Quote:
Originally Posted by eschwartz
Even in the United States and the UK, I don't believe a court would find someone guilty if it is conceivable that the downloader in question thought the download was in the public domain.
It's probably technically illegal, but no one would ever get punished for it.  |
"A court wouldn't bother about it" is not the same thing as "the law does not make it your responsibility to check", however. Yes, I'm well aware that there are a few countries in which personal downloading of pirated material is legal.
There have been numerous instances of people being prosecuted for personal downloads of pirated material. Movie studios in particular are pretty enthusiastic about going after downloaders.