mind of p

[jd]

torrents are a great way to download larger files.  Basically, the
more people who have downloaded / are downloading it, the faster
everyone's downloads go, because instead of sucking the file from one
single source it picks bits and pieces from all the users who are
hosting it.  You need a program like BitTorrent or Azureus to use
.torrent files.

torrents are popular for illegal file sharing but out of all the P2P
protocols it's the most legitimate and is used by serveral companies
to distribute their own things.  The reason it works so well for
illegal use is that the file you download is not a copywritten movie
or song or whatever - it's a "tracker" which is just a list of users
who have that file, so whoever hosts a big list of trackers (say,
www.thepiratebay.com) can't really get into trouble because they
aren't technically infringing on copyright.  The RIAA & etc have to go
after individual users as opposed to these central tracker listings.

But to answer your question unless this was a free movie to begin with
or is somehow in the public domain, yeah, it would technically be
illegal to download it.

On 8/7/06, Otto <ottosell at googlemail.com> wrote:
> What does this "torrent" thing mean?
>
> Anything illegal?
>
> Otto
>
> 7 Aug 2006 15:29:17 -0000, dabdiputs.34125294 at bloglines.com
> <dabdiputs.34125294 at bloglines.com>:
> > um, i'm new around here, so i assume you're all aware of this, but since you're
> > still discussing the cnn footage, i thought i'd throw it out there:
> > http://greylodge.org/gpc/?p=544
> >
> >
> > also, see item #683000 on page 3 of this:
> > http://www.refina.co.uk/pdf_floortools/p123_127.pdf
> >
>