Copyright and downloading: What is illegal/legal?

Extraits

[...] Conclusion Nowadays, downloading took an important place on the internet that could be a positive thing but a negative thing too. It's very easy to download and now creative works can be very expensive. That's why people prefer to download instead to pay for it: that's fast, easy, and the chances to be caught are minimal. The only negative thing is the fact that the artist isn't paid for that, but it could be a good promotion for him. Copyright and downloading: What is illegal/legal? [...]

[...] That's why this kind of downloading is very attractive. There are two kinds of illegal downloading: the direct download, or the Peer-to-peer download. The first one consists in putting the work on a files storage website like Megaupload or Fileserve, and paste the link you collected by uploading the file on a pirate forum or website. Then the other users of the forum or website can use the link to download the file you uploaded. That's a way of downloading that is growing very fast because of the speed of downloading (that the faster way to download illegally). [...]

[...] Some websites offer another kind of downloading. First of all you have to choose a song that you want to download. After that, the website will show you some advertisements that could be more or less long (it depends of the website). And at the end, it lets you to download the song. These kinds of websites are growing nowadays because of the legality and the free downloading. The only problems of these websites are that you have to download the songs one after another, the time you spend watching to advertisements and the few of artists that allow using theirs music on these website. [...]

[...] Summary Introduction: 3 What is copyright? 3 Legal download 4 Illegal download 4 Advantages for the user 5 Disadvantages for the user 5 Advantages for the owner 5 Disadvantages for the owner 5 Conclusion 5 Introduction: Nowadays, a lot of people with internet access download and use 2 ways of downloading: the legal way (with software like ITunes or buying songs or movies on the internet for example) and the illegal way (with direct download websites like Megaupload or by sharing some movies, songs, etc. [...]

[...] That's why people prefer the direct download which is generally faster. Advantages for the user The speed, the fact that's free, the safety against the law, etc Disadvantages for the user If you don't know how to download right, you could be infected by lots of virus that are not for your computer. If you are caught by the law you will certainly have to pay penalty that can be more or less high (but the chance you have to be caught are very low). [...]