LimeWire - File Sharing - Comments Page 1

Bob, I have a friend whose family is constantly using LimeWire and after each session she said she has to scrub the garbage (meaning cookies, spyware, etc.) out of her computer. My two sons who are IT Techs say this site provides a lot of pirated software programs.

EDITOR'S NOTE: LimeWire isn't a site, per se. It's more of a co-operative, wherein individuals can make ANY type of file available for sharing. So yes, pirated software, movies and music may be found there. And sometimes the pirated software is modified to include malware.

I have downloaded things from Limewire but I have also found that a lot of stuff on there is not what you think you are downloading. And you can most certainly get trojans and virus's from the p2p. You have to be very careful. If you are downloading a game and it is only 228 kb, there is a problem there.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I didn't say that one couldn't download a virus, spyware via LimeWire. You most certainly can! I did say the the LimeWire software is safe in the sense that it contains no malware. So you CAN use it safely if you stay away from executable files and copyrighted material.

What about copying CD's to you home computer so that you can listen to your favories while surfing and then emailing a song here or there to a friend? Is it the file sharing with strangers thru a website or a co-operative that is illegal or any kind of exchange at all? Does a program like Musicmatch Jukebox report back to "big brother" when files are copied?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Some argue that occasional "sampling" of music like this actually drives more sales, by exposing people to a new artist. Although there's no technical difference between this and downloading in bulk from a P2P service (in terms of copyright violation) it does seem less onerous to me, and there's little or no likelihood that anyone will ever know.

Don't know about malware, etc., but my son who is raising a 12 year boy, found his computer had slowed to a near halt. Dad to the rescue. Found that LimeWire was accessing the internet and gobbling up 100% of CPU cycles. Killed it!

EDITOR'S NOTE: Was it perhaps downloading a huge file, at the request of the 12-year-old? :-)

Near on every program you may want to download from Limewire is a full blown virus,also the extension MOV is the same video all the time.my virus checker is the Avast and it never lies,so dont use Limewire be warned ...

EDITOR'S NOTE: Once again, it's not LimeWire that's the problem. It's the CONTENT (files) that malicious or uninformed users choose to make available to other LimeWire users. I would strongly advise people NOT to download any executable from a non-trusted source.

Most filesharing services have very aggressive sharing turned on by default - and encourage you to share with others by giving a lower download priority to "leechers" (those who don't share). Moreover, the download directory is often shared by default - meaning that if you download a particularly popular file for your own use, you may not realize that you're sharing it out to thousands of others even once the download is complete. The program often stays 'alive' in the background even after you have exited it, and you end up sharing content whenever your system is connected to the internet.

If your kids (or you) have installed Limewire, Bittorrent, Kazaa, or another such filesharing application, CHECK THE APPLICATION'S SETTINGS and make sure it's not set to share out any more than you want it to. And make sure they EXIT IT COMPLETELY once the download is complete.

Why? As noted in an earlier comment, sharing files out can negatively affect your internet bandwidth and performance. Furthermore, if you're downloading (and sharing) copyright-protected content, keep in mind that that activity is very PUBLIC. Copyright owners DO contract organizations to check popular peer-to-peer filesharing services for copyright-protected files, and they DO followup with a user's internet service provider or even followup with a lawsuit. I manage a university network, and I regularly receive complaints from copyright-holders regarding filesharing activity by our users.

You say "a digital download of a song you've already purchased doesn't cost or deprive the artist or the record company at all." But I don't see how this is so. If I transfer the song from someone else's computer instead of buying another copy from the store, both the artist and the record company lose out. I bought the song that was on the CD that the dog ate, not the digital file on someone else's computer. How is this not depriving the producers of income?

EDITOR'S NOTE:I think you're splitting hairs. In a world where the digital equivalent was not available at the click of a button, your argument would make sense. Wouldn't it be nice if the recording industry provided a legal way to download a digital copy of something for which you had a proof of purchase?

Bob, your wording and description of the copyright situation I think is one of the better ones I've heard. I even used to be a 'no copying no matter what' kind of person but some scenarios you describe seem to me to hold validity.

Your last comment in particular really covers it whereby a song is effectively a piece of software which you have purchased via the medium of a CD. Just because the piece of plastic the software came on is now no longer functional doesn't take away from the fact you have paid for the priviledge of accessing it's contents.

Also, I guess if there are artists who are happy to have their material shared in this way you can't really argue with that and therefore, share away! I guess the cloudiness this can add to the whole issue though isn't great in terms of which material can and can't I share.

Sorry, what are we talking about here... Limewire, oh yeah that's right ;-) Personally any file sharing software like this is something I would stay well away from, I can do/get all the things online that I need to do/get without it, so why open up a gateway to my precious PC no matter how well secured it's meant to be.

Bob, the first time I became aware of Limewire was when I all of a sudden saw a stream in my iTunes source overview. The stream included the userid of a co-worker, in my case that would be wolffrm. We have a windows nt environment and an ethernet network. I could see what he was down-loading. No idea if this is indicative of a privacy/safety breach that could be used by wrong-doers, but thought it might be interesting to mention.

EDITOR'S NOTE: My guess is that he was downloading to a network shared folder. But I can't see how your system is configured, so can't be sure.

This brings up the same issues that the movie people had years ago when the VCR and when the cassette player first came out. Is it legal to tape a song off the radio and to tape a movie for viewing later? If so, why can't you "download" a song you heard on the radio?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Isn't "viewing later" quite different than "keeping permanently" in your library?

My kids use LimeWire to get songs they can't get anywhere else - songs from commercials or old TV shows. The TV theme songs are probably copyrighted, but what is your opinion about commercials?

EDITOR'S NOTE: I think the important question is "Are these songs for sale anywhere?" I can't imagine that the producers of those shows and commercials would mind anyone downloading the jingles or theme songs, as long as you're using them for non-commercial purposes.

In response to Leslie. My first reaction to your question Leslie was that if anything, if a product has an advertisement created in order to sell more of it then any sort of copying or reproducing would only put a bigger smile on their face. In fact you are probably missing out on some sort of commission ;-)

Wow - I subscribe to and have used Limewire. I somehow thought that when you paid their subscription fee it somehow made the whole thing legal. I guess not?!

EDITOR'S NOTE: No. That fee is for the "pro" version of the software which gives you more features and faster downloads. It does not grant you any rights as far as accessing copyrighted materials. From the LimeWire website: "Purchasing LimeWire PRO does not constitute a license for obtaining or distributing unauthorized material. Please do not purchase LimeWire PRO if you intend to use it to infringe copyright."

I have used Limewire with great success to obtain music files that I already have on LPs. It is much simpler than trying to manipulate the music from LPs to CD. Quite frankly if making a copy of something I already legally own in one form to another form is for my own use is a sin then a sinner I am. So far as obtaining copies of music I don't already own I would leave that to another's conscience but for me I don't feel any guilt whatsoever. Is anyone else doing the same?

In Australia, it is illegal to sell a product that is known to be faulty. For some reason, it has become possible for record companies to sell media that they know will not function in a perfectly legal situation, such as listening on a PC or some MP3-compatible portable disc players.

In certain cases, they knowingly choose to limit the availability of product. In other cases, they choose to release a version of the the product that it not available in the complete form, such as removing tracks in certain countries.

Until copyright laws and the practises of the copyright holders change to reflect the demands of the market, there is little chance of the paying customer limiting their activities to meet such a restrictive set of rules. Even with proposed changes to Australian copyright laws it will not be legal to record a TV show and watch it more than once.

BTW, is it only by chance that this article came out 2 days before Talk Like A Pirate Day?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Arrrrgh, I know not what yer speakin' of, Matey.

The 'crystal vase' scenario is a little more complicated. When you buy a CD you are not actually paying for the music. It is difficult to know what exactly you are paying for.

When you 'share' music you could always send the artist the few pence that the recording company would have given him if you had bought the CD.

The artist is not worried about this pittance. But he will be annoyed you have not bought the CD.

How can this be, when, in fact, he would give you the tracks if he could? (And, hopefully, gain enough fans to become rich by 'touring').

It's like this: The artist signs a contract with the company who issues a CD and spends money promoting him and the CD. If it does not sell well the company quite often leaves it at that and does not issue a further CD. The artist is left twiddling his thumbs because the company will not allow him to give away any further songs he composes. Everything he produces while under contract belongs to them. He has no means of airing his genius.

However, they will sometimes release him from the contract if they recover a portion of the money they spent on his promotion. So that is why the artist wants you to buy the CD.

He should not have signed in the first place. He prob looked better without the spikey haircut they made him wear, anyway. And, incidentally, the draconian penalties would have never been passed by the senate if they were only in place to protect the artist !

EDITOR'S NOTE: Why is it "difficult to know what exactly you are paying for" ?? You're paying for a piece of plastic, and the right to enjoy the music on it. You're mixing two issues here: unfair recording company contracts and the ethics of reproducing copyrighted content.

This whole thread interests me greatly because just last week I received a letter exactly like the kind Kerri Brewster above said she receives regularly regarding file sharing of copyrighted material on her network.

I visit a torrent site weekly to download this week's episode of my two favorite tv shows, House M.D. and The Apprentice. I work on the nights that both air on national tv, so I download a torrent file of each. To me, this is no different that setting the VCR to record something while I'm at work...but the benefit with a torrent file is that it just plain takes up a lot less space than a video tape. Anyway, the letter I received was from my cable internet provider, who was contacted by NBC Universal saying that they'd tracked illegal downloading of a HOUSE MD file. I gather that, when I downloaded the file, I set it to download overnight. Once the file completely downloaded, it automatically started UPloading to other users, since I wasn't there to shut it off. I've check my BitLord settings but can't seem to find how to shut that feature off. Anyone know? And just what kind of a case do you think NBC Universal really WOULD have against me in this situation, if they ever decided to pursue it??? This just seems ridiculous to me. I just want to watch my weekly shows!

EDITOR'S NOTE: Wow, that's amazing... and scary. Did your ISP reveal your identity to NBC?

I believe the letter said that no, it did not reveal my identity. It was a cease and desist letter. They were notifying me that, essentially, NBC was "on" to me, and if NBC so chose, they could take me to court for pirating copyrighted material.

As Kerri's message above shows, this is apparently a common occurrence. I'd love to know if she forwards info to the complaining ISP's about the offending users, or if, like my own cable co, she just simply forwards a warning to the user. I know that my best friend had this very same thing happen to her about a year ago--scared her out of her wits. Again, all she was doing was downloading shows she'd missed. She phoned the customer service dept. for her cable company. I believe they told her that technically, they could accuse her of pirating, even IF it is the same situation as if she taped the thing on her VCR. What I want to know is, sure, they could pursue you legally. But would they win? What grounds do they have to stand on? Have any of the big companies pursued this sort of thing in the courts? And if so, were the circumstances as benign as they were with my friend and myself?

I read read all of the comments above and my question is...what about allTunes -- is that also illegal when they charge half the price AOL MUSIC NOW charges when you download. Last can you type up a list of what site is legal to download music at it's price.

EDITOR'S NOTE:Nothing illegal about iTunes. If you are paying for the songs (as opposed to downloading illegally) then you are doing it right. If AOL charges twice as much, vote with your wallet and don't use their service!

Is it illegal then to use limewire but not download any music? Obviously i undertand that download music is illegal if you havent paid for it or dont own it but if i didnt download music cos i aint really intrested in that side off it, is it ok to use limewire?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Limewire itself is perfectly legal. You can even download non-copyrighted music. Kinda like owning a gun... it depends what you do with it.