Can you be sued when you are not sharing

[PuNiShErKiLl666]

Well this is probly a dumb question to ask that has been asked many of times.. but me and my friend are debating. I say that you dont get sued if you dont share files and he says that you do get sued anyway. So anyone wana prove one of us wrong?

[rainbowdemon]

Well this is probly a dumb question to ask that has been asked many of times.. but me and my friend are debating. I say that you dont get sued if you dont share files and he says that you do get sued anyway. So anyone wana prove one of us wrong?
I keep hearing that too. But if nobody shares, p2p dies.

[aqlo]

You can get sued for lookin at somebody funny.

There's no judicial precedent yet for getting sued for downloading copyrighted material, it appears to be indisputably legal.

So was drinking though, until Prohibition.

[PuNiShErKiLl666]

Yes I use Ares to I share most of my files cause I really like that network and i'm friends with the developer (really nice guy) so in some ways the Ares network is good because it is small lol

[rainbowdemon]

Looks like this is turning into an Ares thread. But that's cool. It's a good prog. I use it too, once in a while.

[PuNiShErKiLl666]

Ya well Ares is safe (Right now) lol but I do use ComCast High Speed.. I kinda gotta behave myself :)

[phalkon30]

Well, if you download on a network like emule, you're not safe. It uses partial file sharing, and as I found out you CAN get caught for uploading those partial files.

I guess you could argue that I was uploading in that situation, not just downloading though...

[jonnymnemonic]

How about you simply turn the question back on him. Ask him to name even one person who has ever been sued solely for *downloading* (not sharing), and to supply the URLs that document the case. Since there has been no such case, he won't be able to do it. ;)

[aqlo]

Thanks Jonny :gj

[Sylence]

[COLOR=DarkRed][FONT=Arial]da answer is no if ur not share'in the files in a p2p program the lamers (riaa) cant pull up ur ip for that file an track u thru ur isp which to think about it ...........there breaking the same laws .... by downloading the files off of other peoples pc's so why dont the R.I.A.A. just take its self to court lmao other wise how do they know that the files are really what they are with all the fakes people put up fordownload when sum thing new comes out **meanin i couls record myself for 3mins on da mic an turn that into a mp3 an throw it up for download :P

[AuronFFX]

Short answer no. Long answer maybee. Basically the riaa is probably not gonna sue you for downloading. They are only going after the people uploading the data. There are many analogys for why downloading is not prosecutable. My favorite is if someone is standing on a street corner and yelling out illegall us secret info. And you hear it and go closer and listen, the police couldnt come and bust your ass just for listning.

The same should and probably will hold true for downloading. If someone decieds to break the law and upload somthing to p2p that they are not supposed to they should be the ones to blame in court.

However it could get a bit tricky because in many cases you actually seek out the person with the information and copy it. But even in that case the person who is sharing is making the file public. And therefore the file is in public domain. The fact that the person putting it there does not have authorization does not make a difference. It is still public information and you have a right to download it and do with it what you want.

The riaa could try to take it to court but if they were to loose it would destroy them.