Torrents? Illegal or Legal?

Okay, well i wanted to make a .torrent file search engine.

If anyone doesn't know what .torrent files are...

They are files that you open with a program that THEN initiates downloads of that said file from MANY computers (seeders).

I wanted to make a site where people could search for those .torrent files and download and use them.

This files will initiate the download of files that are copyrighted... Though the .torrent files themselves are copyrighted by NO ONE! ( .torrent files are just about 1kb in size... basically a text document telling the program which file to download and from where ).

I know that the US government will most likely label this as ILLEGAL... They have done so in many court cases (if i recall).

Would it be illegal for a US citizen to make one of these sites but host it in say... Sweden? Where they are COMPLETELY legal.

I am afraid the US government will break down my newly bought door...

 

Where are you living right now? The internet is a funny thing. You fall under the US Government Laws/jurisdiction when:
1) The site is hosted on a server within the US, then the server owner/website operator are liable.
2) You access the files from within the US jurisdiction.

So, the easy solution is this:
Don't do it.

 

Well the copyrighted material isn't actually hosted on the server with the .torrent files... does that matter?

 

No, linking to the files would likely be contributory infringement. And even having hosting in Sweden is not the solution - The Pirate Bay (which is hosted there) has been involved in multiple lawsuits. I personally don't think it's worth doing unless you are willing to have an attorney on your payroll.

 

Especially if you don't know a lot of the little ins and outs of copyright law. But, you do realize there is a solution to this right? DONT STEAL!

 

The Pirate Bay has won 100 percent of their cases though.

They only had their servers seized because Hollywood put pressure on USA who then put pressure on Swedish government...

I live in the United States and i have a strong desire to go through with this.

 

Then you could face civil and criminal liability.

If you have such a strong desire then why post here? Obviously nothing anyone says is going to change that.

 

Nothing may change whether i will do it or not...

But, don't you agree it is good to know what one is getting their self into?

 

Yes, but you should know without asking what you are getting yourself into by distributing items which violate copyright laws.

if you'd like to read the copyright law go to www.copyright.gov

 

ITs hard to host torrents on US servers..you need an offshore server and you can host anything you want

 

You would be fine if you made an effort for them to be legal torrents. There is both demand and supply for legal P2P (something a lot of people seem to forget ;-( ...)

 

If you have doubts about the .torrent file, I suggest you talk to people who have expertise in the field of law.

 

Nothing may change whether i will do it or not. you need an offshore server

 

You live in the us so it doesnt matter if you buy a server in sweden, japan, russia or any other country. The laws of the sweden do not apply to citizens of the united states.

 

You're basically promoting the illegal promotion of torrent files. Torrent files usually are composed of music used without the artist's consent, and movies that are illegally downloaded. While I'm all for pirating certain things, I'm sure you'll be in deep trouble if your site gains popularity. That's something I would stay away from if I was you, but it's your final decision in the end.

Yugo,

 

I suggest you seek another nich for your site, and don't brake the copyright laws.

 

torrents are legal, but many people upload illegal things and share via torrents.

so i'm sure you can get away with saying you just indexed torrent files and you didn't know or something along those lines. but most hosts don't allow torrent sites.

 

in my country , police took over users then over server owners , owners just moved host to another country, but here users are more likely to be arrested

in my opinion, search engine is not a problem at all, i mean it doesnt even host files nor torrents right ? you must create a nice TOS i guess
i own mp3 search engine,script provided by X10 media, script searches in few sites, u can find any Mp3 files, and X10 Media states it is completely legal.

 

Totally agreed with you.

 

It's 100% LEgal why?

Cause if they track my house down and put me in jail for downloading torrents, the whole neighborhood is going with me, wiich they don't have enough law enforcement to do that..