by Ken Smauthi

Created on: February 20, 2007   Last Updated: December 21, 2008

Do you download files off the Internet? If so, you may already be a pirate! Intellectual property rights are the hot topic in today's online world. Whether you're already an avid downloader, or considering taking advantage of available Internet downloads, there are a few things you should keep in mind to make sure that you're on solid legal ground.

There are a number of ways to download files off the Internet. Perhaps the most popular is Peer To Peer(P2P) software, which allows anybody to share and download computer files, both legal and illegal. If you're inexperienced, (and even sometimes if you're an old hand), it can be hard to figure out what files are safe.

Figuring out what's okay to download over P2P is often more of an art than a science, and as such it's a big grey area. Some file types are generally alright to download, such as recordings of radio shows, podcasts, and text files of home recipes. If you're using a BitTorrent P2P program, you may want to check out the beta of Legal Torrents, a website that indexes only legal torrent downloads.

Direct website downloads are the safest bet if you want to make sure that you're not breaking the law. In recent years, legal content on the web has achieved a virtual explosion both in terms of the quality and quantity. It's easier to spot websites that offer illegal downloads. By keeping in mind a few common sense tips you can take advantage of all the content that the web has to offer.

You can download podcasts, electronic books (ebooks), audio books, music, and computer programs quickly, easily, and legally. And not only do you have the benefit of increased choice of content, very often you will find that you can get this content for free!

Further on in this article you will find suggestions of internet websites to visit for free content. However, you should also feel free to search for websites yourself. Keep in mind that there are many websites operating illegally. Take the following rules of thumb into consideration when evaluating the websites you find:

- Try and determine who is the copyright holder. In order for websites to be able to host downloads, they need permission from the copyright holder first. If the website belongs to the copyright holder, then you can rest assured that the download is perfectly legal.

- If the website advertises it's contents as "Legal", you can usually take their word for it. Illegal downloading websites generally don't make any claims to the legality of their service. They instead

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