Why a Bootleg Movie Download is Illegal

Why is a bootleg movie download illegal? The term should answer that question. That's what a 'bootleg move' is: an illegal movie. The term comes from the Old West, when cowboys would hide knives, guns and illicit goods down their boot legs so they couldn't be detected, and then bring them out when needed.

So the question 'why is a bootleg movie download illegal?' answers itself. Perhaps it's the wrong question: it should be 'what is a bootleg movie?'. The answer to that is equally simple: it is a copyright-protected movie that has been downloaded from a P2P file sharing service. It is not illegal to use the file sharing software, but it is illegal to use it to download movies that are protected by copyright.

If this seems a bit of a paradox, it is only because you are unaware that many movies and music tracks can be downloaded legally from such services. For example, new artists or film producers who want to find out the public reaction to a new piece of work, or a brand new approach to the genre, might offer the file free of charge online and enable it to be passed around the web using P2P file sharing software.

That is 100% legal. However, if you subscribe for a life membership to a file sharing site, and then use it to download this year's big blockbuster movie, you are doing so illegally because it is as certain as can be that the movie rights are still protected. Although the software is capable of downloading the movie, you shouldn't do it because the copyright is still valid.

Why on earth the movie and music moguls don't lock the files is as strange to me as it likely is to you, unless they, too, like the game of a perp trying to get away with a bootleg movie download and them trying to catch them. I can see no other reason why files cannot be locked. The music industry can do it, so why not the movie industry, but even then the music guys don't seem to be bothered doing it very much.

Is it that they have two faces here: the public face where they complain about illegal downloads and ask others to solve what is intrinsically their problem, and the private face that enjoys the publicity and also doesn't want to hit their prospective customers too hard?

When all is said and done, the artists still gain because many download music tracks as a tester, and if they like what they hear they will purchase the album: that is common. Also, most artists these get their money from live concerts that these downloaders tend to pay to watch.

Still, it doesn't make P2P file sharing of copyright material legal, and a bootleg movie download is as illegal as you get in the downloading business. So don't do it. I know it's tempting when it is possible to download Avatar online free of charge, but try not to. Use the software by all means, but use it for public domain movies: there are hundreds of them to be found online. Many are classic movies, and you can legally download them using P2P file sharing software.

That's what the software as developed for. Not for a bootleg movie download but for legal use. Use it that way!


Further information on using P2P file sharing software legally is available on Pete's website http://www.online-free-movies.com where you will also find details of why a Bootleg Movie Download is illegal and how to find legal movies and music to download.