Is LimeWire illigal or legal?

Question

Proof needed. Every1 says its legal and sum say illigal... What is it?

Answer 1

The software itself is legal. It's the act of downloading copyrighted works that is illegal.

Answer 2

Limewire and other file sharing software is legal. Using it to upload or download copyright protected media - music, videos, images, software - without the copyright holder's consent is illegal because it is theft.

Here are more opinions and tips:


Limewire says its legal because technically its just a "file sharing" service and it is not held responsible for the files that are downloaded onto the system. Only the users are responsible. That's why when you download songs from Limewire, it's legal for them, but NOT for you.

If you are not paying some sort of fee to download, it is illegal.
Don't be fooled by the fee you pay to use the pro version of Limewire. The artists of the songs you download don't get a penny of that! ("LimeWire offers two versions of the software: LimeWire Basic which is free of charge; the other is LimeWire PRO which costs a small fee, features faster download speeds and better search results, including up to 6 months of free updates and customer support via email.")

Even if you download a coyrighted song for your own personal use, it's still illegal. Perhaps one could skate around the issue if they already own a legal copy on a CD, but then why download it if that's the case. Any fees paid to Limewire are for purchasing the software and that's it.

Lime Wire is not illegal software. All it is is file sharring. However many people abuse this by sharing songs without the copyright. For example if you have produced a song, then share it on Limewire, anyone else can legaly have it for free. But when you haven't made it, but an artist has, who has copyright on that song (which they all do) downloading that song without permission from the producer, it is totaly illegal.

Answer 3

I like to say its illegal, but more likely, its "Nearly Illegal", meaning that it should be, but isn't, but is close to being so. Limewire gives you access to stuff that you should not have access to, stuff that should not be on the web. It takes stuff from every user, and allows it to be accessed by every user. You can bypass having to pay for a song by downloading it there. According to the a wiki article, "Peer-to-peer technologies are rarely considered in and of themselves to be illegal. However a frequent use of many peer-to-peer technologies is file sharing of copyright materials and this is illegal in most countries, unless a license has been granted for the exchanged files, which permits redistribution (such as GPL or GFDL), or if exchanged materials have entered the public domain."

A lawsuit went out against the Limewire program, but is still to be determined. The is a hotly debated issue, with many people on both sides of it.

My recommendation is this: Don't trust the program. People have committed identity theft through it, and have infringed copyrights. You could very well give up very sensitive information to a complete stranger.

Answer 4

Limewire itself is legal.
Downloading copyrighted content is not.
The primary concern is uploading, which limewire does by default to every downloaded item. Uploading copyrighted content is also illegal.

If you disable uploading, you shouldn't need to have any concerns, but this is not a guarantee that you won't get caught/sued.

If you'd like to stay legal, then be careful what you download, which is difficult to maintain with Limewire.

Look into torrents. It's much easier to maintain a legal status than with limewire, but can be a bit tricky to use. The content is usually of a higher quality, as well.

Answer 5

LimeWire is a software program that allows people to share recorded media. The concept itself is legal. However, there are two types of recorded media. Some things are considered public domain and can be distributed freely. Most modern music, and movies have copyright protection which makes them illegal to distribute without the permission of the owners.

Answer 6

You'd probably be more interested in whether you're going to be prosecuted for it. Right now RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) is only really pursuing people who make files available to others, because that is MUCH easier to track that people who download files to others.

There is a way to turn off sharing in LimeWire so that the files on your computer aren't available to other LimeWire users. If you do that, it's not easy for you to be tracked and you probably won't risk being prosecuted, at least in the near future.

Answer 7

The Limewire software itself is not illegal - that is why the site is still up and why you can still download it. However - if you donwload a song from the program and you do not pay copyright on it then that is illegal. Songs from the 1950's or before are legal to download because their copyright has expired. Anything from after that is illegal to download. However - you are all going to do it anyway so this just makes you aware!

Answer 8

It's not really legal, that's why they have CDs and stuff, but before you download the software it asks you if you plan to use it to download copyrighted material (most of the files are) so It's not their problem if something were to arise. Try MP3rocket.com. Also, select stop sharing when you download a file so other people can't download your songs. That is how they find out you download songs, by how many people download from you.

Answer 9

It's legal. It's a file sharing program. It's only illegal if you download music. Read the copyright info at the bottom of the page.

Answer 10

LimeWire is legal, because all it is is P2P software designed to exchange files. It is how people use it that is illegal, e.g. downloading programs, pirated music and movies, and more. The software itself is legal though as its original intentions were to share (non-copyrighted) material between users.

Answer 11

Limewire itself isn't illegal but depending on what you download could be illegal. If you download music or movies without it having an authenticated license it would be illegal. Limewire is a p2p program making it intended to publishing your own music or videos.