As the firestorm of controversy and legal action surrounding movie download sites grows, online movie rental companies, such as Blockbuster and Netflix are experiencing exponenetial membership growth. If you surf the internet, chances are that you stumbled across a number of sites that offer close to unlimited movie downloads for free or a nominal membership fee. These sites have a number of problems, not the least of which is the ptoentaila of adware, viruses, or spyware being downloaded as well. The primary danger thought is that issue of legality, or lack thereof. Many of the sites, which use a P2P, or Peer to Peer structure, claim legitimacy. The MPAA has targeted many of the sites, and while some have gone out of business; there are others that have obtained a legal operating status. This status is deceptive however, because if you look at the disclaimers, most will state that, "the use of filesharing software for the uploading or downloading of copyrighted works without the permission or authorization of the copyright holders may be illegal and may subject the consumers to civil or criminal liabilities and penalties."
This means that even if the site is technically legal, anyone who uses it to download any copyrighted material such as movies, music, video games, etc., could be prosecuted. Sites such as these result in the MPAA pursuing legal action against individuals. This has happened in the past, with criminal charges that can result in fines and imprisonment ranging up to $600,000 and five years. While some claim that the probability of getting caught is low, this is not necessarily true. In the summer of 2007 the MPAA created a movie download site as a front to catch pirates. The site would link to movies, but also to an accelerator application, which would act as a trojan horse that scanned individual hard drives for pirated content and then transmitted that information to the MPAA. These deterrants have resulted in more and more people trying out offers such as BLOCKBUSTER FREE TRIALS.
This means that even if the site is technically legal, anyone who uses it to download any copyrighted material such as movies, music, video games, etc., could be prosecuted. Sites such as these result in the MPAA pursuing legal action against individuals. This has happened in the past, with criminal charges that can result in fines and imprisonment ranging up to $600,000 and five years. While some claim that the probability of getting caught is low, this is not necessarily true. In the summer of 2007 the MPAA created a movie download site as a front to catch pirates. The site would link to movies, but also to an accelerator application, which would act as a trojan horse that scanned individual hard drives for pirated content and then transmitted that information to the MPAA. These deterrants have resulted in more and more people trying out offers such as BLOCKBUSTER FREE TRIALS.
No comments:
Post a Comment