Quote:
Originally Posted by GaylaM
... will I receive one of those e-mail notice things about copyrighted material?
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Nobody knows or cares what you download, unless you install a Peer To Peer Program and while downloading a torrent you share it with 5000 of your closest friends around the word. How would a copyright owner find out you have a copy on your harddisk or on your reader?
In most jurisdictions you do not break any laws just by downloading something in good faith, unless it is child pornography, or plans for your country military bases or that kind of stuff. It would be different if you set out to seek material you know is copyrighted and for which you do not have permission to copy for your own use. But somebody would have to prove that you did not download it in good faith - believing you are not doing something wrong.
When you browse the net you download hundreds of files to your computer (it is called browser cache). How are you supposed to know if any of those are copyrighted? What if the photo you have seen on the CNN site this morning (and that sits in your browser cache at the moment) was published without the permission of the author? How are you supposed to know?
If it says that the book in public domain in Canada, or wherever, it doesn't mean it is NOT public domain where you live.