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Originally Posted by STUD100
copy over from hwz
This is for those guys who download stuff...and are concerned about the implications of being caught downloading illegal stuff.
1. Your ISPs are NOT the ones doing the 'scanning'. Its the MPAA, RIAA, BSA and their affiliated agents, eg. BayTSP,NetPD, that are sneaking around popular p2p networks harvesting the IP addresses of copyright infringers. After obtaining this list of IP addresses, they send a notice to the respective ISPs to inform them of the infringement. This is when a warning letter would come flying into your inbox from your ISP.
2. Installing a firewall, eg. Zonealarm, Sygate, would not prevent the companies from 'scanning' your PC. That's because they don't actually 'scan' your computer. Instead, they CONNECT to you through the p2p application you use, thus being able to get your IP address as well as to obtain hard evidence that you are sharing illegal files. They are not able to 'scan' your harddisk for illegal media content - that's hacking.
3. There exists programs out there that supposingly blocks a frequently updated list of known IP addresses belonging to the organisations mentioned above, eg. PeerGuardian, ProtoWall. The program blocks any connection attempts from them, and prevents any data exchange, effectively causing them to lack evidence of any file-sharing. Some people swear by them, others think they are useless and just a resource-hog. If it gives you the peace of mind you need, go ahead and use it. Be safe, not sorry.
4. The bill recently announced in Singapore to slap users caught sharing illegal files with a heavy fine and/or jail sentence is an effort taken by the government to curb illegal file-sharing here. IF it gets passed in parliament, it doesn't make your chance of getting caught any higher. It simply means when you get caught, you are liable to be punished according to the guidelines stated - up to a fine of $20,000 and/or 6 months jail. The companies behind all these ruckus have actively been persecuting and bringing illegal file-sharers in other countries to court since serveral months ago. At the same time, notices were also constantly being served to ISPs around the world not under their legislation. The bill being passed here simply means they can take action against you legally, IF you are caught.
UPDATE: The law has been passed and will take effect from 1st Jan 2005. It has been mentioned that they are not out to target the average home users that download a few illegal files for their own use. Their main targets are those people who distribute illegal files on a massive scale or done for a profit. However, it was not specified how much downloading was considered too much and where the line would be drawn. This was done on purpose to prevent people from working around the system. This part is rather tricky - adopting a wait-and-see attitude would be the best bet.
5. P2P History: Why is Kazaa(FastTrack Network) still running since it's illegal to download from there? Why was Napster shut down then?
Downloading from Kazaa is not illegal, provided the content is public domain and the creators have given explicit permission to distribute it freely. The creators of Kazaa got sued before, but won the lawsuit on the basis that the program in itself was not illegal. Rather, it's the contents that ple shared that was illegal - they cannot be held responsible for it, since there were no centralised server and they couldn't control what was being shared. The old Napster made use of a centralised server, thus they had to be responsible for the traffic that went thru it. RIAA managed to win a lawsuit against it and thus shut the whole network down.
6. Why are there so many fake files and virus-infected files on Kazaa(FastTrack Network)?
The content owners, especially from the music industry, had this wonderful idea of detering users off the network by flooding the network with fake renamed files, blank videos, mp3s with weird sounds, endless loops etc. They employed third party companies to connected hundreds of PCs sharing such files to the network, hoping to stifle out the real(illegal) files, thus frustrating users, and hoping they would leave the network. It worked for a while, til file hashing was born - links when clicked automatically queued the alleged verified real file in the relevant p2p program. Sites with Kazaa/Ed2k hashes popped up rapidly, but were eventually brought down by the MPAA/RIAA, similar to what they did recently to various torrent sites.
7. All course of action begins from the content owners, not from your ISPs, your government, or the local police force. Once the copyright owners have obtained the evidence to incriminate the user, their legal department would contact the law enforcement agencies to take action. That's when your local police would probably come by to your home, or invite you for a cup of tea at their office. Previously, they couldn't do much except to take you to civil court, which was tedious and costly, or sending you a warning thru your ISP. The revised IP laws give them the power to slap you hard with possible heavy fines and/or jail sentence, giving them a new lease of power over the situation.
8. Are animes, TV series and MTVs legal to download and share?
Animes, TV series, and MTVs are all original creations of their respective studios. All original works have copyrights, thus making them illegal to download, unless otherwise given explicit permission by their creators.
Animes (FanSubs): As far the the community is concerned, animes are technically illegal, whether licensed or not in your country. Distributors can choose to bring offenders to court if they want to, but it seems none of them have ever done so, probably due to the fact that fansubbing actually brings poplularity to the animes outside of Japan. Some distributors have reportedly requested unlicensed animes to be taken off certain anime BT sites, but that's as far as they went in pursuing the issue. Licensed animes are without a doubt illegal, and the license holder can take legal action against infringers in the said country. Dun take this for granted though - as mentioned earlier, they are illegal afterall.
TV series/MTVs: Similarly, these are technically illegal as well. But unlike animes, there have been considerably more reports of sites/users receiving legal threats from studios who produced them, especially those originating from the US. Thread with caution.
Disclaimer: This purpose of this thread is to educate users and to clarify the rumours that some people have come to believe as fact. It is in no way an encouragement or assurance for illegal file-sharers, nor does it advocates illegal file-sharing. If you have queries, or have anything to add, please feel free to do so. I'll update this thread whenever possible, for the sake of all users.
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