P2P link sites legal or illegal?

[sneakypete]

What are the consequences to posting .torrent files(bittorrent) on your website or ed2K hash links(eDonkey/eMule) which are referring to and linking to copyrighted materials? Is this blatantly illegal to knowing let this occur or are links "okay?" This issue has come up on our P2P forum and we could use some insight.

 

[sneakypete]

Even an opinion would be appreciated.

 

[charlesesq]

What are the consequences to posting .torrent files(bittorrent) on your website or ed2K hash links(eDonkey/eMule) which are referring to and linking to copyrighted materials? Is this blatantly illegal to knowing let this occur or are links "okay?" This issue has come up on our P2P forum and we could use some insight.

Why would you want to bother with this kind of trouble? I'm not sure what could happen. Chances are your host may make you take them down. From a liability standpoint I don't know, it seems Bittorrent tracker sites might be a relatively clear case of secondary copyright infringement. Of note, the court is dealing with hosting P2P servers in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios v. Grokster, 04-480. It seems that many bittorrent sites have disappeared as a result of MPAA action with regard to suprnova.org which I believe was also a collection of links like a Google for bittorrent files.

http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,66099,00.html

So if you do host a site with links, don't be surprised if you get a letter or potentially even a summons perhaps...