Legal/Illegal downloads. Who knows?

[willythecat]

A post to the sites concerned, ie my ISP, or what. I dunno! Thought l'd try here first as someone always gives me a sensible answer.
So, two different kinds of sites, hypothetically mininova (whereby people can upload and downloaders become seeds/peers) or rapidshare whereby people can download but it is by a direct link to the uploader.
Also, let's say that l have uploaded a home made movie (everyday life of home and garden) to each of these sites. I want my friends to be able to download it, but l also don't care who else downloads it (nothing to hide).
Now the same goes for myself. I can logon to any of these sites and download the latest blockbuster movie with total ease, which would of course be totally illegal to do, or l can download a movie that a friend has made and uploaded. It then gets a bit scary when you read about these people getting done for illegal downloads.
So how does anyone differentiate between what l am downloading, eg an illegal "blockbuster" or a valid download?
I have quite a few home movies (too large to just send) that l want my friends to be able to logon to a site and download without getting them into any trouble.
Would appreciate any comments.
Thank you

[Helpmeh]

Well, if the videos are copyrighted then it is not legal to download/watch it.

The way I see it, when you buy a movie, you are getting a licence to view the video at home.

Your home made videos are uncopyrighted, and therefor, anyone can watch them legally.

[BC_Programmer]

So how does anyone differentiate between what l am downloading, eg an illegal "blockbuster" or a valid download?

Not sure how they would... but they would have to if they (whomever they are) were to litigate.

[willythecat]

Thanks everyone, but l probably put more emphasis on the illegal download than the legal one (sorry) l meant it the other way around but......
How do these downloaders get caught then?
I'm now (hypothetically) downloading a movie from my friends kids' birthday party. Who knows whether it's legal or not (of course it's legal) but who knows?
Just trying to ascertain, out of interest, how someone knows the difference, if that makes sense

[Helpmeh]

A kids party wouldn't be illegal. Downloaders don't get caught unless they download a tracer program. A tracer could also be a trojan, it pretends to be a cracked program, etc. and send information to the legal owner. It could even be made by the company that makes the real one. This is just an idea, I'm not 100% sure about it. 

[willythecat]

Thanks for that Helpmeh.
Well blow me down, a friends kids party illegal? I sort of see where you're coming from there, so probably not a good example to have picked.
It makes you wonder though. If l walk around for ages taking a video of the house and garden here in France and then burn it to disk, then l should basically send that disk to England and NOT upload it to a site whereby numerous friends can download it from online. Is that then copyrighted?
Gets soooooooo confusing.
Thanks for bearing with me on this.
Regards

 

[Helpmeh]

No. It would not be copyrighted. Copyrighting something is a LENGTHY process. But here is what you need to know. Don't download movies that are or were in theatres or on DVD/VHS. You CAN download home movies legally.

[BC_Programmer]

Well blow me down, a friends kids party illegal?
 

He said it wasn't illegal.

[willythecat]

Whoops, sorry BC, brain and typing fingers not in sync!
Question answered.
What a great site this is. Throw in whatever question you may have, however stupid you may think it to be, and it will always get answered.
Thanks again HM and BC
Kind Regards
 

[Helpmeh]

Whoops, sorry BC, brain and typing fingers not in sync!
Question answered.
What a great site this is. Throw in whatever question you may have, however stupid you may think it to be, and it will always get answered.
Thanks again HM and BC
Kind Regards
 

There are no legitimate questions that are stupid. If you learn, then it is a good thing. Maybe you can stick around and help other members out too!

[Mulreay]

Just to add another note. I find the easiest way to differentiate between the two is ask yourself one question before you download. Did the Author/Creator intend for this video to be shared between people for free.
So Warner bros did not intend that hence illegal.
You do intend that so it's not illegal.

[Geek-9pm]

This question get asked over and over. Do a Google on the most exact or clear or right phrase and see what you get.
I tried the exact phrase "Is it legal to download a movie."  with the word 'copyright" in the article and got over 900 links. No way can I read 900 articles on this.
Here is just one worth showing here:

Is it legal to download a movie free of charge?

If you have some worries about the legality of downloading a movie free of charge, you may feel safer downloading movies that are considered public domain. This means that you are certainly not guilty of anything illegal if you download a classic movie free of charge. Some sites, however, do not allow you to download a movie free of charge. Instead, you can just watch the movie free. You can watch the movie only when you are connected to the Internet.

Downloading a movie free of any charge is not strictly illegal. The film industry, however, is not pleased with the easy access to movies created by such downloading. The music industry has the same reaction to file sharing.

From: http://www.moviefree.com.au/

[Broni]

So how does anyone differentiate between what l am downloading, eg an illegal "blockbuster" or a valid download?

Some copyrighted material is uploaded there on purpose by authorities and those will include hidden, so called, "tracker".
The tracker will tell them exactly, to which computer that particular illegal download went.

[Mulreay]

Also remember that downloading Torrents is not illegal but the files attached to the torrent can be e.g blockbuster movies etc
Also depends on where you live, Europe is far more relaxed when it comes to file sharing than say over America.