Is this entertainment download site legit?

Cafe Society
1

This website promises the download of any episodes you missed of television. http://www.tvshows.org/

It says stop going to the movies and download there. Sounds like a pirate site. Oddly enough, it was in a google ad in the Family Guy DVD thread. Here’s the ad content:

Is this a legal site?

2

Define “legal”.

It is nothing more than a site that charges you for the usual P2P software. Since they don’t actually host the bootlegged files, they’re probably hoping to avoid getting sued. (Good luck with that!)

But using P2P software to download copyright material without permission is of course quite illegal (in the US and most other countries).

I would describe the site as “doubly ethically challenged.”

3

Let’s see.

  1. They’re harvesting your e-mail address.
  2. There’s no mention anywhere of any of the TV shows they supposedly have. Wouldn’t that be the first thing they’d mention if they had the rights to them?
  3. As a matter of fact, they make no claim they even have shows to download. Their terms of service only say they are providing you with software.
  4. They’re harvesting your e-mail address.

Clearly a scam.

4

So did I give them my (ok. I was on my wife’s computer) e-mail address just by clicking on the link?

5

No. They don’t get your email address unless you explicitly give it to them by filling in a signup form.

However it’s highly likely that they placed some kind of “tracking cookie” or other spyware on your system to track what sites you visit and report back.

Ad-Aware and Spybot are your friends.

6

AFAIK downloading music / movies ain’t illegal here (the Netherlands), but publicly sharing them is - ofcourse most P2P programs today automatically share anything you’re downloading… I also understand that downloading “illegal” software is illegal, but I’m not sure if that’s really true.

7

My wife has some commercial stuff on her PC, so it should be ok…

8

From the link in the OP:

“Purchase of a Subscription is not a license to upload or download copyrighted material.”

So it is illegal at worst, highly misleading at best.