Call me naive but...

[rigsby]

Are the DVD Movie download sites illegal? There seems to be loads and loads of what appear to be very professional websites offering DVD quality movie downloads, for a monthly/one off subscription. If they are legal are the movies all straight to video rubbish or are they up to date block buster types too, also are they really DVD quality?
Thanks in advance.

[XA04]

Yes.

[rigsby]

Yes - illegal?
Would you not have some defence in that you were paying for a service..like renting a video, therefore couldnt know if it was legitimate or not?

[TheAnimus]

not as far as i'm aware, there are some cop-out cluases in some parts of the world. But generally speaking people know these are pirate just like if you buy them from the dodgy guy at the market.

its not the same as say using a distro of linux which has copy right violations because your using it in good faith.

[ChrisP]

Yes definately illegal even if they charge you. Sky by broadband has been launched, however Ive heard this is very slow and poor quality.

[XA04]

I can't remember where I read this, I think it was on these forums. But basically they ask for a subscription and then basically give you a link to download a crappy P2P program with very slow download speeds.

And you could probably download the P2P program free in the first place.

[ChrisP]

http://lifestyle.hexus.net/content/i...by%20broadband

[XA04]

Well that's obviously legal as you need to buy a subscription with Sky anyway.

[rigsby]

So what is Usenet? I saw something yesterday about Blade Runner in HD being available on it?

[XA04]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet

[UltraMagnus]

well, these sites are legal in russia, and thats where most of them are based.

so, well, its legal, as long as you live in russia

[rigsby]

So has anyone ever been prosecuted for using these Russian sites?
There seems to be a lot of erm...adult sites to down load DVD's but they all seem legit, how come no one does a mainstream movie download site?

[ChrisP]

I dont know, which Russian sites you are referring to but I would have thought if you download movies, music or anything else it is illegal no matter where the web site is based. Basically theft, which is what the MPAA or RIAA may prosecute you for.

Not that this stops many people mind and the amount of people, which they do actually prosecute from what I have read is very low.

[Mike Fishcake]

If you're downloading a commercial DVD for free, regardless of whether or not the country you're in expressly prohibits it, you're still denying money to the people involved in it. Here, it comes down to morals rather than legal obligations.

[directhex]

russian copyright law applies ONLY to physical media - hence selling pirate material on the web is permitted.

under the berne convention, you can't get what is essentially pirate media from russia - even if it's legal over there, it's not legal over here.

the prosecution rate for this kind of thing is very low, as your personal details never get into the hands of those who could, quite rightly, prosecute.

and usenet are newsgroups, a ye olde alternative to web forums, and a popular home for large warez downloads