Torrent question

[Sainters7]

Hey I had these same probs last year and the good people of CP helped me out with this. But I got a new computer so all my old info is gone, and I really can't remember how to download torrents anymore(and the Search feature isn't helping either, I can't find my original thread on this). Can anyone help me on how to DL a torrent? I've already downloaded what I need in uTorrent, but now isn't there a 2nd type of downloader I have to get to download or upload this into? And how do I do that? Thanks for the help, I'm absolutely computer illiterate.

[troutman]

You're not going to download copyright material for free are you?

[Gozer]

Not familiar with Utorrent, but if its appropriate software then you just find a link to a torrent (that does not infringe on any copyright laws, of course), download the link, open it (presumably it will open in Utorrent) and then choose where you want to save it and wait for it to download.

[arsenal]

Should be easy enough:
Search for the torrent you want to download (google works).
Once you find a site hosting the torrent you want, click the "download torrent", link
and it should open up right away in uTorrent, and as long as it is being seeded by others, the download should start right away.

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by troutman

You're not going to download copyright material for free are you?

Nah it shouldn't, it's not a TV show or anything like that.

[Agamemnon]

Originally Posted by troutman

You're not going to download copyright material for free are you?

I'm curious... is downloading copyright material illegal under all circumstances? And if so, what's the penalty? I mean... I don't care... but I've got a friend... you know.

[onetwo_threefour]

The only other thing that you might need to worry about is port forwarding. Just do a google search on port forwarding and there are good sites that walk you through it really easily.

But don't download anything illegally...

[Agamemnon]

Originally Posted by onetwo_threefour

The only other thing that you might need to worry about is port forwarding. Just do a google search on port forwarding and there are good sites that walk you through it really easily.

But don't download anything illegally...

I hear you... but why not? What's the penalty/punishment? If you don't know anything about port forwarding, are you breaking the law through ignorance?

[gottabekd]

Port forwarding is necessary for torrent clients to work (though I don't know how the exact protocol works). If you have a router, you will need to set it up to forward certain ports to the desktop you are running the torrent client on.

And there are legal uses for torrents. I've downloaded legal torrents before!

[MarchHare]

I'm curious... is downloading copyright material illegal under all circumstances?

At least for now, both downloading and uploading copyrighted material is perfectly legal in Canada. The Conservative government intends to introduce legislation to change that, but the new copyright bill has been delayed multiple times.

[Phaneuf3]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

At least for now, both downloading and uploading copyrighted material is perfectly legal in Canada. The Conservative government intends to introduce legislation to change that, but the new copyright bill has been delayed multiple times.

I don't think its quite considered legal. I think its still illegal but the legislation isn't quite up to snuff and there's so many loopholes that nobody's bothered to bring a case forward yet to test it.
/just my understanding
//haven't done too much research
///not a lawyer


of course I only use torrents to download and share linux distributions and other perfectly legitimate uses for torrents. *cough*

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by Phaneuf3

I don't think its quite considered legal. I think its still illegal but the legislation isn't quite up to snuff and there's so many loopholes that nobody's bothered to bring a case forward yet to test it.
/just my understanding
//haven't done too much research
///not a lawyer


of course I only use torrents to download and share linux distributions and other perfectly legitimate uses for torrents. *cough*

Actually, I stand partially corrected on this one. According to wikipedia (usual caveats for the source apply), downloading and uploading were both explicitly legal for a few years following a court decision in 2004. That decision was appealed; however, and the case was later dismissed without a ruling, so currently the legal status of file-sharing in Canada is in question (at least until the Conservatives pass their new copyright bill which will make it explicitly illegal).

For a brief period in 2004/2005, the sharing of copyrighted music files via peer-to-peer online systems was explicitly legal, due to a decision by the Federal Court, in BMG Canada Inc. v. John Doe. [5].[6] Under certain conditions both downloading and uploading were held to be legal.

[...]

However, the case was appealed, and on May 19, 2005, this section of the decision was set aside by the Federal Court of Appeal.

[...]

The appeals court specifically left open the possibility of future lawsuits, wherein the question of the legality of peer-to-peer sharing could be addressed. So far, no further such lawsuits have been filed in Canada, leaving it an open question.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_sharing_in_Canada

[Engine09]

What is the best software out there? BitComet? UTorrent?

I've tried both and UTorrent seems better, doesn't cripple my computer and slow down anything else that needs the internet.

BitComet gives you that warning about changing your connection settings to work better and I have tried but nothing seems to work.

[fredr123]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

Actually, I stand partially corrected on this one.

That ruling dealt with music files. There are provisions in the Copyright Act regarding the private copying of music. It did not refer to other kinds of files such as video or software: http://www.cippic.ca/index.php?page=...-sharing-legal

Is File-sharing Legal in Canada?

Under the Canadian Copyright Act, it is illegal to reproduce, authorize the reproduction of, distribute or “communicate to the public by telecommunication” a musical work in which copyright subsists, without the copyright holder’s permission. Copyright automatically subsists in original musical works for the life of the artist + 50 years.


The Copyright Act contains a special exception for “private copying”: it permits the copying of music files “onto an audio recording medium for the private use of the person who makes the copy”, but does not permit copying for the purpose of “distributing” or “communicating to the public by telecommunication” (s.80). It is generally accepted that downloading music for personal use is legal under this section. However, the record industry disputes this on the basis that a computer’s hard drive does not constitute an “audio recording medium”.


According to the Federal Court, in a decision issued by Justice von Finckenstein on March 31, 2004, neither downloading a song for personal use nor merely making that file available to others to download from your computer (without some more active sharing activity) amounts to infringement under Canadian copyright law. The court ruled that “the mere fact of placing a copy on a shared directory in a computer where that copy can be accessed via a P2P service does not amount to distribution” or “authorization of the reproduction of sound recordings” under the Copyright Act. On appeal, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled that Justice von Finckenstein had ruled prematurely on the issue and set aside the ruling without deciding the issue. See CIPPIC’s webpage on File-sharing lawsuits for more information on this case.


In addition, industry representatives are lobbying for legislative change to add a “making available” right to the Canadian Copyright Act, so that merely making songs available on your computer for others to access would infringe copyright. See CIPPIC’s webpage on copyright law reform for more information on the legislative front.

Note that there is no private copying exception for movies, software, or even for non-musical sound recordings. Making copies of these kinds of content likely infringes copyright.

[Flames89]

uTorrent

MOD EDIT: Removed, please don't link sites.

If you have a router, you will have to set it to forward certain ports.

[Berger_4_]

I use Azureus...which seems to do the job for the little amount that I download.

Oh and I've got a question relating to these torrents...and Wii's. (Dunno if anybody can answer it or not)...let's say there's an old abandonware game on the torrent sites I'd like to download...how do I get it to the Wii? Or is that possible? Would I just slap 'er on an SD card and I'm good to go?

[photon]

I don't think so, the old games that are on the Wii now are programmed specifically for it (or they wrote an emulator or something).

I think there's been some progress cracking the Wii to run unsigned code (homebrew code, not just pirated stuff) but even then likely the game would have to at the very least be compiled for the Wii.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by troutman

You're not going to download copyright material for free are you?

What else do you do with torrents?

[onetwo_threefour]

Originally Posted by photon

I don't think so, the old games that are on the Wii now are programmed specifically for it (or they wrote an emulator or something).

I think there's been some progress cracking the Wii to run unsigned code (homebrew code, not just pirated stuff) but even then likely the game would have to at the very least be compiled for the Wii.

Excepting of course that you can plug in Gamecube discs, so theoretically the Wii must be able to directly read those compiled for that system. Of course there's probably some sort of hardware flag to stop you from running off disk images. And it's probably still a bit soon to try and argue any Gamecube games as abandonware, since Nintendo specifically made the Wii backward compatible with them. In fact, the idea of the virtual console could make the entire Nintendo catalogue risky to consider abandonware, siince they could release anything back to the original NES on virtual console and make money off it potentially. I personally have a few old D&D abandonware games kicking around, but I don't think Commodore is coming back anytime soon to revive the 64 back catalog, so I figure I'm safe.

I actually thought Genecyst was fairly safe as well, but given SEGA's involvement with the Virtual Console, I wonder if the old images of Shining Force and Phantasy Star are safe???

[photon]

I think that was easy for them because the actual architecture between the gamecube and Wii isn't different, just faster processor and graphics chips.

Plus I doubt they allow signed code to be run from the SD card, or maybe have a different setting for signed code from an SD card so you can run downloaded demos (for example) but not game images.

They're getting pretty good at locking down the systems... Out of the current gen I think only the Wii has been compromised to run unsigned code (well the PS3 you can run unsigned code if you boot Linux).