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Is this an appropriate place to discuss copyright and privacy?

If so I would like to pick someones brains about what is / is not safe to download. The basis of my question is this: why is it legal for Charity Shops to sell copyrighted material and profit from it, but illegal for me to share material for free? Particularly material I have paid for. Could my ISP disbar me for downloading? Or is it uploading that breaks the law?

It is a simple point but the deeper you think about it the more complex it gets.

One example: whilst downloading material via a magnetic torrent which is acquired with no money exchanged you also, through that time, make a proportion of it available for upload. Probably illegal. However buying the same material on the highstreet, is as likely as not illegal. In the latter case there is a full exchange of copyright material from the donator (presumed owner) to the Charity Shop and then further exchange for profit. In my illegal case there is only partial exchange from me (non owner) to a 3rd party, though initially the donor (torrent originator, presumed owner) gifted the material to me.

I do not want to rob any legitimate copyright holder of a royalty. To take this to its absurd conclusion, should I make a voluntary contribution to the publisher and/or copyright holder? If so, how much? And are Charity Shops exempt from the law? How are second hand shops not in breach of any piracy provisions?

I live under the jurisdiction of English law. And am confused by it.

Mike
 
Now correct me if I've wrong, but my reading of the Digital Economy Act and related laws leads me to interpret that the only thing they can really act against (i.e. you as an individual) is those who "share" (upload) their material and that the act of downloading in isolation is not in itself an offence.. at least not an "illegal" one.

In other words P2P will get you into trouble, but I find it difficult to see how you'd wind up being arrested or placed before a court for simply downloading or even streaming a video from an unlawful website (though uploading / sharing to others would be a problem).

It should be said that Copyright is a notoriously complex beast and applies differently to different types of product. So the charity shop example isn't really relevant, but even if it was then the shop is only re-selling one item of an original purchase and not making new items in a copying plant for mass distribution. The latter would be a problem, the former is not.

Likewise you should, in theory, be able to give a music track you downloaded to a friend but of course you wouldn't be able to keep a copy for yourself. In practice, the digital side of these laws is very awkward, not least due to the restrictions and complications of DRM.
 
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