Is Limewire legal, if not then why do so many people have it?
362470
it's a gray area.........it's illegal to download music but the software remains legal.\nI know. It's confusing.\nHave fun. Download what you want. If you didn't care about music, you wouldn't be listening to the music you downloaded. Your not the problem. The record companies and music radio are the problem.
804341
Not every download is copyright infringment.\n\nIf someone has legal ownership of a work (as its creator/author), then they are perfectly entitled to grant permission for anyone else to make copies and distribute them.\n\nAlso, many works are either public domain or allowed by their copyright holder to be distributed under a specific license agreement (such as non-commercial use only). These are again not in volation of copyright laws.\n\nSo, there are plenty of legal ways that software like limewire can be used. And as long as there are legal uses, and as long as the software maker doesn't intend or support illegal use to occur -- the software itself is not illegal.\n\nBut using it to make unlawful copies is still illegal.
618613
As long as you have decent virus protection, you should have no problem. It might occasionally find a virus, but if it does, it will cancel the download. I've used it thousands of times and only found about 3 viruses. A lot of people say limewire is full of viruses, but I don't have any problems with it.
1019394
I don't understand why everyone discredits LimeWire - it works perfectly if you know how to use it - I have never caught any malware from it because I understand how to work it and how to avoid malware.
460133
That's illegal stuff there downloading it using ANY P2P network, if you get caught downloading you can get heavily fined..
125018
Because the programs themselves are not illegal in most areas, although the recent Grokster decision said that they may be if they actively encourage piracy.\n\nBut a program like Limewire or eMule never says "Hey, look! Free pirated mp3's here!". In fact it states NOT to download copyrighted files. Of course, most p2p files are illegally downloaded, but the programs themselves are still considered legal.\n\nIt's like a Xerox machine. You can illegally copy a book using it, but the machine itself is legal.
610755
Limewire is a file-sharing program.  illegal, but many people still use it.\n\nMusic can be downloaded from it
489936
ok, how this works is that when you donload limwire, it takes all the music files and stuffs and adds it to its library. then whoever doenloads limewire, thier music is available for download. and thats how u get music, it's other peoples. i think?
1176297
NEVER! LIMEWIRE IS ILLEGAL... KINDA.\n\nLime wire is not an illegal service, but using it (MOST OF THE TIME IS). When you buy a CD is says the norm copyright and everything, if you'd look into LimeWire, you'll find that getting anything wiht a copyright on the CD it came from is illegal.\nTHEREFORE, ANYTHING PEOPLE GOT FROM CDS TO ADD TO LIMEWIRE AND SHARE WITH OTHERS IS ILLEGAL. SO, UNLESS IT WAS A FREE DOWNLOAD FROM A BAND'S WEBSITE, WHICH MEANS YOU COULD JUST GO GET IT THERE, ITS ILLEGAL.\n\nPlus, you dont know who is sharing the music you get. Some one could put a populare song on limewire, but hide a virus in it, and millions of people that get it, will have viruses!\n\nIf you are smart you'll resist the temtation.
710210
They own a copy of the product, but not the product itself.\n\nAnd it's not illegal to download, but it is illegal to upload music, movies, etc.
347278
the above answer is not completely true\n\notherwise, why would there be p2p programs at all?\n\n\nIf you want to share something you created completely on your own, you are free to do so.  But yes, sharing music and video files that you bought is illegal.  If caught, there can be some very stiff fines if not prosecutions & jail time.
941261
Just because it's free doesn't mean it's illegal.  Free, legal downloads with permission from the bands, no BS, no credit card or subscription required:\nhttp://www.archive.org/details/etree\nhttp://stash.nugs.net/stash.asp\nhttp://bt.etree.org\n\nCheck this out too (streaming media only, but tons of great stuff):\nhttp://sugarmegs.org
310552
I have Limewire,It is completly Legal because they also have a version that you can pay for.Even if you get the free version you eont get in trouble
219860
Limewire itself is not illegal, if used to share legal stuff.  You can't share copyrighted stuff legally without permission of the copyright holder.
220390
Yes it is free but keep this in mind....  I may be mistaken but...\n\nIt is illegal to use Limewire to download copyrighted material from someone other than the owner of that material.\n\nIt is legal if they are the owners of that material, to, download to your hearts content.\n\nI think it might be against the law in Australia, could be wrong, depends were you are.\n\nWhat is VERY ILLEGAL about Limewire that people don't realize is that if you don't read, pay attention or whatever and get fooled into sharing everything on your computer, and, some of that everything includes other peoples private information and you let everyone have it, that is not just illegal, it is wrong.\n\nIf you don't believe me, using limewire, search for images called dscn or hpim , feel free to add a four digit number after it to mix things up. These are digi cam pictures, mostly from people who don't know they are sharing everything. Searching for text documents is an awesome power when trying to find business people who are sharing everthing. I am not saying to look into or do this.\n\nSee for yourself, one in 7 should be sharing well over 5000 files, easy. This is a serious problem. I am not joking. I have been trying to stop this for months.
781251
Downloading free file sharing software from www.limewire.com is safe AND legal. It's what files you choose to download and what you choose to do with them that can get you into less-than-legal territory. I personally use Limewire for particular mp3 downloads, but I have run into trouble if I try downloading games and other programs like that. Do make sure you have a good updated antivirus program running, and definitely don't download anything that looks fishy. That's pretty obvious. Limewire has served me well for lots of downloads of songs. It's easy to use and almost all the songs are easy to find.
680681
What people do with Limewire is distribute music files to everyone who wants them.  This is piracy of copyrighted property (the songs).