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Legality on Downloading Music/Movies/Tv Shows in Ireland

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  • 13-09-2007 10:41pm
    #1
    allanb49
    Registered Users Posts: 6,419 ✭✭✭


    What are the laws and legal issues on downloading any of the above in Ireland?

    Is it ok to download as long as for personal use. Im trying to find some form of the legality but cant find anything anywhere.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated

    Thanks


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    #2
    miju
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 8,486 ✭✭✭miju


    to sum it up in one sentence. if you dont pay for a commercially available music download then its illegal, period


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    #3
    guiser
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3 ✭guiser


    Most music, tv and film which you download for free is not legal. Even if it is licensed in another country where downloading it for very little money is legal, it may not be licensed to download here for those paltry sums, and therefore to download it for tiny amounts is probably illegal here.

    However, there are some sources of free music, TV and film which are perfectly legitimate. If an artist or publisher chooses to make their material available for free online, they have every right to do so. So there is no problem in downloading selected tracks from a band's myspace page or through lastfm or whoever. It depends on the terms on the website but it is most likely that downloading it is limited to personal use only.

    The other source of legitimate free downloads is stuff which is no longer in copyright or which the copyright holder cannot be reasonably sourced (a dodgy legal premise) or the copyright holder has donated to the public domain. The Prelinger Archive is an example of this: you'll find it through www.archive.org. If you're into watching American 1950s government funded films on being nice to your parents, this is the place for you. (there are some very cute short films on it, normally educational or advertising - not exactly your latest blockbuster though).


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    #4
    BaZmO*
    Registered Users Posts: 18,625 ✭✭✭✭BaZmO*


    allanb49 wrote:
    Is it ok to download as long as for personal use.
    Ah c'mon. Do you really need to ask?


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