Downloading copyrighted without torrent

You could face penalties like fines and you could be sued by the copyright holder. If you use peer-to-peer software to download music, movies, or software, you may also be sharing those files to others. Whether you realize it or not, P2P software may continue running in the background and may be sharing files or folders on your computer. Each time someone downloads those files from you, you are violating the copyright.

Copyright infringement is against the law regardless of whether you are downloading or sharing copyrighted files without permission. P2P software can also be a gateway for viruses, spyware, and other malware. When you install a peer-to-peer application, it may silently install malware onto your computer. When you download files from a file sharing network like BItTorrent, the files could be malware disguised as songs or movies.

Recently, these lawsuits have been brought by law firms who contract with copyright holders. You should find an attorney and meet to discuss your case. Generally, many people choose to settle, particularly when they know they are guilty. Random Article. Home Random Terms of Use. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. By using our site, you agree to our cookie policy.

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Part 1. Read the allegations against you. You may be unaware that you've done anything wrong. In fact, you won't know that someone believes you have illegally downloaded material until you receive a legal document.

You should read this document closely. Criminal complaint. The government can bring criminal charges for copyright violations. If you are charged, you will probably be arrested and served with a criminal complaint.

However, criminal prosecutions are rare. Demand letter. The attorney demands that you stop downloading copyrighted work. The attorney also suggest settlement and typically threatens to sue if you don't. Civil complaint. Some people might immediately sue you and skip the demand letter.

Analyze any demand letter closely. You probably will receive a demand letter. You should look at it closely because it contains important information. This information will help you plan your defense. Pay attention to the following: Who sent you the letter? If you received it from a law firm, then the lawyer knows your identity and can sue you in court.

However, if your Internet Service Provider ISP sent you the letter, then the law firm doesn't yet know who you are and can't typically sue you. Instead, the law firm has to send a subpoena to the ISP requesting that they turn over your name. Are other people being sued? Filing these kinds of lawsuits has become big business for some law firms.

Once you receive the demand letter, you should check online to see if others have been sued for downloading the same files. If so, then the law firm might not be very aggressive in coming after you since you are one of thousands. Who is the law firm? Copyright Group. Part of the strategy for these law firms is to scare you into thinking you might go to jail for downloading files. However, only the government can put you in prison, and if the government is prosecuting you then you probably will already be arrested.

What are the deadlines? The letter should tell you when an ISP will turn over your identifying information. The letter may also give you a deadline for negotiation. Identify your possible punishment. Piracy is a serious problem around the world, and you face severe consequences if a court finds that you are responsible. For example, a court could order the following, depending on whether the case is criminal or civil: Jail time for criminal charges.

Jail is pretty rare, but the U. You might have to pay fees in the place of jail time or in addition to jail time. Department of Justice Go to source Statutory damages. Actual damages. However, the law allows them to seek actual damages if they can prove them. Avoid settling immediately. You might feel bullied into settling in order to make the case go away. Instead, you should meet with an attorney and discuss your case. You may have a valid defense to the charge.

Admittedly, you might ultimately settle. However, you shouldn't settle right off the bat because you are scared. Meet with a lawyer. You need to see a lawyer immediately, regardless of whether you are being sued for criminal or civil copyright violations. The Electronic Frontier Foundation maintains a list of attorneys, organized by the state where they practice. If you can't afford an attorney, then look for a pro bono attorney. Many law schools have volunteered time to help in these kinds of lawsuits.

Should you be prosecuted for criminal piracy, then you will need a criminal defense lawyer. You can find one by contacting your local or state bar association and asking for a referral. Keep your identity secret, if possible. You might receive a demand letter from your ISP and not from a lawyer directly.

This happened because the copyright holder knows your ISP address but doesn't yet know your name. Your ISP also has not turned over your name—and might not, unless ordered to do so by a court. You should maintain your anonymity because copyright holders cannot sue ISP addresses. Instead, they need to sue people. As long as the copyright holder or their lawyer doesn't know your identity, you can stay out of court. If you want to communicate with the copyright holder, you can maintain your anonymity by communicating through your attorney.

Identify who else had access to your ISP address. One defense you can raise is that someone else used your ISP address to download the material. Obviously, this will be a hard argument to win if the material is found downloaded on a computer you own or control. However, think about the following: Does someone else have access to your wireless Internet?

For example, an old roommate might have used it. Write down the dates they were living with you. Generally, you are responsible for keeping your wireless secure. However, this could be a possible defense depending on the circumstances. Did someone stay at your home and use your computer? If so, this person could have downloaded the material.

Look for evidence such as emails, photographs, etc. However, you should realize that if your children or anyone living with you downloaded the files, then they can be sued as well. Under copyright law, you can avoid statutory damages if you are an employee of a library, archive, or nonprofit educational institution and you downloaded the material in the scope of your employment.

Talk with your lawyer about these and other fair use defenses. Part 2. You might not know, but there exist many torrent sites that are legal, and allow you to download content without having to worry about copyright infringement, penalties or jail time. There are movies, games, and other media content are available in the free domain, but on most torrent sites, it is difficult to search for them.

How do you know what you are downloading is illegal? To counter this problem, I created a list of 15 useful torrenting sites that are legal, and only hosts files that allow you to download copyright free and open source legal content in the public domain. Artists are now using SoundCloud instead but you can still find old gems here. Linux is probably one of the best OS in the world, and it is free. There are so many distros that it can be overwhelming to keep track of things.

Linux Tracker tracks everything that is available in the Linux world and offers latest updates on them.

Vuze has been operating in the legal torrent business for the past 15 years, opening its doors in Vuze also offers a torrent client which is popular for its minimalist and clean UI and its ability to bridge the gap between clearnet and I2P.

Game Updates is a large repository of legal game patches and updates that you can torrent anytime you want. There is a forum where gamers can be found actively discussing new updates. You will find more than 25 TB of academic and research data on this free and legal torrenting site. The site is run by the researchers, for the researchers. Since time is of the essence and data sets can be huge, they have made downloading torrents really fast. You can also upload your own datasets if you want.

Some of the top universities are part of this initiative. Are you looking for WW1 and WW2 documentaries? Looking for old movies released in the early half of the 19th century? You can find a number of movies and documentaries, some of them are real gems, that were released between and The site is constantly added with new movies too.

If you are a fan of indie content then Vodo is the place to be. Vodo features indie content that you can download legally via torrents. Right now, it has a collection of about movies.