Are warez sites legal?

I have a question about these warez sites and forums containing links to filehosts e.g. rapidshare.

They don't actually host any of the content so are they legal?

Do they get approached by law firms for clients asking to cease and desist with links?

I'm confused because I know that torrent sites have been pursued heavily and some scared off (even if no legal grounding, the legal threat is enough for them to stop activities) but I never heard of this for people who have links.

Although, didn't tv links or some similar site get shut down once?

 

Don't worry about it unless you're a huge warez site.

 

The site you are referring to was peekvid and it did get shut down.

I think its a bit of a grey area. All i know is that i once linked to movie files that were not hosted by me and i got a warning from the authorities to shut it down or get my site taken off me.

But there are still lots of these sites running and showing adsense so who knows????

 

Hey shafty,

You had to shut down your site or just remove the links?

 

i think as long as you has a disclaimer before your site saying that you dont host any of the files and as long as you dont post them yourself i think you'll be fine....

 

It depends on your host.Some hosts allow links to warez files,while many strictly ban the site.

 

I think #1 it depends on the country you are in. #2 it depends on how popular you become, many torrent sites are being shut down and they don't host any of the software they just have the torrent.

 

regardless of what some hosts allow and what some don't, warez are illegal. Piracy is illegal and yes its everywhere and alot of people are doing it. It is still illegal. I guess a better question to ask yourself before getting into warez is if you can handle getting ass raped when/if you get caught and sent to jail? If you think you are comfortable with this option then giver and prosper as much as you can and enjoy the free world while you have it. If you are not thinking of doing it personally and just want to know the legal standing of it, yes they are illegal. Some get caught some have not, yet.

 

do you think that linking is illegal? i don't see how it can be, despite the greedy companies and their lawyers.

its like telling someone that if you take a weapon into a bank you can take lots of money. are you going to lock the messenger in jail for that?

 

Linking isnt a problem as far as legal issues, be sure to have a provacy policy for your site (not having one is illegal and can get you sued, yet so many dont bother) state in your privacy/YOS that you have nothing to do with sites that you may be linking to. Be careful who you link to as it might have a bad effect on your PR.

 

How many people have been imprisoned for a warez site?

If they are that illegal, then why are there so many of them?

 

Mm, may be not illegal, but ethically illegal.

 

I got told that i legally had to hand over the sites to them. I removed the links instantly and they allowed me to keep the site but told me they would be monitoring it and any further infringement would lose me the sites!!

 

Piracy isn't illegal in every country, for instance the RIAA can shut down torrent sites in American but they can't in Sweden because it isn't illegal there, it isn't illegal in china etc.. the entire world doesn't live by American Values or Laws.

I know its hard for most Americans to believe but the world doesn't revolve around us.

 

thats his business though.

 

a huge warez forum *might* of got shut down recently called projectw.. had like 400k members

 

It is always a gray area. I used to give links to these sites. Got a C&D notice. I simply deleted all links and that was it. No issues since then.

 

I don't live in the US, actually I live in Asia. And it may be hard for you to believe, but MUCH of the world does revolve around the states. Deeper below the surface, but still influenced by the US economical strong-arm. BTW, Sweden has passed a law (July 1st 2007) against piracy. With very little effect, as the police openly admit that they don't really have it on top priority. This was pressure from the European Union Copyright Directive of 2002.

The EUCD was established after a series of copyright issues one including a Phil Collins EMI Records album case in Germany. Yes, Phil Collins is English you say and so is EMI, but where is EMI's head office? New York. See the pattern? It goes even deeper and this is only explaining the Sweden point, but I'm not going to bother as it will only be asking for another simple answer without any backing evidence. The point is very much of the world does revolve around the US, take it or leave it. It's true.

 

I don't think that a whole lot of people have been nailed. few, usually release groups as a whole get nailed. The enforcement groups usually go after the servers and the ones getting busted are usually running their own servers/PCs with like 20 hard drive. I doubt that if you are smalltime that you will be a target, but then again, why do it if you can only be small time? I mean, all the work you put into it will go down the drain if you start getting too big. This is when you will have to decide what you want to do, go big and start playing hardball or toss the4 towel.. either way you risk losing.

A lot of people have not been caught because they operate in countries that are less enforced. Even China is against piracy and recently has done a sweep destroying over 1 Billion $ in warez DVDs. More and more countries are starting to take action against it. Many will get away with it now, but it won't last forever. I'm not like some anti-piracy freak, and I won't say that I am not a member of any groups, I'm just saying that it is illegal pretty much everywhere, if it is enforced or not is another story.

 

Sounds pretty arrogant to me..