[hi everybody so my issue is that i am opening a website that offers links to external websites where people can watch and download movies, games, softwares etc. So i was wondering if doing so i will violate some copyright laws and if yes what can be some consequences. I don't believe that i am violating any law because i am not uploading any illegal content on my server, i am just offering links that direct the user to websites such as Megavideo, Megaupload, Rapidshare etc. and i will put a disclaimer that says something like : The website don't host any video, movie or other media, we just link to other websites like (megavideo.com, zshare.net, movshare.net, novamov.com, milledrive.com, divxstage.net, stagevu.com, wisevid.com, veoh.com and others). Please do not contact us for any copyright issues, please contact the websites i mentioned before Looking on the internet i saw that there are plenty of these websites, but i just don't want to end up had to deal with severe lawsuits.... please let me know your thought i would really appreciate
You'll definitely want to get a second opinion on this and do some research on your own, but I don't believe you could get in that much trouble if places like Megavideo and Rapidshare, which are the places where the content is actually hosted, are still running.
You are just as guilty as the party that hosts the warez.... think of it as having a crack farm...are you guilty of having the crack farm, or is the buyer guiltly of buying crack from the farm? both of you are guilty of a crime regardless how small one crime is from the other...guilty none-the-less. most legit hosts will suspend your service if they find illegal links to stuff that is not your own. IE: warez, music, downloads, etc... without linking, there would be no warez. without warez, there would be no linking. so even if you are linking, then you are a contributing party. if the law does anything is another story, at best, your hosting could be suspended if brought to their attention.
Especially with software companies like Microsoft would go after you. And they have deep pockets so they could shut you down pretty easy. A site like that has too much risk.
In most countries its as legal as selling cocaine on the streets, but less profitable. The fact that people manage to avoid having their sites shut down is a seperate issue to if the activity is legal or not. The owners of Pirate Bay have been found guilty have had big fines and are facing jail but the site is still running