Is a Bootleg Movie Download Legal or Illegal
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Peter Nisbet
Apr 16, 2013, 5:40:04 PM4/16/13
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Article Title: Is a Bootleg Movie Download Legal or Illegal
Author: Peter Nisbet
Word Count: 814
Article URL: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=683461&ca=Entertainment
Format: 64cpl
Contact The Author: http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=683461
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Good question: is a bootleg movie download legal or illegal? The name itself should give a clue - 'bootleg'! The word first appeared in the Omaha Herald in 1889, and refers to 'moonshine' being hidden in the expansive volume of a cowboy's boot leg, where he would also keep a spare gun, tobacco and other things, moonshine, of course, being illicitly distilled whiskey. The term came more into common parlance during the Prohibition era and now means anything illegal or illicit.
So a bootleg movie download is definitely illegal, but in what way. In fact, because it is a copy of a movie that is protected by copyright law it is an illegal download in breach of copyright law. So what does the copyright law state? Who knows? It has been confused so often over the years. In 1998 the period of copyright extended from 50 to 70 years after the death of the original copyright holder - who does not have to be the originator of the movie.
What does that mean? The death of who? The producer? The screenwriter, the director? The movie studio? Confusing? You bet it is, and that's why so many people are confused today as to what is copyright and what isn't. However, these confusions refer only to movies made 70 - 100 years ago or more, although it's pretty obvious that the copyright extension is designed to enable people to keep making money by extending the time before it's a free for all for whoever wants to use the material.
Walt Disney made his fortune from public domain material (the name given when copyright expires). The fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and others were the material behind most of his cartoons. He did it according to the law at the time.
What about now? A bootleg movie download is illegal by definition, but it is not illegal to download public domain movies or those that the originator is allowing to be downloaded. Of course, if you come across yesterday's blockbuster then that is going to be illegal to download, yet you are still able to do so using the same software you would use for the public domain movies.
Why is that? Why can't the movie moguls make it impossible by applying a block to downloading movies without a key offered to those that pay for the movie? Because they are lazy most likely, and expect us to know what is and is not out of copyright. So back to the software.
It is referred to as P2P software, or peer to peer file sharing, where members can download the movies and music stored on another member's hard disk. There is still a lot of such software available online: there are free versions and paid subscriptions. The paid version provides support, a better interface and a significantly faster turbo-charged download speed. A bootleg movie download takes a long time to download, and the accelerated download speed is worth paying for alone.
In addition to that you get burning software so you can burn the movie to a DVD and watch it on your 50" TV rather than your 17" computer. That is what a paid subscription gives you, and you can normally purchase a one year or a lifetime one-off subscription. The software enables to download any movie you want usually, and as much music as you want. All need make sure of is that it is not a bootleg movie download, but out of copyright and in the public domain. If not, then . . .
You take your chances of being caught, although very few are. However, I do not condone a bootleg movie download, and urge you to use the software available legally. Some have been caught and prosecuted, although that seems to have died down lately. The guys they should really be after are those doing it as a business.
They copy every movie and music track that is issued, burn them onto DVD or CD, make up a fancy case just like the original and sell them as originals. They are mostly from the Far East - no prizes for guessing where the up and coming entrepreneurs live these days! Only they don't hunt them down - they hunted down high school kids and their moms, but public opinion has reduced this lately.
There are websites available where you can download videos from site offering them form libraries of thousands of videos approved by the copyright holders for release to the public. They are therefore legal DVD downloads, and not strictly peer to peer. These are also available, but with them you have to distinguish between them: is this legal or is it a bootleg movie download. The choice is yours but I urge you only to download legal movies legally.
About The Author: More details on avoiding a bootleg movie download and focusing on the legal aspects of downloading movies and music using file sharing software are available from the legal pages of Pete's website http://www.online-free-movies.com where you will also find a number of sites that can be used legally to download movies and music.
Please use the HTML version of this article at:
http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=683461
*********************** ARTICLE END ***********************
- To distribute your articles go to http://www.isnare.com/distribution.php
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Message delivered directly to members of the group:
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*****************************************************************
Please consider this free-reprint article written by:
Peter Nisbet
*****************************
IMPORTANT - Publication/Reprint Terms
- You have permission to publish this article electronically in free-only publications such as a website or an ezine as long as the bylines are included.
- You are not allowed to use this article for commercial purposes. The article should only be reprinted in a publicly accessible website and not in a members-only commercial site.
- You are not allowed to post/reprint this article in any sites/publications that contains or supports hate, violence, porn and warez or any indecent and illegal sites/publications.
- You are not allowed to use this article in UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email) or SPAM. This article MUST be distributed in an opt-in email list only.
- If you distribute this article in an ezine or newsletter, we ask that you send a copy of the newsletter or ezine that contains the article to http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=683461
- If you post this article in a website/forum/blog, ALL links MUST be set to hyperlinks and we ask that you send a copy of the URL where the article is posted to http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=683461
- We request that you ask permission from the author if you want to publish this article in print.
The role of iSnare.com is only to distribute this article as part of its Article Distribution feature ( http://www.isnare.com/distribution.php ). iSnare.com does NOT own this article, please respect the author's copyright and this publication/reprint terms. If you do not agree to any of these terms, please do not reprint or publish this article.
*****************************
Article Title: Is a Bootleg Movie Download Legal or Illegal
Author: Peter Nisbet
Word Count: 814
Article URL: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=683461&ca=Entertainment
Format: 64cpl
Contact The Author: http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=683461
Easy Publish Tool: http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=683461
*********************** ARTICLE START ***********************
Good question: is a bootleg movie download legal or illegal? The name itself should give a clue - 'bootleg'! The word first appeared in the Omaha Herald in 1889, and refers to 'moonshine' being hidden in the expansive volume of a cowboy's boot leg, where he would also keep a spare gun, tobacco and other things, moonshine, of course, being illicitly distilled whiskey. The term came more into common parlance during the Prohibition era and now means anything illegal or illicit.
So a bootleg movie download is definitely illegal, but in what way. In fact, because it is a copy of a movie that is protected by copyright law it is an illegal download in breach of copyright law. So what does the copyright law state? Who knows? It has been confused so often over the years. In 1998 the period of copyright extended from 50 to 70 years after the death of the original copyright holder - who does not have to be the originator of the movie.
What does that mean? The death of who? The producer? The screenwriter, the director? The movie studio? Confusing? You bet it is, and that's why so many people are confused today as to what is copyright and what isn't. However, these confusions refer only to movies made 70 - 100 years ago or more, although it's pretty obvious that the copyright extension is designed to enable people to keep making money by extending the time before it's a free for all for whoever wants to use the material.
Walt Disney made his fortune from public domain material (the name given when copyright expires). The fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and others were the material behind most of his cartoons. He did it according to the law at the time.
What about now? A bootleg movie download is illegal by definition, but it is not illegal to download public domain movies or those that the originator is allowing to be downloaded. Of course, if you come across yesterday's blockbuster then that is going to be illegal to download, yet you are still able to do so using the same software you would use for the public domain movies.
Why is that? Why can't the movie moguls make it impossible by applying a block to downloading movies without a key offered to those that pay for the movie? Because they are lazy most likely, and expect us to know what is and is not out of copyright. So back to the software.
It is referred to as P2P software, or peer to peer file sharing, where members can download the movies and music stored on another member's hard disk. There is still a lot of such software available online: there are free versions and paid subscriptions. The paid version provides support, a better interface and a significantly faster turbo-charged download speed. A bootleg movie download takes a long time to download, and the accelerated download speed is worth paying for alone.
In addition to that you get burning software so you can burn the movie to a DVD and watch it on your 50" TV rather than your 17" computer. That is what a paid subscription gives you, and you can normally purchase a one year or a lifetime one-off subscription. The software enables to download any movie you want usually, and as much music as you want. All need make sure of is that it is not a bootleg movie download, but out of copyright and in the public domain. If not, then . . .
You take your chances of being caught, although very few are. However, I do not condone a bootleg movie download, and urge you to use the software available legally. Some have been caught and prosecuted, although that seems to have died down lately. The guys they should really be after are those doing it as a business.
They copy every movie and music track that is issued, burn them onto DVD or CD, make up a fancy case just like the original and sell them as originals. They are mostly from the Far East - no prizes for guessing where the up and coming entrepreneurs live these days! Only they don't hunt them down - they hunted down high school kids and their moms, but public opinion has reduced this lately.
There are websites available where you can download videos from site offering them form libraries of thousands of videos approved by the copyright holders for release to the public. They are therefore legal DVD downloads, and not strictly peer to peer. These are also available, but with them you have to distinguish between them: is this legal or is it a bootleg movie download. The choice is yours but I urge you only to download legal movies legally.
About The Author: More details on avoiding a bootleg movie download and focusing on the legal aspects of downloading movies and music using file sharing software are available from the legal pages of Pete's website http://www.online-free-movies.com where you will also find a number of sites that can be used legally to download movies and music.
Please use the HTML version of this article at:
http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=683461
*********************** ARTICLE END ***********************
- To distribute your articles go to http://www.isnare.com/distribution.php
- For more free-reprint articles go to http://www.isnare.com
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