Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaggy
Many agree, but is it really true? Uploading a copy of a book without authorization is clearly illegal. I don't ascribe to the "information must be free" thing, but from a purely legal standpoint, whether downloading is actually illegal or not is a very cloudy question. It is not direct infringement, according to US law. It *may* be indirect infringement, but then you start getting into a whole ugly nest of things like intent... etc.
A downloader might be partly responsible for inducing an uploader to commit infringement, but they have not committed infringement themselves. I don't think anybody has ever been taken to court for downloading. It's always been for uploading without authorization, which is definitely illegal (assuming no fair use).
|
IIRC the Electronic Frontier Foundation actually believes that downloading is illegal. I agree it has generally never been tested in court, but that doesn't mean a judge would not find it to be infringement. I suspect that the biggest reason that it has never been tested is that most downloaders, since they use the torrents, are also uploaders and uploading is a clearer issue (and more profitable since people tend to download a given work once, but upload many times). And its too easy to get bad publicity by going after simple downloaders.
To put things in simple terms, by downloading an illegal copy, you are in fact making (or at least causing to be made) a new illegal copy on your hard drive.
In any case, I am not particularly interested rehashing that argument over again. I am more interested in the case of making your digital copy from a library book while you own your own paper copy.
--
Bill