I needed to transfer a large file to a friend in another country, and he suggested we use Winmx (a peer-peer transfer program like Kazaa).
I installed the program, and while I was waiting for him to log on, I absentmindedly typed in a song name and then downloaded it.
It’s a song for which I actually already own the cd, so I don’t even know why I did it.
Right away I deleted the song, and then uninstalled the program, but I know that it is possible that the RIAA logged that one transfer I made.
So my questions are – how do the RIAA lawsuits work? Do they sue the people who download or do they sue the people that have the files shared? Are the dollar amounts based on the number of files downloaded? And how long does it take before they serve you with the suit?
-The RIAA does not yet have software in place to track WinMX users, AFAIK
-You can’t get in trouble for downloading anything. You get in trouble if you have copyrighted material made available for sharing, and the RIAA bots spot it and download a copy.
So, you should be alright. Given the millions of people who are still downloading stuff constantly, the chances of you being prosecuted for one isolated download which in all likelihood could not have been logged is infinitesimal.
Disclaimer: The mods get very unhappy when you ask for help with doing anything illegal, so don’t ask follow-up questions like, “How can I cover my tracks?”, and stop downloading stuff
To ease your mind. RIAA lawsuites are pretty limited. Statistcally driving your car is much more of a gamble. The RIAA sueing has mostly been limited to people sharing large amounts of files, 12 year old girls, and some elderly that don’t even have internet connections. No I’m not kidding about the 12 year old girls and the elderly.
In fact, iirc they forbid any discussion on how to use file sharing software at all, even for legal purposes, as it could conceivably help someone else use it illegally, and the Chicago Reader wants to be very careful to be on the right side of the law. See http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=3510383&postcount=15
I’m not sure if this is ok, but you might want to email a mod and check.
Also, consider that several P2P programs share chunks of the file you are downloading, even before your download is complete. So you can be at risk simply downloading one file, because you might be distributing pieces of that file.
