The contrast between legal music downloads and illegal movie download websites is not as stark as most people believe it to be, even from the movie Vs music angle. That is because when you visit websites offering online free movies, they also offer music downloads, and in many cases such music can be legal to download.

This whole confusion comes about due to the fact that the same legal file sharing software is used to download both movies and music, and also games and the burning software needed to burn the music and movies onto DVD. CD can also be used for online music downloads, although most people stick to DVD these days.

P2P File Sharing Software is Not Illegal to Use

So why is there no difference between illegal movie download websites and those offering legal music downloads? Very simply because the file sharing software itself is not illegal to use – it is what such P2P software is used for that can be illegal. In short, it is illegal to download any material that is protected by copyright law, and file sharing is one of the most common methods used to download music and movies.

The difference lies in the fact that some artists and bands permit their music to be downloaded free, while very few movie studios will permit their movies to be downloaded unless paid for. New bands and singers may feel it to their benefit to allow their early work to be distributed to the general public without payment using P2P file sharing software, feeling that once they are better known online they may have a chance of reaching the charts – or at least of selling some tickets to their gigs or concerts.

Both Use the Same Software

Naturally, this is not a viable option for movie makers other than very small private concerns, and so when people use file sharing software to download movies they are generally from illegal movie download websites. The confusing factor is that this is done using exactly the same software as is used for legal music downloads. So it would difficult to ban software that is providing a service to one section of the community just because illegal movie download websites are offering the same software.

Illegal Movie Downloads Difficult to Prove

Not only that, but it is also difficult to prove what are and what are not illegal movie download websites, and even which computers are using it to download bootleg movies. For example, if you connect to the internet via a router, then the IP address detected as connecting to a download site is the IP address of the router, not the individual computers attached to it.

If that is a wireless router, it has been proved and accepted in court that any bootleg movies downloaded using your router IP address need not have been downloaded by you, but by anybody that could have used your wireless router to access the internet – whether or not your system is password-protected.

Therefore, while it is not legal to download movies using illegal movie download websites, it is next to impossible to prove that was you if you had use a wireless internet router to do so. Because bootleg movie downloads are today of excellent quality, they are popular – almost as popular as the potentially legal music downloads made using the same file sharing software- and it is becoming difficult to prove which are the websites actually downloading the protected files.

Author Bio: Further details on illegal movie download websites and how to find legal music downloads are available on Pete\’s website Online Free Movies where you will also find legal music downloads a great deal of legal information on how to Download Movies Legally.

Category: Entertainment
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