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iPod LimeWire: Illegal or Not?

I

iChrisG

macrumors member
Original poster
If this is not the right thread then, sorry!

My brother got LimeWire a few days ago, and I have been loving it. BUT, I was talking to my friend and told her about it, and she said it was illegal.

Is it? I don't really know!
 
Using Limewire IS NOT illegal. If it was it'd be taken offline by the government. What is illegal is what you DOWNLOAD with it. There are MANY uses for Limewire besides downloading music (which I'm guessing you're referring to).
 
Limewire itself isn't illegal, what you get with it is generally illegal. Limewire is a p2p program where most (nay, all) of the things available is copyrighted and on there without permission, thus illegal.

So yes.
 
sammich said:
Limewire itself isn't illegal, what you get with it is generally illegal. Limewire is a p2p program where most (nay, all) of the things available is copyrighted and on there without permission, thus illegal.

So yes.
Click to expand...

That is not correct. You can search for documents, images, etc which all are not illegal. There are also many free programs and games available via P2P. Saying that Limewire is illegal just because you CAN, with your own choice, search and download illegal files does not make Limewire illegal.

It would be saying driving a car is illegal because you can drive over the speed limit, drive to rob a bank, etc.

EDIT: Just to add an example to prove Limewire is not illegal. I am part of a stock trading group and we run programs each night that produce raw data. That data is stored on a guy's computer/server and we all download the data each night or whenever we want. There is nothing illegal about that.

Limewire is not illegal and there are MANY people who use it for file sharing that have nothing to do with music or program stealing.
 
To answer the OP's question though, if he is downloading copyrighted material (ie music you would normally purchase on a CD), then YES, that is illegal.

If you are excited to use Limewire to download public domain material or Linux distros, private material (as listed above) etc, then go for it.

Many people may be using Limewire for legitimate purposes, but I suspect that the VAST majority are using it to illegally download copyrighted music.
 
Hankster said:
That is not correct. You can search for documents, images, etc which all are not illegal. There are also many free programs and games available via P2P. Saying that Limewire is illegal just because you CAN, with your own choice, search and download illegal files does not make Limewire illegal.

It would be saying driving a car is illegal because you can drive over the speed limit, drive to rob a bank, etc.

EDIT: Just to add an example to prove Limewire is not illegal. I am part of a stock trading group and we run programs each night that produce raw data. That data is stored on a guy's computer/server and we all download the data each night or whenever we want. There is nothing illegal about that.

Limewire is not illegal and there are MANY people who use it for file sharing that have nothing to do with music or program stealing.
Click to expand...

I'm very aware of the case, and I am merely presenting the general case. For example Bittorrent is widely used to get linux distros.

There is a feature in Limwire called Direct Connect which I suspect Hankster may be referring to. By setting up Limewire at work, he can access the files on that computer with that computer IP (using limewire).

The problem is not the free stuff (which you get from OTHER sources much much easier), it's that since so much of that stuff is illegal there is no way to ignore it and then not be tempted to get download something illegally.

To use your car example: it's like a highway that has no highway officers patrolling, you COULD speed, you COULD be intoxicated, you could be perfectly within the law, but that fact you had the ability to do the first 2 without being pinned for it doesn't make it legal.
 
Limewire the program is not illegal.

Some of the content you may have downloaded could be.

Copyrighted music, movies, proprietary applications, games, etc., are illegal.

If you downloaded things other than the above, then it may be perfectly legitimate.

But probably not.
 
I'm thinking when you say that he is "loving it" you mean that he is downloading all kinds of free stuff and thinking it's awesome.

That, my friend, is stealing...and illegal. Limewire CAN be used for noble purposes, but from what it sounds like, your brother's purposes aren't.
 
An article regarding Limewire that sheds some light.

http://www.techliberation.com/archives/040739.php

Basically, many people use Limewire to download copyrighted items like songs, movies, etc. But, at the same time there are people who use it for real purposes. I'm not saying everyone is innocent, but saying that the program itself (or using it) is illegal is not a reasonable statement to make.
 
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