Limewire

[cameo]

If it is illegal to download songs from limewire why is it that so many people seem to have it?

My teenage daughter used to have limewire on our computer but i made her delete it.

Every so often we continue to 'debate' this topic. My understanding is that most people/teenages use limewire to download music.

As a parent how can i condone doing something that is against the law. would i not be teaching my daughter that it's ok to do something illegal, sometimes.

Isn't my job to teach them right from wrong.

If i let her to do this, am i not making a rod for my own back the next time that she wants to do something that is technically illegal.

I would be very interested to know what other people think.

Thanks x

[WoWo]

As you say it's illegal to download copyrighted recordings, but not tracks which do not have copyright (or at least the copyright holder has waived his rights), therefore having and using Limewire is not illegal it's just the active downloading of copyrighted music.

Having said this there are levels of criminal behaviour, personally I have used software like Limewire to in effect trial music if I like it I'll buy a copy. This of course is illegal but ultimately leads to a benefit to the artist.

[mikeyp]

There are certainly levels of criminal behaviour. However, the downloading of any copyrighted materials is illegal, so you cannot really condone this action if you don't want to appear contradictory. Certainly a lot of people do it, but while this may frustrate your daughter, it does not permit her to join them.

The problem is that many teenagers do not always have the money to buy albums. If you are keen to ban this activity completely, maybe you could encourage a more legal approach. For example, you could supply a small amount of money per week into an iTunes store account. This way your daughter can still obtain some music, all perfectly legally.

[Ethel]

There are some unscrupulous people who put very nasty viruses into downloadable tracks.

This alone should be enough to convince you and your daughter that limewire and similar sites are a bad idea.

[Llamatron]

Well done.

All my colleagues at work think nothing of getting their kids consoles chipped and download games, MP3s and DVDs etc.

I have (hyprocritically perhaps) no problem with people doing this for themselves, we adults know exactly what we're doing. But to do this openly for your own children is surely an appalling example to set.

If kids grow up thinking that stealing is ok what other legal/moral boundaries will they have left to push?

[Llamatron]

Ok, reading my last answer back and it looks like I'm saying stealing is ok if your an adult. That's not what I meant.

What I meant was that adults are supposedly able to figure out right and wrong for themselves and deal with the consequences.
For a parent to show their kids stealing is ok they're giving their children a slightly skewed view of right and wrong on which their future moral decisions will be based.

Though I might be reading a little to much into the whole thing.

[fo3nix]

It is against the law to take and use something that is copyrighted without the owner's permission, hence it being illegal.

The thing is though: is something being illegal and being wrong the same thing? I don't think so. For instance, slavery was once accepted under law, but I don't ever believe it was right.

Copyright law is draconian, and hence restricts people far too much. Now, I still agree that downloading tons of music and not paying anything to the creators is wrong, but the fact is that most popular music bought now has more money going to bigwigs in the record industry than the artists themselves. This isn't great.

Next: 'legal' music that you can buy online is usually very restrictive. Mostly it's crippled with DRM that restricts you as to how you can use it: say, only on certain players, or only on a certain number of computers, or only for a certain length of time. This is, or certainly should be, a violation of your own rights. In effect you're renting the music from the record companies, not buying it. If I go and buy a TV or radio, I can take it apart and play with it as I like. Why should it be any different with music? I should be able to do with it as I like, once i've bought it.

[cameo]

Thank you all for your answers.

I just wanted to know what other people think, and whether i was being 'over the top'.

I don't think I am but when it seems that everyone my daughter knows is downloading for free I start to think that maybe I'm getting old before my time!!

Thanks again x

[Mattk]

but to add fuel to the fire - when we were kids did we not all tape each others albums - perhaps the old equivalent of todays free downloads ?

[RATTER15]

Cameo, I don't think its an age thing, yes they are clamping down on the downloading of music but at the moment they are targeting people with very large music libraries like mine :-( so when I download music now, I only share a small number of file so they think I only have a small library.

Its not right, but hey, I never said I was perfect!!

[Astret]

Actually, although the issue over downloading music is a charged one, it might be worth re-posting a variant of this question in law - as technically you are not "stealing" as the anti-piracy adverts would have you believe, but are instead committing copyright infringement, same as if you photocopied a book, or borrowed someone else's copy of software. This I seem to recall, is not a "crime", but is a type of fraud...anyone have more info on this?

[oligopoly]

just to clarify, im not sure if what ethel said is correct. i dont believe you can have a virus on an mp3 (music) file ??

[Irissa]

Other services are so hard to install and get running. But Kazaa Platinum just works and keep on going on and on, try it http://www.kazaa-platinum.com