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Home Guy

wrote:

However that doesn't mean that duplicating and selling a copy of the
OS isn't a crime (in the US a federal crime) which can result in
long prison terms. Just ask Megaupload about it.

There is no money changing hands when something is torrented.

Megaupload was raided because they failed to obey DMCA take-down
notices.

You have the right to make a copy of a creative work that you have
a license to possess under the concept of fair use.

Fair use is unlikely to extend to a full copy for sale.

I brought up the argument of Fair Use because KR-Jerk said that copying
was illegal.

And again, when it comes to "downloading", no money needs to change
hands to accomplish it - be it downloading via torrent, file-locker or
usenet.

The fact that no users were charged is meaningless or at least
means that the justice department has better things to do than
prosecute millions of downloaders in the US and probably hundreds
of millions worldwide.

Again, Megaupload was raided and shut-down because they failed to obey
DMCA takedown notices.

File-lockers like Megaupload are given "safe harbor" provisions under
DMCA - until they receive notice from a rights-holder that some material
that THEY ARE MAKING AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD is not their property and
they must cease and take-down that material immediately.

There is no provision under DMCA to find fault or responsibility with
those that download material - only with those that MAKE THE MATERIAL
*AVAILABLE* FOR DOWNLOAD.

For someone to be able to download copyrighted material, there must
first be someone that makes the material available for download. If you
download from a file-locker, you are not making the material available.
If you obtain material via torrent, then you ARE part of a collective
that is making the material available.

Especially as the prosecutions if criminal

Criminal charges are RARELY applied to copyright matters.

Only when a money is involved can criminal considerations take place.
The most common example of that being when some back-room
disk-duplication business is raided by police.