Is it illegal to download a DVD rip torrent?

[Ryan13]

There are a couple of torrents I was looking at downloading, but I saw they were DVD riped and I did not know if this was considered "copyrighted mateirial". Is it?

 

[Kash]

If you mean commercial movies or TV shows, then yes, it would be illegal to download a torrent of that sort.

 

[RiDE]

Depends on what it is specifically... but most likely... yes, it's illegal. If it is a movie, tutorial, etc. it is against the law....

 

[todd51]

I wanna say 80% of EVERYTHING you can download through Bittorrent is illegal.

 

[Ryan13]

Ok thanks for the advice!

 

[PowerBookG4]

I wanna say 80% of EVERYTHING you can download through Bittorrent is illegal.

I would say even more then 80% is illegal... I only have torrent because every once in a while that is the only way to get something. I am not talking about illegal downloading, but some people, like the US Army for example, puts up torrents as a means of distribution and that is the only reason I have a torrent app on my computer.

 

[mraya]

Several companies/people use Torrents as a distribution method, it is a great distribution method. I would say that there is more than 20% of legal donwloads around, but illegal downloads are more popular.

 

[ToddG]

Interesting. I deal with military and federal agencies every day at work (as a telecomuter, no less) and I've never used Torrents or had any need for it.

And to answer the OP: a simple rule of thumb is that if you are downloading something through Torrents that you'd have to pay for to get through another method (buy the movie, pay for the software, get it for a buck from iTunes, etc.), then yes, the odds are it's illegal.

 

[PowerBookG4]

Interesting. I deal with military and federal agencies every day at work (as a telecomuter, no less) and I've never used Torrents or had any need for it.

Their marketing department uses torrents not the actual military. For example, the Army created a game for download it was distributed via torrent.