Posted by Technobarbarian on 11/28/05 00:52

"FatKat" <robynari@juno.com> wrote in message
news:1133123458.510463.314170@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>
> Scott NOFX wrote:
>> What is the best P2P software for free download.
>
> Try WinMX. I've used it for years, and it's a great resource for music
> & video...as long as you take some time to learn how it works. It's
> really not that difficult. I'm not all that computer savvy, and yet I
> have more trouble archiving the gigabytes of winmx-DL'd media than
> getting it to begin with. As a caveat, I have tried DC++ and found
> that it's also pretty good, but I've spent so much time with WinMX, and
> am satisfied enough with it that I'm not likely to ditch it for DC++.
>
>> What are the legal risk?
>
> The legal risk is that once you're on the network, anybody can look
> into your share folder. (This is not always true when you're on "Open
> Nap"). As long as you've got copywright-protected media available for
> DL in that folder, and without getting into the morality or the legal
> likelihood of ultimately biting the RIAA bullet, you could find
> yourself the subject of RIAA litigation.
>
>> Can they be avoided?
>
> Mostly it's a crapshoot that you'll be tagged at all - thousands of
> users, but some do get "caught". Also, the law is probably evolving,
> but the industry groups can probably afford to wait longer than the
> people they sue. You could also decide against offering any protected
> media but then you'll probably get tagged as a "leech", and nobody will
> want to waste their bandwidth sharing with you.

It's only a crapshoot if you're so dim that you can't figure out the
alternative methods available. So far of the millions of Americans using P2P
there have been rougly 16,000 lawsuits filed and thousands more in other
countries. The RIAA is reporting to be settling lawsuits for $3,000 and up.
Sometimes waaaaaaay up. If you go to court the minimum cost to defend
yourself is likely to be even higher. If they win in court the MINIMUM they
can get is $750 per song. Why anyone risks it with plenty of alternatives
available totally escapes me.

The law *is* evolving. Pretty soon we'll see criminal penalties in the
US as well.

TB

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