Quote:
Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom
I'm sure all the people who were prosecuted for illegally downloading music will be happy to hear that.  |
The problem with most p2p protocols (from the point of view of Copyright Infringer ;-) ) is, that when you are downloading the file, you are also automatically uploading the parts of the file you have already downloaded. This is the foundation of the p2p principle. So when I am downloading the newest Debian, or Mint Linux, or some very obscure Slax modification from a torrent, I am also contributing my outgoing bandwidth for other downloaders. This way the Kororaa Linux Distribution author does not have to purchase lots of expensive bandwidth out of his own pocket to spread his distro. p2p network works like a pyramid scheme - the more people are downloading the more resources are available.
Many people that use p2p networks, with the use of various *torrent programs, or the likes of KaZaA. Gnutella, limewire often do not understand what they are doing. So - a not-very-well-informed user downloads a song, listens to it once and then forgets [s]he has it, or even that there is some p2p client installed on the machine. Many of those programs are by default configured in such a way that they are started in background every time an operating system starts. And once they are started they automatically share everything you have ever downloaded - unless, of course, you remove the freshly downloaded file from the "\Program Files\uTorrent\Downloaded" (or whatever) directory immediately after downloading.
Downloading from Rapidshare is different. This is not p2p network. You are not uploading anything. So in many countries you are legally "clear" when you download something copyrighted from Rapidshare, file.it, megaupload, plunder, [insert you favourite site here].