You did _not_ pay any type of licensing fee to make or own a copy of the program. Does this mean someone is going to seek restitution? No. Just to make this last point more clear... a radio station has permission to air copywrited songs. It's not legal for people listening to put them on tape... but no one is going to enforce this. Same with PVRs. It is 100% _illegal_ to download anything that is copywrited on bit torrent unless you have permission from the owner. Illegal to download but not upload? Come on. So I can download a copy of GI Joe right now and it's perfectly legal? You've got to me kidding me. If I'm in possession of a copy and I did not pay a license fee for that copy (a backup is okay as long as it's not used when the original is available) then I'm committing a crime. Steal? WTF
So a DVR is theft?
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John Galt
Forward, March
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join:2004-09-30
Happy Camp
·CenturyLink
| reply to NETSH
You might also run into issues with the TOS of your ISP.
Torrents can initiate 1,000s of connections, and this might interfere with the network your ISP uses.
Copyright issues aside, this connection issue is best addressed by limiting the number of client connections to a "reasonable number". This number will vary from ISP to ISP.
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tcope
Premium
join:2003-05-07
Sandy, UT
·Comcast
| reply to r81984
said by r81984 :Steal? WTF So a DVR is theft? I don't know about theft but it's a copywrite violation. Keep in mind I akin it to taping off the radio. No one is going to pursue the violation as it's not worth it. Same thing with DVR's.
I was watching a show where the audience was asking one of the heads of Sony question (this was years ago). One person asked where Sony was going when it enforced it's copywrite protections yet manufactured and sold DVRs. Sony person said that was a good question and something Sony would need to think about.  Yeah, as long as Sony makes money, they don't care. |
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Xioden
join:2008-06-10
Monticello, NY
| said by tcope :said by r81984 :Steal? WTF So a DVR is theft? I don't know about theft but it's a copywrite violation. Keep in mind I akin it to taping off the radio. No one is going to pursue the violation as it's not worth it. Same thing with DVR's. Taping off of the radio, so long it is for personal usage falls under fair-use and thus isn't a copyright violation. It's also the reason we pay royalties for various recording devices and media. Read up on the audio home recording act. |
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Xioden
join:2008-06-10
Monticello, NY
| reply to caddyroger
said by caddyroger :I was looking for a Law & Order episode. The only way I can get is to buy it. If you can view on the network web site you ok if it by a torrent site then it stealing. Think of the women that got a judgment against her for $2,000,000 for copying music cd off the internet. Down loading programs is the same. It wasn't solely for downloading those 24 songs, but also for making them available and sharing them with others. |
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Xioden
join:2008-06-10
Monticello, NY
| reply to tcope
One could make the argument that both reproduction and distribution are being done by whoever happens to be uploading since the data being transfered to whoever is downloading is already a copy of the original  |
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dibbb
join:2003-09-19
·Time Warner VOIP
| reply to r81984
said by r81984 :It is not illegal if you already paid for it. I have cable, if I miss a show I download it. Torrents=free DVR So if you go to a movie theater and pay to see a movie, you can then legally bittorent it to your PC to watch again?
Cool, I didn't know that. Do you need to keep your ticket stub to prove you paid for the movie or how does that work?
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LittlePiggie
Premium
join:2009-09-11
1 edit | reply to NETSH
»www.helpdesk.ilstu.edu/kb/index.···bid=1159
It's illegal without permission.
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r81984
Fair and Balanced
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join:2001-11-14
St John'S, NL
·magicjack.com
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| reply to dibbb
said by dibbb :So if you go to a movie theater and pay to see a movie, you can then legally bittorent it to your PC to watch again? Cool, I didn't know that. Do you need to keep your ticket stub to prove you paid for the movie or how does that work? I did not know you could use a DVR in the movie theater.
If I download a movie that is in theaters I would be breaking the law. If I own a DVD of a movie that is scratched so I download a replacement to burn it I would not be breaking the law since I already owned it. If I distribute the movie to people who don't own it then I am breaking the law.
If I download the simpsons episode I missed last night, essentially using torrents as a cheap DVR then I am no more guilty of breaking the law than any DVR user is.
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Democrats are not Socialists any more than Republicans are. |
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LeeBee
It's Dark Out There
join:2003-06-18
Swissieland
·Cablecom Switzerland
| It is not illegal to download for personal consumption in Switzerland; uploading is understood as breach of copyright as you're distributing - but no precedent exists here yet to suggest whether that means 1:1 ratio must be hit.
I too use torrents rather than programming my STB.
Time will likely see this change but it seems the pressure is on the indexing sites like TPB and no longer on the consumer.
Peerguardian is my friend - to make any persecution harder, of course. |
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dibbb
join:2003-09-19
·Time Warner VOIP
| reply to r81984
I really don't care, but just to let you know, your logic is a little flawed.
So when the "bittorent police" come to your door, would you show them which cable package you have to prove you could have watched the show but just missed it?
And I'm not arguing whether or not downloading TV shows, movies, and music should or should not be legal, I'm just telling you it's not legal. Now will you go to hell and jail for doing it?
Probably not, but it's a fact it is illegal, they don't care if you *could* have watched it on cable but just missed it.
I've downloaded plenty of stuff myself, so I'm not trying to condemn you, just letting you know.
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Certified Medisoft reseller. |
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