downloads

moogleye

Can anyone tell me how 'legal' downloading films over the internet is? The site U torrent claims they're free, but someone told me this was only because they re letting space for other people to pass the films on. Is it ever free?

eyeinthesky

No, it is not legal to download the latest movies, although that doesn't stop a lot of people who will do it anyway. Using torrent sites is not the best way to get pirated stuff anyway, there are other places, but these are still illegal. The problem with using torrents is that you also upload copyrighted material, as well as downloading. This is then quite obvious to your isp, and there is now pressure from copyright holders to force isp's to act against anyone downloading illegal content.

Aside from all the above, the torrent scene is also riddled with nasty viruses and trojans. After all, who controls what is being uploaded? When stuff is broken and compressed into rar files, you only know its a nasty when you try to open it.

Mark_In_Hampshire

As above.

What your friend probably meant was that UTorrent aren't breaking the law, because they aren't distributing the movies, the users themselves are. UTorrent are simply facilitating this.

steveE2

I'm going to disagree with the above posters,it is not illegal to download films provided you do it correctly and torrent sites is not the correct way.

There are legitimate sites where you pay for the film and can download to watch for a limited time or download to keep

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/8116784/Where-to-download-free-films-legally.html

http://www.copyrightaware.co.uk/

Also http://www.blinkbox.com/ where you can legally watch films online

Hammyman

steveE2 is correct. There are plenty of fan films for example where you can freely download them. Certain sites have been given permission to stream old films. However if its something released by the studios in the last 20 years, the chances are its illegal and especially if it is still for sale or rental, no matter how old.

hippey

Many ISPs are restricting torrent streams at peak times, in some cases to almost dial up speeds. Unless you using genuine sites such as Netflix to stream your latest blockbuster then you really have to think about the legality!

personally the only things I stream here in the UK are the on-demand tv services like iPlayer etc.