file sharing

[karinascloud9]

What is the name of your state? New York

My friend received the following message while using Kazaa Media Desktop, a popular file sharing program:

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT WARNING:
It appears that you are offering copyrighted music to others from your computer. Distributing or downloading copyrighted music on the Internet without permission from the copyright owner is ILLEGAL. It hurts songwriters who create and musicians who perform the music you love, and all the other people who bring you music.

When you break the law, you risk legal penalties. There is a simple way to avoid that risk: DON'T STEAL MUSIC, either by offering it to others to copy or downloading it on a "file-sharing" system like this.

When you offer music on these systems, you are not anonymous and you can easily be identified. You also may have unlocked and exposed your computer and your private files to anyone on the Internet. Don't take these chances. Disable the share feature or uninstall your "file-sharing" software. For more information on how, go to http://www.musicunited.net/5_takeoff.html.

This warning comes from artists, songwriters, musicians, music publishers, record labels and hundreds of thousands of people who work at creating and distributing the music you enjoy. We are unable to receive direct replies to this message. For more information about this Copyright Warning, go to www.musicunited.net.


Now, I always thought that, so long as you weren't receiving money, sharing multimedia (movies, music) and even distributing copies of that material, was perfectly legal. Am I wrong?

 

[divgradcurl]

Yes, you are wrong. Amongst the rights that copyright gives you are the right to control reproduction and distribution of materials protected by the copyright. Check out A&M Records v. Napster for a more thorough description. In addition, the RIAA has recently sued (successfully) Verizon for access to records so that they could track down and sue 2 people accused of downloading more than 600 songs, and the RIAA just settled with a couple of kids running file-sharing networks on their college campuses.

Since copyright infringement carries both Civil and Criminal penalties (i.e., jail time), share files at your own risk!

 

[racer72]

It has been reported that a group of copyright holders and music licensing companies (ASCAP and BMI) have been collecting information on those using Kazaa and other P2P software. They are planning a major legal action against those making and offering the software and some of the biggest users of this software. I have received the same message and I don't download music using Kazaa, I have found it is a fast and reliable way to transfer information betweeen computers I use. I would it will be the same type of action taken against Napster a few years ago.