Is P2P File Sharing Illegal?
It depends. P2P file sharing is perfectly legal if the work being shared is not copyrighted or is shared with the authorization of the copyright owner. However, unauthorized distribution of copyrighted works through a publicly accessible, P2P network is copyright infringement pure and simple. There is no concept of fair use that encompasses making a copyrighted needlepoint design available for downloading by 100 million KaZaA users. [Source: Frequently Asked Questions about the P2P Piracy Prevention Act (H.R. 5211)] The following list of P2P file-sharing programs are not to be installed on any Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MBTS)-owned computer, or any computer with access to MBTS-owned network resources: eDonkey, Overnet, Shareaza, WinMX, BitTorrent, Limewire, Morpheus,eMule, Ares, BearShare, Kazaa, iMesh, FastTrack, Ares Galaxy, Gnutella, ANts P2P, Azureus, BitComet, BitTornado, BitTorrent 5, BitTorrent 6, Cabos, DC++, ExoSee, eDonkey2000, Freenet, KCeasy, FrostWire, giFT,
