Is Limewire and other file sharing sites actually stealing and illegal?

Question

If so, then why have they not been sacked like Napster and others? Iv'e heard of court cases where Limewire has won lawsuits against them.

Answer 1

Generally speaking Limewire is a decentralized system with no central server, thus nothing to control. Limewire does not control the servers. It just provides the technology and the clients.

Also, Napster was found to be likely to be guilty of contributory violation of copyright, which basically means that while itself did not participate directly in the violation, it knows of the violation, knows its systems (which are fully under its control) are involved and did nothing about it. Limewire has no such system under its control.

And technically, it's the USERS who's violating the copyrights by allowing other people to copy copyrighted material. That's why RIAA are suing the users.

Answer 2

Limewire and other such sites are not illegal and they have it down in writing that you are not allowed to share copyrighted songs with other people. People do that anyway, and that is illegal, and they just caught one woman who downloads songs from there that are copyrighted. She said that she only does that to see if she likes the song and if she does, she goes out to buy the CD that the song is on. They made an example of her and she was fined 22,000 dollars, I believe. When people download copyrighted movies from sites like Peerflix, and if they get caught, there is a fine of 150,000 people some time.

There is a new place going into operation soon that is completely legal called http://www.SpiralFrog.com and there they will have advertisers and to keep using the site, you will have to watch a 90 second commercial every time you download and once a month, you have to watch a bunch of commercials. The place allowing their music to be copied that way is Universal Music, the largest music service in the world, and they said they don't care if you burn a million CDs and sell them on the street and the record producers won't care either because their material has been paid for by the advertisers. It will be up and running soon so go there to http://www.SpiralFrog.com and sign up with your e-mail address, and they will let you know when they are up and running.

Watch out though because if a person has a virus on their computer and you download a song from their folder there, you will get the virus. The site might be okay, but individuals with viruses on their computers is why I don't sign up myself.

Answer 3

Do you pay for them music from limewire? No! So it is stealing. But I think limewire could be a advantage for artists because if you dont know there song and listen to it and like ti your more likely to go to there concert. Concerts are where they make the big bucks!

Answer 4

i know limewire is illegal now and people are being sued for using it; i think many of the other programs are still being tried but will soon be illegal
they can't sue the companies becuase the companies dont actually steal the music and are not responsible for thier customers actions

Answer 5

Yeah, technically Limewire is not the one stealing. YOU, dear user, are. They are just providing you with a means to do-so, like a hardware store that sells crowbars.

Answer 6

Limewire is a site where music is shared. I don't think it is any different than, when we loan a friend or neighbor a Cassette tape, VCR tape, CD or DVD. to take home to record, listen, burn or view! This is just my personal opinion.

Answer 7

if you pay for the music, no. but it pretty much is stealing and it is illegal

Answer 8

Well, yes and no, because it all depends on what you are downloading, and how expensive it is worth if you buy the real thing.

Answer 9

Well kind of.