Why is Limewire still in business?

Question

I was always under the impression that ANY kind of downloading that isn't paid for is an illegal download. But ALL of Limewire's files are free .. so how are they not shut down yet??

Answer 1

limewire is not responsible for the content of the downloads so they are not breaking any laws at all, it is the people that use these services and ignore copyrights that break the law

Answer 2

The reason that Limewire is still up and running, is becuase is uses the people that have limewire, to distribute the files. The Company Limewire, is "stricly against" illegal downloading of files. They only put out Copies of Limewire for people to puchase.

Basicly it isn't Limewire that has the files to download, its the people sharing them.

-Ryanincro Tech Support

Answer 3

Because its a peer to peer network and its distributed for free.   p2p networks that are outside the US aren't fought nearly as hard as those in the us/uk.

Also,  limewire is total c**p,  85%+ of it is viruses.   Everyones attention is on bittorrent now.

Answer 4

Limewire itself is legal, so you can't shut it down.

Having a car is legal, but killing someone with it is not legal. Why don't they take all care of the road.

Same with Limwire. Having it on you computer is legal, You can do illegal things with it, but you can't shut down limewire because people do illegal things with it.

How can you shut down something that is used by millions and millions of people. Believe it or not, but there are a lot of people, earning a lot of money with limewire

Answer 5

No, there are some downloads that are freeware or open source; that is the author of the file has given the permission to distribute it for free. These are legal to be downloaded for free.

Examples: Most Linux distros and other open source software, few bands also release some songs for free.

Limewire and torrents are a great way to share this stuff without overloading one central server.

Answer 6

The files and data traded on limewire are not the property of limewire...therefore, it's not their fault, it's the person who uploaded it. It's the same that limewire the program is not illegal, but most of the files you can get from limewire ARE.

Answer 7

oh well. i use it so w.e  

Answer 8

Limewire is just a software company. They don't actually own any file-sharing networks, nor do they host illegal files. They're just one of many companies that produce software which allows you to access a file-sharing network.

I mean, the World Wide Web also has illegal content, so why doesn't Microsoft get shut down for making Internet Explorer? It's the same argument. Microsoft don't "own" the web (nobody does), they're just one of many companies that provides software to let you access it (Mozilla Firefox is another). And the network doesn't just consist of illegal files, it has perfectly legitimate uses too.

"I was always under the impression that ANY kind of downloading that isn't paid for is an illegal download" - you're wrong about this. This is the case only if the file is copyrighted and the copyright holder has not given permission for it to be distributed. There is plenty of music and software out there that is totally free (either public domain, or open source in the case of software) and can be freely distributed and downloaded by anyone.

There are some types of download that may be illegal in other ways, e.g. pedo, terrorist, or race hate related material. However, the point remains that not ALL free downloads are illegal.

Answer 9

It's like owning a gun. It is up to the gun-owner to use it responsibly. Of course, the gun-owner can use it illegally (criminal use) at his own risk. But the gunshop where the gun was bought bears no responsibility for its use.