A question about BitTorrents...

[X X I]

How legal and how safe are bittorrents?

If you use a p2p program to download music, but you don't share the music, you won't get caught (correct me if I am wrong). Does the same hold true for downloading software, music, and movies on bittorrents? I'm just curious. Also, how safe is it in terms of someone hacking into your computer or contracting a virus or your computer just malfunctioning?

What is the best site for this type of technology? Supernova?

[Chicago1871]

It's my understanding that because you are not sharing a file, but only bits of one, so any current crackdown efforts are mostly focused on the full file sharing like Grokster, Kazaa, Morpheus, etc. Eventually Bittorrent will go the way of the previously mentioned programs, but right now I believe it is safe (legally) because it is somewhat untrackable.

Security-wise, I'm not the person to ask. Foos knows his stuff, he might be able to better inform you there.

[-cman-]

Any sharing of copyrighted material is going to draw the attention of the various *AA's. But Bit Torrent is pretty safe because you are only publishing the files you are currently downloading or uploading. This makes it hard for potential prosecutors to "zoom" in on folks.

Also in the Grokster case (I believe it was) the judge ruled a couple of weeks ago that the technology publisher could not be held liable for copyright infringement. Since Bit Torrent is very commonly used for legitimate software distribution purposes it lowers the "threshold" if you will of RIAA MPAA scrutiny. It is much easier for them to go after the big, commercial peering operators.

[Foosinho]

IANAL, so I am talking completely out of my ass. The legality of bittorrents depend completely on what torrent you join. If you are downloading the newest release of the Fedora Core, you are fine. If you are downloading Hero you are not.

As for trackability... it's pretty easy to determine what IPs are currently connected to the torrent. Go to http://torrents.huntparkinsider.com/ if you don't believe me.

As for the security of your PC, that depends entirely on the user (ie, you). Virus check everything you download. If you download executable files from P2P programs that aren't from a trusted source (eg, Red Hat), you are playing Russian Roulette.

From the RIAA/MPAA's POV, there is no difference between downloading and uploading files. Bittorrent is more difficult to stop than something like KaZaA, due to the technology's architecture. However, if you are worried about getting caught doing something illegal, then maybe you shouldn't do things that may be illegal, you know?

I should also add that I think there are legitimate reasons to share/download copyrighted works on the internet, that I think that there are real problems with the way copyright works (again, IANAL), and that there are serious problems with the way music and movie distribution works in the modern world. That said, being a cheap bastard is not a valid reason to download copyrighted works, IMO. Creators of content deserve to be compensated for their work.

All of that said, Suprnova is one of my favorite bittorrent sites. As is http://torrents.huntparkinsider.com/ :D

[Chicago1871]

As is http://torrents.huntparkinsider.com/ :D
Ha. :)