It is illegal to download any music or movies that are copyrighted. Downloading or file-sharing a copyrighted song or movie could expose you to a lawsuit for money damages that could cost you hundreds or even thousands of dollars. ‹ Illegal Downloading up What Is Copyright Infringement? ›
Copyright infringement in America can be punished either through civil lawsuits (where copyright holders file lawsuits directly against the downloader) or through criminal laws (where individuals involved in illegal file sharing can face fines and jail terms).
Illegal downloading (also known as piracy) is when a user downloads a copy of paid content for free without permission from the owner. This includes music, TV shows, movies, video games, audiobooks, ebooks and sports broadcasts.
Piracy is theft, plain and simple.
81% of Australians agree that downloading or streaming pirated content is stealing/theft. The notion that somehow entertainment is not valuable because it's not as tangible as a car or a piece of clothing is both inaccurate and damaging.
The Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) governs copyright law in Australia and sets out strict penalties for infringement. Under the Act, it is illegal to reproduce, adapt or communicate copyrighted material without the permission of the copyright owner. This includes downloading or sharing copyrighted material online.
You can also be imprisoned depending on what you're found guilty of. The Australian IP Government agency explained that fines are applied to users who sell, possess, distribute, or import copyrighted content. The copyright law requires ISPs to notify Australian users who try to access blocked websites.
The potential penalties for breaching the law include fines of up to $117,000 for individuals and a possible term of imprisonment for up to five years.
Whether you're being accused of illegally downloading a song or movie or using an unlicensed copy of Photoshop, a piracy charge is nothing to make light of. In fact, piracy is a federal crime. These felony charges can land you in prison for a year or longer, depending upon the circumstances of your individual case.
There are both civil and criminal penalties for illegal downloading and file sharing: In a civil suit, an infringer may be liable for a copyright owner's actual damages plus any profits made from the infringement.
Penalties for Piracy
Maximum penalties for misdemeanor copyright infringement are one year in prison and a $100,000 fine. Maximum penalties for felony copyright infringement generally are: Commercial advantage or private financial gain: five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Even if you've verified that your download is a verified product coming from a trustworthy source, do not download if you don't already have an anti-virus software installed on your computer. Once the program is downloaded, you've opened yourself to potential security issues.
A popular choice for illegally obtained software is for it to “call home” when it's installed and first run. This can establish a direct link between software and location (via IP address) and also between software and any specific machine on a given network (via machine fingerprinting).
Uploading files of digital content that's copyrighted through the process of seeding is always illegal. Most BitTorrent users will never face any consequences for torrenting, but there's a small chance of being dropped by your internet service provider (ISP) or being sued by copyright holders.
We recommend avoiding these services – they're not only illegitimate, many are actually dangerous to use. Based on a strict testing criteria, the best free and legal movie streaming sites are Crackle, Peacock, The Roku Channel, Tubi, and SBS On Demand.
WHEN IT COMES TO COPYING MUSIC OR MOVIES? Here is the bottom line: If you download or distribute copyrighted media without authorization from the copyright owner, you are breaking the law. Distribution can mean anything from “sharing” media files on the Internet, to burning multiple copies of copyrighted media.
Video files are not typically thought of as potentially malicious or infected file types, but it is possible for malware to be embedded in or disguised as a video file.
Websites like Internet Archive, Open Culture, and Public Domain Torrents offer free movies that are legal to download. Public domain films are those whose copyrights have expired, making them free to download and watch. You can find a variety of old classics and foreign films on these websites.
Unless the video has a Creative Commons license displayed on YouTube, it is also copyright infringement. That's illegal under civil law. To most, this counts as internet piracy, but some only count distribution, not copying.
"Avatar"
Twentieth Century Fox This movie about a paraplegic marine and inhabitants of moon Pandora is the number-one most downloaded movie on BitTorrent. And who can blame them? "Avatar," which came out 2009 and has grossed over $2.7 billion, is a favorite of ours, too. It was downloaded 21 million times.
26% of online users download a film or a TV series from illegal sources. 13% of users download an e-book or an audiobook from illegal sources. 21% of users download games from illegal sources. Shazam!
How many people get caught pirating? Assuming you shared files for all five years of the RIAA's legal hunt, among an (eventual) crowd of 45.6 million, that's a one in 1,629 chance of getting caught during that time period.
Research shows that 21% of Australians aged 18-64 and 26% of Australians aged 12-17 download film and TV content from pirate websites. 11 “Everyone is doing it” is one of the justifications pirates use to normalise and legitimise their behaviour.
Using Peer to Peer Technology
And in this case, the law also works against users who want to get any content for free. Formally, the user does not break the law at the moment when they watch a movie outside legal platforms.
The United States applies a three-strike rule to anyone caught torrenting copyrighted content. After three strikes, content owners can begin criminal proceedings. After this, anyone found guilty can risk up to five years in jail and a fine of up to $250,000.