Legal repercussions of seeding?

[KeyWiteWolf]

Hi. I'm new to this sort of torrent site, so forgive me if this is a stupid question, but as I did not find it in the wiki or searching the forum I hope its ok to ask. I am worried about the legal repercussions of seeding. I had always been told that no one really goes after leechers/downloaders much (unless they are getting like 500gb in a shot or something obvious like that), but that its the seeders/uploaders that everyone goes after to take to court. Now again forgive if what I am asking is dumb, but how is it safe of have so many seeders in one well-known place? Don't get me wrong, if someone can explain this to me I am happy to seed the anime I download, I would like to see others enjoy the series I do. But I don't want a bunch of lawyers coming after me for it, I'm poor and all. The reason I even ask is up until now I was told the best thing to do to protect against that was as soon as a torrent finished downloading to remove it from the list, delete the .torrent file, and move the torrented files into another folder (or burn them off onto disk). I guess it might have been a bit extreme but it seemed like a good idea to err on the side of caution. But since this site wants us to seed, to a .5 or higher ratio, I want to know if its safe, before I try getting anything from here. (I understand if I can't get a 100% safety guarantee, but from what I was told before I am worried this place is a 100% jail time guarantee -_-). So anyway, if someone can explain this to me so that I am reassured I won't get in trouble, I would be happy to seed. Thank you in advance for your time. And again, sorry if this was already posted about and I missed it. --Key WiteWolf

[blubart]

- getting the torrents here from bakabt (or any other place that shares unofficial releases of copyrighted content) is illegal, no matter if you download or upload
- even while downloading the torrent you are already uploading parts of the torrent, thus there is no real legal distinction between leeching and seeding in torrenting
- if you fear legal repercussions i would advise you to stop torrenting completely

[Al_Sleeper]

http://bakabt.me/user/12057/houkouonchi.html
http://bakabt.me/user/724499/AceD.html

[KeyWiteWolf]

- getting the torrents here from bakabt (or any other place that shares unofficial releases of copyrighted content) is illegal, no matter if you download or upload

Well yeah, I understand that (though I tend to use torrents to preview anime myself... if I like it I buy it if its liscensed, if its not I keep the torrented file until it is. If I dislike it I just delete it.

- even while downloading the torrent you are already uploading parts of the torrent, thus there is no real legal distinction between leeching and seeding in torrenting

Ah, didn't realize there was not a distinction, I was misinformed.

- if you fear legal repercussions i would advise you to stop torrenting completely

No, I will still torrent for my previewing purposes, otherwise I would never see anything. I just wanted to make sure this site wasn't significantly more likely to get me busted then any other site out there.

[undetz]

Depending on what country you're in, downloading may or may not be legal, uploading is definitely a copyright infringement, though. (Unless you've got a license from the copyright holder)

There's no such thing as a 100% safety guarantee, but even with the lawyers' latest favourite sport being "Sue the random Joe for copyright infringement" it's fairly safe as long as you stay away from mainstream works. Music from the top100 charts and current movies are their favourite targets because a lot of people go for those, some anime series that's downloaded 3 times a week... not so much. Then there's the fact that they'd have to create new accounts every 2 weeks or so (and possibly get banned over it) because they can't maintain a decent ratio and monitor the activity of the torrents. A private tracker such as this is definitely safer than a public one, in a case like this the site owner is far more likely to get sued than any individual who's using it.

[KeyWiteWolf]

Depending on what country you're in, downloading may or may not be legal, uploading is definitely a copyright infringement, though. (Unless you've got a license from the copyright holder)

There's no such thing as a 100% safety guarantee, but even with the lawyers' latest favourite sport being "Sue the random Joe for copyright infringement" it's fairly safe as long as you stay away from mainstream works. Music from the top100 charts and current movies are their favourite targets because a lot of people go for those, some anime series that's downloaded 3 times a week... not so much. Then there's the fact that they'd have to create new accounts every 2 weeks or so (and possibly get banned over it) because they can't maintain a decent ratio and monitor the activity of the torrents. A private tracker such as this is definitely safer than a public one, in a case like this the site owner is far more likely to get sued than any individual who's using it.

Ah, thank you for the explanation and insight. Honestly this is more or less the kind of thing I was wondering about, so your answer helps a lot. I understand the general risk, but was not sure how a site like this effected that risk. But I guess you make a good point, since I mostly just get anime, its not very mainstream (and a lot of what I like are older anime at that). I didn't think about the site owner getting in trouble, I mean I guess it makes me feel a little less worried for my part, but I would honestly hate to see them get in trouble, since it would mean an end of this cool site. Again though thank you for your reply, I will be a lot less worried about seeding for this site now. Take care. --Key WiteWolf

[Sosseres]

Then there's the fact that they'd have to create new accounts every 2 weeks or so (and possibly get banned over it) because they can't maintain a decent ratio and monitor the activity of the torrents. A private tracker such as this is definitely safer than a public one...

This is false. With minor work you can download from this site without effecting your ratio. It is even allowed. It is useful as a way for new people to get seeding material prior to hitting the wall among other things.

As for the chance of getting sued, well it is pretty low for anime/manga. They have mostly been going after the sites and not the users.

[KeyWiteWolf]

ah, so basically they can "sneak in" and catch people if they want. hm.... good to know. but since both of you have said they don't generally target anime downloaders, and you both mention them going after sites before users, I will still take it as low-risk to seed anime here.

[Xyresic]

Well, at least none of us (to date that I know of) have gotten sued or even a complaint letter yet.

I'd say it's pretty safe to seed/leech here.

Most Japanese studios just don't care about what happens with anime out of Japan... for now.

[Tiffanys]

If you're paranoid, download PeerBlock. It'll ease your paranoia a bit, if nothing else.

[Sosseres]

Well, at least none of us (to date that I know of) have gotten sued or even a complaint letter yet.

I'd say it's pretty safe to seed/leech here.

Most Japanese studios just don't care about what happens with anime out of Japan... for now.

I roughly recall a thread from a user getting sued for downloading. I don't even know if I recall it correctly or what type of content it was.

[Tiffanys]

Queen's Blade.

[Freedom Kira]

Honestly, you should be aware of the ups and downs of torrenting.

One big thing that people overlook... your IP address is given to everyone on the same torrent.

Like blubart said, if you're paranoid, just don't torrent. IMHO you're making too big of a deal out of it. Unless you live in a place where Internet traffic is heavily monitored and the police will arrest you for saying the same thing someone else said. In that case you might want to consider moving to another country.

[Enzedder]

Well, at least none of us (to date that I know of) have gotten sued or even a complaint letter yet.

I'd say it's pretty safe to seed/leech here.

Most Japanese studios just don't care about what happens with anime out of Japan... for now.

I roughly recall a thread from a user getting sued for downloading. I don't even know if I recall it correctly or what type of content it was.

Queen's Blade.

The issue with Queen's Blade was someone was caught downloading it offsite. I am yet to hear of anyone on site being caught otherwise the torrent would have been deleted by now.

Generally BBT is safe for downloading and seeding. Torrents that may cause legal problems are usually removed and therefore its generally a lot safer though not 100%.

[Sosseres]

That wasn't the case I was thinking of, Bay isn't a serious threat last I heard.

[Eruaistaniel]

Funny thing about the laws in USA is the illegal downloading and copyright infringement laws also state that you are not allowed to lend or borrow copy-written materials (such as movies and games) from others without written consent from its the copyright holder. You also cannot view copy-written material unless all parties either have written consent or own said material. Basically you can't rent a movie and watch it with your family for fear of copyright infringement in USA though the only sue the down-loaders and copiers.

[undetz]

Funny thing about the laws in USA is the illegal downloading and copyright infringement laws also state that you are not allowed to lend or borrow copyrighted materials (such as movies and games) from others without written consent from its the copyright holder. You also cannot view copyrighted material unless all parties either have written consent or own said material. Basically you can't rent a movie and watch it with your family for fear of copyright infringement in USA though the only sue the down-loaders and copiers.

FTFY

It just bugs me no end when people do that. 'Right' and 'write' may be pronounced similarly, but they're not the same thing.

[roguejoker]

but it is copyright... copywrite is something different

EDIT: just kidding, i didn't see that you changed it until later, i thought you just bolded it

[Freedom Kira]

but it is copyright... copywrite is something different

EDIT: just kidding, i didn't see that you changed it until later, i thought you just bolded it

No, copywrite is not a word.

Edit: But it does have a meaning.

[CappinHoff]

Also on this subject. You are no safer with a public tracker or a private tracker. In the end they are all the same. Also your ISP is responsible for giving out the infringement letters. Several ISP's still don't send them out and ignore. I used to work for Mediacom Cable and they would send out the letters. I have Qwest and they don't send out the letters.