Understanding the Law on Warez
People everywhere try to give people advice on what's legal and illegal. Lawyers are the best source of information as the internet and the general public can tend to become scared and paranoid. Especially when you see owners of your favorite websites being carted off to Prison, or sites getting shut down / disappearing without a notice of any kind. However, the best advice can derive from those who have actually spoken to Lawyers, studied the law and been through the draconian system first hand.
Is it illegal to operate a Warez website?
No, absolutely not. It's only illegal if you are physically uploading illegal files. You are free to link to files that have been published on a file host. If you run a VIP system you better make sure it's based off of pure donations and not actual subscriptions. The moment you offer a "subscription based" program to copyrighted goods you have opened up a can of worms. The best VIP's are the ones with legitimately paid for PREMIUM accounts that are given away to the members. This avoids all controversy.
Can I host a Warez website in the United States?
Yes you can. I hosted USAWarez and many other sites in the United States for a decade. So long as you are not uploading illegal files or engaging in any privacy violations such as releasing SeaSeas (Credit Cards), spamming or performing any other malicious activities you are fine. However you need to understand that it is pretty much shunned by the majority of hosts because they fear the United States Government. Why run the risk of ruining your companies reputation? You can find many hosting companies that allow Warez linking in the United States such as; DaringHost: Home (which can be found here on WJunction). However I would ultimately suggest that you host your site offshore. Hosting companies in the USA are very paranoid when it comes to any website that hosts files, you'll be fine when your small, but as your site grows and becomes larger, you'll wind up being shut down by your provider.
Is linking to Streaming Movies that are still in Theater illegal?
Absolutely not. Again you cannot upload the files to the streaming movie host. However if you search on GOOGLE you can find plenty of new movies that are still in theater that are hosted on hundreds of streaming movie hosts. You are free to gather your streaming movie links from Google and place them on your website. It only becomes illegal once you watch the movie. How severe is the crime? Well thankfully SOPA & PIPA didn't get passed, so it's only a misdemeanor. So long as you are not hosting the files on your server or actively engaging in the illegal distribution of such movies your fine. Don't go recruiting people to upload for you, that makes you an accomplice.
What's the actual crime for watching a Copyrighted Streaming Movie online?
It's classified as a "Violation of Public Performance Rights" which is a misdemeanor of the 4th degree and punishable only up to 30 days in jail for re-offenders with a maximum $1,000 dollar fine.
How can Warez be legal? It stands for "Copyrighted Material"!
We're talking about being the owner/operator of one of these sites. Provided that the owner/operator doesn't upload or download any infringing material or promote such activities & complies with DMCA law. He hasn't done anything wrong. Yes I know it's hard to grasp the concept of the law, but try to understand why it's not illegal. The term Warez is nothing more than a term. From there the websites visitors come and share and converse and download and probably upload some copyrighted goods. However... The owner of the site has done absolutely nothing criminally if he hasn't uploaded, downloaded or offered a subscription based system.
What do you think you could be charged with? Copyright Infringement. How exactly do you think the court of law is going to convict you of Copyright Infringement when you haven't downloaded or uploaded anything. At the very worst, the MPAA will try to bully you and take you to civil court and proclaim that you are profiting off of their goods, however in the end that will fall through the moment that your Lawyer stands up and asks them... Which file did the defendant download illegally? None. Which file did the defendant upload illegally? None.
What is Illegal?
What is illegal in the Warez world is individuals who use <>< (phishing) schemes, operate large bot nets (ultimately you've had to infect thousands of computers world-wide and thus violated a billion individual rights), engage in explicit hackings such as database retrieval, spamming (spamming members from those databases or collecting lists), violating users privacy rights in any way shape or form, uploading copyrighted material, downloading copyrighted material, hiring uploaders to upload copyrighted material, asking for monetary subscriptions to VIP, publicly or privately orchestrating any of these illegal things mentioned above. You absolutely cannot disregard DMCA notices. If you get takedown complaints, remove the files, no matter where you are hosted. Don't recruit uploaders or endorse such behaviour. Run your community nice and efficiently. Moderate the forums, keep it clean and handle the reports. No direct uploading.
What is Legal?
Running a Warez forum, running a Warez blog, linking to Warez from any source. Operating a DDL site, operating a Streaming Movie Website, asking for donations (so long as you do not give access to additional copyrighted content that is explicitly uploaded to private servers and so long as you are not doing anything different than what's on your general forum).
Understanding the Misconception
Just because a website is labeled as "Warez" does not make the website illegal. A website can be "labeled" anything. It's only illegal for the owner operator if he falls from the path of any of the illegal things mentioned above. Outside of that, not a single charge can be brought up against the owner. You will never find a case that has an operator found guilty of running a forum that has links on it posted from various members. Your going to find cases where operators uploaded or operators conspired to upload and recruit uploaders or to earn big payouts. Other than that you have literally nothing to worry about.
Questions / Comments / Legal Concerns
If you have any questions or comments or are facing any legal issues, please feel free to contact me at anytime. I'll be more than happy to answer any questions that you may have.
Thanks for reading as always! And please feel free to comment below!
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