Private torrent sites are legal ?

[TopGUN]

Private torrent sites are legal?
I am planing to host one

Accepted answer by Tokeman

Again I must point out, that unless the admin is notified, then IMO its not illegal. If that were true, then google would be illegal, as they contain links to copyrighted material. They just take it down when they get notified about it. They don't go around looking for stuff to remove on their own, so why should it be any different for torrent sites, they are also only indexing links.

Now I understand that most if not all torrent sites do not provide a way to be contacted about such links, but if they did....?

This is all just a curious subject for me, I'm not trying to be difficult or prove I'm right. I just like a good debate :)
Because It is with nice eg.
Thanks :D

[mievmo]

Yes

[Disme]

As legal as can be ...

Seriously ... no they are not if you intend to involve in the sharing of copyrighted material.
A private torrent site an sich ain't illegal. It's what happens within the tracker that can make it illegal.

[RedRansom]

Yes
absolutely

[Polarbear]

Private torrent sites are legal?
I am planing to host one

since there's no world law, it depends on the country.

[Totti]

the owner of the site is not responsible for what the users upload.....

[Cabalo]

the owner of the site is not responsible for what the users upload.....
sure, tell that to the owner of Oink...

[Totti]

the owner of the site is not responsible for what the users upload.....
sure, tell that to the owner of Oink...
well that's what the disclaimers say :whistling

[stroj]

Private torrent sites are legal?
I am planing to host one

Tracker itself is legal. Content makes it ilegal (or not "too legal")

[ryan20021982]

the owner of the site is not responsible for what the users upload.....

Someone stashes a bag of weed in your car and cops find it

I want to be there when you tell them your not responsible for
what others put in your car

[nrs]

i think that if you are going to host a tracker you should know what you are doing, eg you should know under which circumstances it is legal

its in some regions legal and in some not

[Tokeman]

The internet is legal, its what we all do on it that makes it illegal
0_o
I dont really understand how they can hold the site owner responsible for members, when they dont hold ISP's responsible for users on their network.

[ryan20021982]

I dont really understand how they can hold the site owner responsible for members, when they dont hold ISP's responsible for users on their network.

I think the reasoning for that would be the ISP is just providing
a service but the torrent site if providing the file that you need
to get the copyrighted material

[Tokeman]

No, a torrent site is providing an index, an index of user submitted content. Indexes are not illegal, only the files are.

[integral]

The law isn't always black and white. The powers that be will crack down, worldwide, most assuredly. One could say that laws in places like Sweden are loose and accommodating for citizens, but it's just that their legislation is lame, honestly. Big business is being hurt here, people; piracy is getting more visibility as each day passes. You'd be silly to think that TPB is going to last forever. After that, the next sites to get axed will be the sites that claim to be "scene," an epithet referring to file/files that are shared between groups of people that adhere to certain rules, one of those being that no file freely available anywhere else can be shared. It's only a matter of time..

[alcoholik]

it's legal man ;) :D

[derstev]

No offense, but the fact you have to ask that makes me think you maybe shouldnt.

[saulin]

No, a torrent site is providing an index, an index of user submitted content. Indexes are not illegal, only the files are.


And the torrent site knows that the content being indexed is illegal and yet it allows it. Therefore if the tracker gets busted, well the owner is usually the one that goes down. Not the 1000s of uploaders. Maybe some selected uplaoders but usually is the owner.

A fine example is the the Oink bust.

I think this is also like you allowing people to deal drugs in your home. You might not buy or sell but you let people do illegal business in your home. Do you think you can get away with it once the cops raid your place?

[Scavenger]

If you are planning to host one, You should already know, and know well about this. No offence.

[lukee]

I don't care as long as i get my files.

[nipple]

yes for sure illegal

[pone44]

Edit-http://www.tehroot.com/signup.php
Found one :lol: has 0 files 7 peers, legal for now. Am i correct :D

Was going to post something similar. What could be legal with say a regular 0 day site such as TD,the owner of the pig was arrested. Site is legal until 1st upload? Basically has to be free, no making money for profit. Idk?



the owner of the site is not responsible for what the users upload.....
sure, tell that to the owner of Oink...

[Eargasm]

If the site is only for transferring public domain files, or to distributed your own copyrighted files, or otherwise authorized copyrighted files... well, then you are OK.

If it is distribute others' copyrighted files then it depends on the country, frankly speaking. Some countries it is illegal, and others not so much.

[Tokeman]

But the problem is the site itself isn't transferring or hosting any files at all, its all the userbase. Arguably, all torrent sites are legal, the users may be conducting illegal business thats all.

Think of it this way (and in this example the files ARE hosted on the site):
Some one uploads child porn to rapidshare. Should rapidshare be shut down? No, they go after that one user. Now suppose rapidshare was a private site. How does that change anything? It doesn't, the site is not responsible for users breaking the TOS.

Now one could argue that most torrent sites aren't enforcing their own policies and rules, but does their lack of administration make the site illegal, especially since no content is actually on the servers that the admins control?

[JPaul]

As legal as can be ...

Seriously ... no they are not if you intend to involve in the sharing of copyrighted material.
A private torrent site an sich ain't illegal. It's what happens within the tracker that can make it illegal.

What he said.

Tho' in English.

In the UK you are responsible for what users upload. Indeed it's a more serious offence. Facilitating is considered criminal whilst breach of copyright is considered a civil matter (so long as it's not for profit).

[jasperr]

legality is such a grey area these days, if a country like sweden has no laws on the subject.. you could say yes.. but on the opposite side you can say no... just as you can host a site there and "feel free" about it.. a group like brien or some equivalent can come in get swedish co-operation(which most likely wouldn't be hard to do) and take your ass to jail and be just as right as you... so, that part is a double edged sword

[ryan20021982]

Theres no reason to keep arguing about it because in the end
it all depends on what the judge believes anyways

[dinamo82]

the owner of the site is not responsible for what the users upload.....

but he is responsible if he doesn't delete it and remove it from the site, and in 99% of cases is like that

[Tokeman]

the owner of the site is not responsible for what the users upload.....

but he is responsible if he doesn't delete it and remove it from the site, and in 99% of cases is like that

That only applies if they are notified of the offending file. The admin wouldn't know if a user has rights or not to a movie, until whoever owned it complains. Most sites state that users must have the rights to the files uploaded. Its not up to the admin to babysit every upload and track legal rights. Just like google has take down requests they have to honor, so should torrent sites. Since they are private, and public can't see the files, I'm sure they would get little to no take down requests. This would affect your statement drastically, as no requests are probably made to take down content.

[lhnz]

If they are being used to "facilitate the sharing of copyrighted material" then they're illegal. If people are only "facilitating the sharing of material they legally own" then it's fine.

[Tokeman]

Again I must point out, that unless the admin is notified, then IMO its not illegal. If that were true, then google would be illegal, as they contain links to copyrighted material. They just take it down when they get notified about it. They don't go around looking for stuff to remove on their own, so why should it be any different for torrent sites, they are also only indexing links.

Now I understand that most if not all torrent sites do not provide a way to be contacted about such links, but if they did....?

This is all just a curious subject for me, I'm not trying to be difficult or prove I'm right. I just like a good debate :)

[andlcool]

If you don't get caught, it is legal.

Once you get caught, it is illegal.

^_^

[Disme]

Again I must point out, that unless the admin is notified, then IMO its not illegal. If that were true, then google would be illegal, as they contain links to copyrighted material. They just take it down when they get notified about it. They don't go around looking for stuff to remove on their own, so why should it be any different for torrent sites, they are also only indexing links.

Now I understand that most if not all torrent sites do not provide a way to be contacted about such links, but if they did....?

I think the big difference between Google and a private tracker is that the sole purpose of a BT-tracker is to facilitate copyright infridgement and Google is basically a search machine that can be used to do illegal things.

It all depends on what laws certain countries have because there isn't something like a universal law against copyright infridgement.

[TopGUN]

Again I must point out, that unless the admin is notified, then IMO its not illegal. If that were true, then google would be illegal, as they contain links to copyrighted material. They just take it down when they get notified about it. They don't go around looking for stuff to remove on their own, so why should it be any different for torrent sites, they are also only indexing links.

Now I understand that most if not all torrent sites do not provide a way to be contacted about such links, but if they did....?

This is all just a curious subject for me, I'm not trying to be difficult or prove I'm right. I just like a good debate :)

Great answer with example thanks
:D

[winmac]

It can be legal... As long as you host a legal files. :D

[xantra]

lol everyone wants to host one these days... too many of them around to keep up with.