Free On Line Movies: Are P2P Legal or Bootleg Movies? - By: Peter Nisbet

Free on line movies are commonly downloaded online, but are they generally bootleg movies or is there such a thing as a P2 legal download? It's not an easy question to answer, given the complexity of American copyright law.

Let's establish one or two things first, so that we are starting from the same place here. file sharing, peer-to-peer, P2P or networking, whetever you feel like calling it, is not in itself illegal.

Kazaa is illegal in Australia, but not in Holland where the Supreme Court ruled that it was not the software itself that was responsible for illegal downloads, but those that used it illegally. A Los Angeles fedaral court judge gave a similar judgment on appeal by P2p companies Grokster and Morpheus, ruling that they weer not responsible for the use to which others put the software, and that infringement of copyright was not the responsibility of the sofwtare providers but of the users.

Thus, you can use P2P legal software to download free on line movies and music, as long as what you download is free of any copyright protection, i.e. in the public domain. Some have pointed to Napster's demise in their original form as evidence that software is illegal, but those that do have missed the point entirely. Napster differes fubdamentally from other forms of P2P software. Napster was closed down, and eventually came back in a revised form, because it usewd a central server.

To understand that, it is necessray to know the ay in which P2P software operates, and what the differences are between P2P legal downloads and bootleg movies. When P2P site members download movies they are copying the file from another member's hard disk. If you are searching for a particular movie, you will be given a list of those available and normally how many online computers have that movie on their hard disk.

When downloading, you can be simultaneously downloading from the hard disk of several online members of the site. Napster porvided a hub in the form of a central server, through which all downloads were passed between the provider ansd receiver of the files. Due to that way of working, Napster was found responsible for downloads made using their site since they were, in effect, acting as an intermediary to the crime by passing the illegal downloads from one person to the other.

Modern free on line movies pass through no central hub, but are downloaded by means of a direct comnection to the provider's hard drive. You are downloading directly from the hard drive of the computer providing the file - the link is one to one. Because it is software driven, no liability for the way people use it can be laid at the door of those that sell it.

That is why the music and movie moguls were so annoyed and upset: the believed the problem to have been dealt with when Napster had been successfully convicted. However, they got it wrong and found that instead of targeting just a few software firms, they faced the task of chasing the many millions of ordinary people that were downloading copyrighted material every day.

So when is downloading illegal and when is it legal? What is the differenbce between a bootleg movie and a PSP legal download? It's a simple answer, but not so simple to follow. Fundamentally, no work that is copyright-protected can be downloaded or copied with the express permission of the owner of the work. You can be practically certain that all online music and most movies and games are protected by copyright unless the owners are permitting them to be downloaded.

Many do allow it. Particularly new artists or amateur movie-makers wanting to get their name known and their work publicized free of charge, or professionals testing the water for a new album or film idea. The majority do not, and it is extremely difficult to understand copyright law in the USA. In the UK, the law with regard to movies is fairly easy to understand: movies are copyrighted ro 70 years after the death of the last main director, composer or writer and music for 50 years after it was released.

The situation has been made even more complex in America by the Sony Bono Law, and it looks like no music at is free of copyright restrictions any more, and that movies are going to be covered as well for many years to come unless, possibly, they were made before 1923. As I said - complicated.

Here are some tips, then on how to avoid downloading bootleg movies and ensuring that you stay legal:

1. Avoid downloading any files using P2P software unless your are certain it is not copyright-protected.

2. If there is a specific movie you are looking for, it is easiest to rent it using an online service such as Blockbuster or Love Films.

3. On the other hand, if you download movies a lot, then you will likely be better with a membership with a legal download site. Some sites online permit legally licensed movies to be downloaded for a membership fee. One site is offering unlimited downloads for a 2-year membership fee. This is a very attractive deal, since you are comparing a $40 spend with a potential fine of $150,000 for illegally downloading movies? That's less than $1.70 a month!

4. If a movie is given away free, you can be sure it was obtained illegally and hence a bootleg movie. No site is able to profit by providing legal movies free of charge, unless they have some other means of make money from the website. The same is true of music. That is because those that have these tracks or files to offer had to pay for them, unless they also got them illegally, so would be highly unlikely to give them away free? They must be illegal!

Summing up, you can get free on line movies if you pay a membership fee in return for unlimited downloads. Agreed, that is not free, but nevertheless if you downloaded only two movies each week that would equate to only 19 cents each movie. Is that cheap? The same price will be charged for bootleg movies, only you can get caught with these and face a hefty fine. This is unlikely, given the untold millions that use P2P sites, but why take the chance if it isn't necessary?

Free on line movies are unlikely to be legal due to copyright law, and although most online downloads today are bootleg movies, it is possible to find legal download membership sites that enable you to make unlimited downloads within the law and avoid any legal problems that could result from illegal movie downloads.

If you want to avoid the dangers of illegal downloads, visit Pete's web page Free On LIne Movies where you will find a 100% legal membership download site and also online video rental and other legal means of obtaining legal and non-bootleg movies.