Who here knows it is illegal to..

[sieanr]

BenKenobi88 said:
But by using Limewire or torrents, you are downloading the music from other people who either own the music or also downloaded it...isn't that illegal?

This is where things get confusing

If you own what you are downloading, such as an album, then downloading a MP3 copy of this is probably legal. However, uploading it to people is definitly illegal.

The uploading is where people get taken to court because it is a clear cut. The RIAA/MPAA/Generic copyright holder doesn't want to take the downloading to court since you would first have to know the person downloading doesn't own that new britiany spears CD they got off of demonoid. Furthermore, they dont want a clear cut legal decision that says downloading something you own is legal, because as it stands the ambiguity is kinda in their favor.

Also, downloading is copyright infringmen, not stealing. Stealing is defined as taking something physical or depriving someone of their property. With downloading neither of these things happens. It is, however, copyright infringment. Now I'm not saying that downloading isn't bad and all, just that stealing means prision time whereas copyright infringment means fines and are two very different things legally.