getting caught??

[djenkins03]

hey guys here is my question: if i have burned movies in my dvd library and my computer is hooked to the net is there any chance of getting in trouble for having these?? is it legal to have these?? i mean i know it is illegal to download copyright protected movies, but my question is is it legal to have them or is there a chance they can be found?? or do they just catch people when they are downloading movies???

also a lot of my friends use limewire to download movies is it likely to get caught using this???

[Nick Burns]

Whew boy... well ripping movies that you have legally purchased does fall under Fair Use. However, in order to rip those movies you have to circumvent the copy protection, which is a violation of the DMCA.

Now, the press likes to play up the downloading aspect (probably pressured by the media companies), when in fact there have been no prosecutions for downloading content. The individuals that the RI/MPAA are targeting are those that have provided the content.

Of all the cases, the RIAA has only had one "win": RIAA vs Jammie Thomas. However, the judge has recently declared this a mistrail (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080924/2255532365.shtml), due to incorrect instructions given to the jury about "making available" is infringement. The "making available" is still up for the law to decide, so it's a sketchy area. If you peruse the Techdirt website, you can read a lot about these cases.

[ZetaVu]

I wouldn't worry about the RIAA lawsuits, in fact as long as you are not sharing these files the MPAA will not be on you much. The law prohibitting copying of dvd's involves the DMCA anti-circumvention provision, which real networks is now putting to the test. THe DVD copy control association (CCA) is the one that is leading lawsuits against css circumvention, meaning that the act of circumventing css protection would be illegal, however this case from last year http://www.floppyhead.com/2007/03/30/kaleidescape-wins-dvd-ripping-lawsuit/ shows that the possession of legally owned dvd's on a hard drive is not illegal (I assume it has not been overturned, but that is a good place to start looking.

So, you should be ok with your dvd library, although theoretically they could pursue you for ripping them, but they have to prove you ripped them. Downloading from limewire, every time you download a movie or song you run the risk of getting caught, it is a small risk since lawsuits are directed at uploaders. The MPAA sued Shawn Hogan for downloading one movie, and I am not sure but I believe that was found since most software makes movies available for upload while you download them. There are ways to minimize this risk but those will not be discussed here. Quite simply, if you are concerned, you probably shouldn't do it. If you are trying to determine the odds of getting caught, you probably shouldn't do it. Life is too short to stress over the little things.

Oh, just having a limewire account or any p2p software linked to an ip address traceable to you (hell, just having an ip address) is enough to make you liable for RIAA lawsuits. Their process is so shabby, uncontrolled, and honestly illegal that at any time the incorrect copying of an ip address, impact of hacking programs, ip masking, ip hijacking, etc, any person can become the victim of an RIAA extortion campaign, as has been proven in many court cases. Read through the EFF web pages or the People vs the RIAA and see for yourself. Its a good thing our government is out there passing legislation to help the RIAA and MPAA extort their lost revenue against internet users, I believe they've just passed the latest bill enabling these companies to use the justice department to get more active in their civil extortion suits.

Enjoy your weekend.

[djenkins03]

yeah but is there any chance they will find these on my computer if im not sharing them??? they will just be in my dvd library.

[Fickey]

What they do is look for folks sharing tons of copyrighted stuff through P2P, get their ip address, contact their ISP, & issue a cease & desist. Based on what you've described, you have nothing to worry about.

[Fonceur]

yeah but is there any chance they will find these on my computer if im not sharing them??? they will just be in my dvd library.
They would need to do some serious hacking to find out the content of your PC, and someone would probably had wiped the content of many hard drives if it was that easy. ;) It's the Peer to Peer file sharing (Bit-Torrent and others) which exposes those shared files to others, not sharing files on your home network...

[Terminal]

What they do is look for folks sharing tons of copyrighted stuff through P2P, get their ip address, contact their ISP, & issue a cease & desist. Based on what you've described, you have nothing to worry about.

Yea I got one of those nasty grams a few months back. Thing is I never use P2P but my BTV server screwed up and I lost a few recordings. I was behind on watching stuff and when I got around to watching my BSG episodes I couldn't remember if I had missed an episode or not. So I went out on the P2P to find the previous episode to see if it was one I had already seen. I found it downloaded it and it turned out it was an episode I had already seen and I was up to date. A week or so later I got a nasty gram, I just deleted it and pretended it didn't happen. I won't be going back on the P2P networks anymore, however,

[Nick Burns]

Bittorrent == my backup PVR ;)
I download/don't share and immediately delete after watching.

I think I average about 3 shows a year.

[Fickey]

Terminal, that sucks! Did they specifically mention BSG, or was it just a boilerplate nastygram? Makes me wonder if someone else in the family has been using P2P, or if somebody's hacked your wifi password or something. I've only heard of the worst abusers getting called out.

[RiderFan]

Bittorrent == my backup PVR ;)
I download/don't share and immediately delete after watching.

I think I average about 3 shows a year.

If you don't share, then you shouldn't download.

tisk...tisk...

:nono:

[Nick Burns]

Yeah.. I know I'm a leech... but like I said, it's only on very rare occasions that I do download.

[Grasshopper]

I think using usenet instead of P2P is even more secure for downloading. I never liked the security risk of any of the P2P software.

[LionRed]

Peer Guardian helps a little ...in that it has a list of IP's you may not want to connect to (and it updates) ...and blocks you from connecting to them.

As for the OP....how many laws would they be breaking.... hacking into your computer. Put a password on it....and call it DMCA. They hack your computer...they just broke the law..one would like to hope/think.

[djenkins03]

hey lionred im just a novice at this computer stuff so hopefully i wont sound too stupid when i ask What is a dmca??? and also how can i put a password on my computer are you talking about a password protected firewall?? if so how is this done???

[Nick Burns]

DMCA = Digital Millennium Copyright Act (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMCA)

LionRed was really saying that as tongue-in-cheek, basically saying lock down your PC and if anyone breaks into you could claim a "DMCA" violation. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.

[Terminal]

Terminal, that sucks! Did they specifically mention BSG, or was it just a boilerplate nastygram? Makes me wonder if someone else in the family has been using P2P, or if somebody's hacked your wifi password or something. I've only heard of the worst abusers getting called out.

Yes they referenced the show specifically The email was from my ISP saying they had been contacted. No one else is using PS and my computer was not hacked, it's a fairly simple thing for them to track you, if your like me and don't use any methods to block them. It's not somethign I do on a regular basis and I took no precautions to hide myself.

[thegreatdano]

this is also my consern