Is it legal to use a website copier (like HTTrack) to download and run a website locally? Example: A user finds a flash game that he likes, so he downloads the entire site (icons, CSS, JavaScript files, etc.) using HTTrack to play the game on his computer. As long as he doesn't redistribute this game, is it legal? Thanks, Peter
I suspect it's one of those grey areas - in some ways you could view it as legal because your browser is transparently downloading and saving to disk every element on each page anyway, as part of the browsing process. On the other hand, downloading an entire site might be against the terms and conditions of the site, or be considered an abuse of network resources, but both of those would be difficult to prove. Anyway, with so many sites having dynamic content and most people having broadband connections, I don't really see what the point of such programs are anymore (I admit I used to use them, in the days when I only had net access once a fortnight and most sites I liked consisted of about 20 static HTML pages).