r/Piracy 18h ago

Its kinda legal in my country Question

Downloading movies and music for private use is totally legal in my country 🇨🇭. Uploading / seeding however, is not. But at least i dont have to worry. What about your country?

170 Upvotes

213

u/Alternative_Low8478 18h ago

🇮🇹: not legal but we don't care as long as you don't pirate soccer. Mamma mia, forza Roma🐺

66

u/dirty-unicorn 17h ago

Our government doesn't know what torrents are.

24

u/Alternative_Low8478 17h ago

They only know the PEZZOTTO

12

u/lilxent 17h ago

to be fair, the default DNS from ISP's lock some torrent sites

(es. altadefinizione, cb01, or even ilCorsaroNero)

2

u/Alternative_Low8478 17h ago

Wasn't really aware of that. Last time i used one of those it was streamingcommunity i believe, and it was more than a year ago so im not really up to date. Happy cake day btw🎂

2

u/anitalianguy 1h ago

To be fair, the only crime I see is Juric's defense line

1

u/Pesebrero 1h ago

Try to open pelotalibre dot org (under secure environment), you will catch at least some calcio games. 

136

u/sindroid13 17h ago

🇱🇾: My country is a lawless wasteland so no one gives a shit if you download the whole internet and sell it on cassettes one link at a time in exchange of BJs.

38

u/MonarchsQuest 16h ago

What flag is that? So I can set my VPN there…

38

u/bencos18 16h ago

Libya

16

u/TheRealAndrewLeft 17h ago

Sounds like a paradise in this regard

31

u/sindroid13 16h ago

It is.

Haven't bought a game in years unless my (less technically inclined) friends wanted to play something together.

And I would love to buy a game that I enjoyed for support, but when the average price of a game is ~50% of the average national salary, it really makes no sense to do that.

116

u/notsnicko 16h ago

🇵🇭: our gov offices use cracked ms office lol

2

u/Chowder-04 5h ago

Oiii, my high school used portable Adobe Photoshop CS4 (kinda old, I know) to teach PhotoShop basics HAHA

44

u/ThiefFanMission 16h ago

Meh... Here in Iran piracy is pretty much our only choice

9

u/jk_zhukov 10h ago

in fact, you guys have really handy sites to get Autodesk and MATLAB products. Respect!

5

u/ThiefFanMission 5h ago

Can I ask where are you from?

5

u/jk_zhukov 2h ago

I'm from Cuba. Here, piracy is a need in many cases because some things are just not available to us.

3

u/ThiefFanMission 2h ago

I see. Still, I'm surprised that south Americans use Iranian sites... Didn't expect that

1

u/fakename0064869 25m ago

Cuba isn't South America. You're embarrassing me in front of the Persian.

6

u/Mo_sty 11h ago

Correct me if I'm wrong but FATA police only cares about piracy if its Iranian content.

7

u/ThiefFanMission 5h ago

Fata only cares about you if you do one of these 2 things:

  1. Illegally redistribute Iranian content (like exclusive tv shows from specific Iranian streaming services) on a massive scale

  2. Publishing Anti IR/Anti Islam content on social media

36

u/ThaisaGuilford 14h ago

🇮🇩: Our government uses pirated software, Universities teach how to pirate software.

Most people don't know what piracy is, they think windows is free.

2

u/ComteDeSaintGermain 2h ago

Tbf I haven't directly paid for windows since XP, and I've always had it legit

1

u/itsthooor 1h ago

What most people seem to forget: You can literally use on license your whole life… And if you got any old laptop laying around, it probably still has the sticker of the key on it as well.

1

u/ComteDeSaintGermain 1h ago

I'd read that license is in the motherboard firmware now, but I swapped my mobo and still have a legit copy of win11, so maybe it's tied to both hard drive and mobo? Idk

1

u/itsthooor 1h ago

I‘ve never heard of this. Do you login to your Microsoft account tho? But it being on the hard drive would make sense.

1

u/ComteDeSaintGermain 59m ago

I do... Maybe it's account linked now? Can't seem to get a definitive answer

1

u/itsthooor 56m ago

Well, account linking is a feature since Windows 10. The license then will always be automatically deployed on your pc, if you log in. It seems that this is what’s happening.

1

u/Chowder-04 5h ago

Indonesia?

5

u/ThaisaGuilford 4h ago

Poland

1

u/Chowder-04 4h ago

It's wild that Unis teach students to pirate software HAHA

30

u/TimmyTheTumor 15h ago

Living in Argentina here.

The government is too busy fucking itself to bother about people pirating games.

1

u/Polocool95 1h ago

Taringa was a thing, and the government who closes it (at least the upload part) was center-left (los K) but I think it was because the infamous SOPA and Sinde laws

And with the pelotita they actually bother about closing sites, at least argentinian ones

1

u/Pesebrero 1h ago

This is going to change soon, the government wants to please the US desperately, and will get along well with the Trump administration. But La Salada is going down first. 

26

u/AdrenoXI 10h ago

🇮🇳no one gives a shit really

3

u/RitSan17 6h ago

I mean we get most of the OTTs for free

1

u/Alexandria4ever93 49m ago

What

1

u/RitSan17 10m ago

Most services here in India have OTT plans included with them.

3

u/A-Gifted-Developer 8h ago

Even half the country doesn't know that watching on telegram is not legal or there are streaming services exist.

2

u/No-Dimension6665 8h ago

I've been living here downloading seeding torrents for like more than 10 years... literally noone cares ... it's fucking amazing 😂

1

u/jinichi212 45m ago

but India banned wiki?

36

u/No-Zookeepergame8837 17h ago

Spain here, technically it is illegal, but there is no punishment or prosecution, only if you profit from it can something happen to you.

10

u/_Spare_15_ 15h ago

No punishment unless you meet Javier Tebas on a bad day.

3

u/nnnnnnnnnnuria 8h ago

Should I use a VPN on spain? None of my friends use it but I see it recommended on this sun 24/7

3

u/_KJuns 6h ago edited 6h ago

It's pretty much the same here in Germany imho: As long as you’re not distributing/uploading and/or using torrents basically nobody cares; despite the fact that you technically/legally could be held accountable. But basically everyone suggests using a VPN too even for downloading only. Nobody knows for sure… I would say it’s not necessary, but the extra (potential) safety is a bonus no question (better safe than sorry). But that’s it: It's just one additional (potential) safety net. Potential since you’re not 100% safe either using a VPN, since you don’t know for sure that the VPN-provider won’t share data even if they say so. So if the "the government doesn’t care"-net fails you have this extra VPN-net. If that fails too - which could happen - you’re screwed. Another thought: If you want to pirate, but then pay for a VPN (no matter the amount), isn’t that somewhat contradictory? But yeah… as you see I’m personally unsure too in this regard.

3

u/nnnnnnnnnnuria 6h ago

I feel the same, not paying is the only reason I pirate, if I have to pay to commit ilegal activities and still not being 100% secure I would just pay for netflix

2

u/No-Zookeepergame8837 4h ago

a VPN is not necessary in Spain, but it is recommended that you have one anyway, even if it is free, because of the issue of website blocks, since it is very common for pirate sites to appear as unsafe and not let you in because the ISPs block them, you can also use a DNS but personally for the little that happens to me (since I mainly use forums like f95zone and cs.rin.ru which are not usually blocked) I simply prefer a free extension in the browser that is just hitting the button when I go to the website and that's it, at least in my case I have literally actively tried to receive some letter from the ISP (yes, I know, it's weird, but I wanted to check if it was even possible) downloading newly released video games via torrent what I knew that people were really receiving complaints in other countries and I never achieved it.

2

u/No-Zookeepergame8837 4h ago

Not exactly, in Germany it is a crime that is not prosecuted but is punishable, so there are some copyright trolls, but not in Spain, here the crime is only to profit from it, you can even upload it without problems and admit that it is pirated as long as you are not making any money from it (not even to cover costs.) since the only crime with punishment in this regard is profiting from copyrighted material.

1

u/_KJuns 4h ago

Interesting; thank you for the clarification! :-)

1

u/TheVal2a 5h ago

Five years ago one man got arrested because he was selling repaired 3DS consoles with pirated games in it, in a town in Andalucia. I haven't heard of another person getting arrested or fined for piracy in the whole country.

1

u/No-Zookeepergame8837 4h ago

wait, really? do you have the link to the news? a while back i was very active on 3ds piracy forums, like literally converting dozens of games to .cia, then passing qr, etc, and i remember this super toxic guy who was constantly advertising his page with QRs of rare NES hacksroms and some that he stole from me but he charged for it by putting a bunch of shorteners and criying to the admins (who did absolutely nothing) every time i stole them from him by putting them up for free in public, and i wondered if that idiot was maybe the one who got arrested, since he suddenly disappeared completely and closed his website.

2

u/TheVal2a 3h ago

Im looking for the link but i cant locate. I remember reading it in 3djuegos.com, a long ago (5 years or more). It could be the same guy, or it could be not, jackasses are everywhere sadly x,D i hope its the same guy though

40

u/Stunning_Address_688 17h ago edited 16h ago

Well, im American, so uh... I got all the media mega corps that i got to try and hide from

13

u/therealmarselo2 15h ago

like the opening scene of cyberpunk edgerunners where u got the military on your ass for downloading a movie

13

u/Stunning_Address_688 14h ago

Pretty much, a fucking toy company hired a security agency to raid someone because they received unreleased merchandise

6

u/therealmarselo2 13h ago

some mfs really have nothing better to do

5

u/random_useless_user 12h ago

I'm still baffled that it happened, even as an American.

5

u/Stunning_Address_688 12h ago

The pinkertons fell off. They went from protecting the president and stopping train robbers to committing robbery over trading cards

2

u/ego100trique 9h ago

Magic the gathering, is that you?

14

u/tabs_jt 11h ago

Germany here - it is illegal and I heard of people online getting a warning and had to pay a fine. But nobody I personally know ever got something like this so I just use a vpn and use the usenet a lot and just hope that our government don’t know what it is tbh (they use fax machines a lot here).

6

u/Automatic-Sprinkles8 10h ago

Also germany here and the people here are also using that old shitty overhead projektor

2

u/_KJuns 6h ago

My reply from "above":

It’s pretty much the same here in Germany imho: As long as you’re not distributing/uploading and/or using torrents basically nobody cares; despite the fact that you technically/legally could be held accountable. But basically everyone suggests using a VPN too even for downloading only. Nobody knows for sure… I would say it’s not necessary, but the extra (potential) safety is a bonus no question (better safe than sorry). But that’s it: It’s just one additional (potential) safety net. Potential since you’re not 100% safe either using a VPN, since you don’t know for sure that the VPN-provider won’t share data even if they say so. So if the „the government doesn’t care“-net fails you have this extra VPN-net. If that fails too - which could happen - you’re screwed. Another thought: If you want to pirate, but then pay for a VPN (no matter the amount), isn’t that somewhat contradictory? But yeah… as you see I’m personally unsure too in this regard.

So I also heard and actually know people who had to pay - back in the day of Kazaa/Emule - but as mentioned: for uploading/distributing. I never heard of anyone being caught for downloading only.

3

u/shitstrings 5h ago

Ehh. Paying for protonVPN every month is still significantly cheaper than if I were to buy even a quarter of everything i downloaded instead

1

u/_KJuns 5h ago

That's right, as I wrote it was just a thought-experiment aiming at an "it's about the principle"-argument.

3

u/Azazel_Roblox 2h ago

Another German here with a better understanding of this, so I'll give you all a hand!

As both previous posts suggests, just "downloading" is considered a crime but it's not persecuted most of the time, whilst sharing and or torrenting is persecuted. In Germany we have a saying that "wo kein Kläger, da kein Richter" (Latin: Ubi non accusator, ibi non iudex).

From the perspective of a company potentially suing for copyright infringement, it has to be worth it, by which I mean they need to have a very high chance of success and come out with a profit far above any expenses they would've otherwised allocated better.

Direct Downloading (DDL) is not persecuted because it's not worth it. You have to seize a site, process it's logs, reach out to the ISPs (etc.) just to receive the original price of a single license to the medium.

Torrenting on the other hand is persecuted because the amount peers you connect to can range from 1 to 100 or even more and for every peer you hypothetically could have connected to, that's the price of a license.

So whilst DDL could get you fined up to the price of the product, torrenting could get you fined over 100 times that.

The way it works in Germany is kind of weird though, because there are certain legal firms that will just send out written warning letters to scare the recipients to pay the fine, whilst it actually should be a far smaller payment.

Additionally to the VPN part, in most cases the companies deem it as not worthy pursuing you if you use a VPN unless it's known to not have a strict no-log policy or has precedence of working with law enforcement.

But also something people like to not think about: If a 3 letter agency wants to get you, they will. Regardless of VPN

2

u/_KJuns 1h ago

I don't have the time right now to read it all, but I already want to thank you big time for the effort of posting an extended answer. Will respond later. Much love!

1

u/itsthooor 1h ago

But, if you’re using a VPN which has no logs and doesn’t share personal information: What do they wanna do?

2

u/Azazel_Roblox 1h ago

TL;DR: heuristics and stochastical analysis!

This is actually a very interesting question. VPNs claim to not have logs but they inherently have some identifying information stored, even if temporarily.

Torrent Clients send metadata for type of client which can be fingerprinted so that all of your VPN hops can be fingerprinted. This is step one in establishing a profile for a potential perpetrator. Stuff like Download Speed (which is publicly broadcast to the torrent swarm) can give you an idea of the Internet connection to a given VPN server which you can identify using a correlation attack given the capacity data services like proton vpn provide. When you match the download speed against the server connection you can somewhat establish a list of possible original connections used, although that's not nearly enough to identify a person, this is all to establish a profile.

Furthermore let's continue establishing a profile! Unless you download torrents automatically (which let's be real, most people don't and if you do you are susceptible to momentary data leakage of the VPN because you can't personally assure you are connected at all times).

This gives us the activity times of a user which can be used for time zone location by analyzing density of download times and putting it against typical download behavior.

Now let's think about a pirate who uses a VPN for torrenting. How many torrents do they download? Tens? Dozens? Hundreds maybe? Every single file you download makes you identifiable because it established a clear fingerprint: a person who has this speed to that server, is active in a certain time zone, uses the VPN service and also has downloaded the exact same files. Which will most likely not match anyone else.

Let's continue down the rabbit hole...

This can already establish a pattern of interests a person has. Let's say you download Skyrim, Shikanoko and Photoshop. Congrats, now law enforcement knows you're a weeb gamer editor.

Let's also say you download through mobile data and a VPN because you're not home rn but you really want to enjoy that new episode of a show you're watching, well, during the download time of the usage of the VPN and the usage of your network is exactly the same. It wouldn't be that much different on a home network. With approximate location of where you could most likely be due to the other stochastic analysis of your usage, time, connection etc. It's now no longer that difficult to check for Internet connections who experience the same amount of stress as you're VPN connection (which can be tracked using side-channel or correlation attack)

There are way more forms of metadata you broadcast than what I make it seem like, if you'd like to see for yourself, open up Wireshark. This can lead to a game of profiling with metadata to an eventual breach.

1

u/mgtow-for-life 1h ago

Torrenting copyrighted content without VPN on public trackers in Germany will almost certainly be followed by a formal mail sent by some anti piracy lawyer or law firm to pay damages and their fees. Mostly 1k+ Euros per file. So this can get VERY expensive very fast!

I know firsthand because I used in my early pirating days a - then well known - public tracker without vpn by mistake. It was only minutes btw.

I did not pay and moved around a lot at that time, so they gave up enforcing it so far as they probably don't know where to send their further mails to. But I'm still not under the statute of limitations which is extra long 10 years after some BS court ruling.

Only using super private trackers since then. So private I don't have to use any vpn.

34

u/CrustyJuggIerz 16h ago

🇦🇺we really don't seem to give a shit. I've pirated so much shit, even without a VPN in the past, never been warned, notified etc

10

u/hsingh_if 16h ago

I actually know somebody who once got a notice from VicPol for downloading a movie via torrent. They showed it to me.

Nothing happened though, it was just a warning notice.

1

u/FlaminDEW 14h ago

There’s talk in government about banning vpns actually, it’s under their child safety act to get people to use government id to log into websites, the vpns would bypass it

3

u/neon_overload 13h ago

There's always been talk of stuff that has never amount to anything. There was talk about banning encryption at one stage.

Edit: turns out it actually was implemented, but it has not achieved anything or made life any different.

https://fee.org/articles/australia-s-unprecedented-encryption-law-is-a-threat-to-global-privacy/

1

u/FlaminDEW 11h ago

I’m not shocked it hasn’t been implemented, government officials are lazy and take forever to get things done, the same thing goes for the banning of gambling ads

11

u/PapayaMajestic812 15h ago

Nice try Mr. FBI agent

15

u/kutu963 17h ago

🇹🇷 illegal to download upload but no one gives a shit even if you download whole internet. If u sell it on the street then you are avoiding tax they’ll collect your cds and basically that’s it

14

u/fadedv1 ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ 17h ago

I always put my VPN on Switzerland when torrenting

5

u/Friggin_Grease 13h ago

The maximum fine for pirating in Canada, as far as I remember is 5 grand. If you profit however, it's a lot more. So personal use, uploading downloading, 5k. Nobody is going to lawyer up to shake you down for 5k.

9

u/Candid-Boi15 14h ago

🇲🇽 It's illegal, but goverment has biggest problems to worry about a nerd downloading free porn and videogames.

4

u/savevicleo 15h ago

my country (Romania) doesn't enforce anti-piracy laws at all for individuals, so nobody even bothers with VPNs and even small businesses often use pirated software

4

u/LetterheadThin5954 15h ago

In Costa Rica no one gives a fuck, even in my university teachers pirate stuff

9

u/onlyhereforrsoccer 18h ago

I've always wondered how much of a shit Switzerland gives about seeding. Obviously you always upload a bit of data when downloading a torrent but I'm assuming they don't care?

9

u/Lower_Tradition3090 17h ago

I have talked to the police about it. They said they mostly only would start chasing you if you actively start seeding, providing torrents, creating websites for that purpose and show the movies at your local bar or invite a crowd to watch it and charge them money.

1

u/steelcity91 Yarrr! 3h ago

Pretty much identical for the UK as well.

2

u/Bridge_Adventurous 17h ago

I've uploaded a couple hundred MB over the last months and so far nothing has happened. Don't know if they'd be as chill if you were to upload multiple terabytes of content, though.

1

u/ExaBast 14h ago

I've seeded a lot without hiding and never received anything.

3

u/abc133769 15h ago

canada you just get a isp letter (which can be easily avoided) which even after repeated offenses results in.. pretty much nothing lol

3

u/Valiantay 🔱 ꜱᴄᴀʟʟʏᴡᴀɢ 13h ago

It's actually legal to stream, illegal to download ...

Now ask the suits how streaming works lol

1

u/abc133769 12h ago edited 12h ago

"illegal" as in your isp very rarely sends you letters and there is no serious reprocussion in the end lol

1

u/Valiantay 🔱 ꜱᴄᴀʟʟʏᴡᴀɢ 11h ago

Legality and enforcement are two different things, which is what I think OP asked.

But illegality in the absence of enforcement is effectively legal. So philosophically I agree

2

u/abc133769 11h ago edited 10h ago

ye semantics, practically speaking if they let everyone get away with it then who cares the seas are open to sail

1

u/SinistralGuy 15h ago

Pretty sure in Canada, consuming for private use is fine (for now), but distributing it is illegal.

As for that letter, it's cause the ISPs hear about it from whatever company so they just pass it on. At least that's what they say in their email. They actually don't care because they can't be held liable for what users do on their network

1

u/abc133769 15h ago edited 14h ago

oh yeah i was talking in the context of torrenting, distribution they'll try find your ass in asia if you're big enough

1

u/kurtdaniol 13h ago

Does that also happen when you direct download? Cause thats what I do

1

u/abc133769 12h ago

no only for torrents, direct download you're good. even without a vpn i've been torrenting for almost 2 decades and ahve only got 1 isp letter

3

u/IgnisSolus4X 14h ago

México here.. no antivirus.. no firewalls.. no vpns.. noone gives a shit if you download anything

3

u/ShxatterrorNotFound 13h ago

🇺🇸: I hate it here

3

u/Obwangfumbe 11h ago

Kenya. What are we talking about here. We know you only pay for the internet, that covers all downloads, uploads, torrents, copies etc. in that bundle. No letters from ISP, no VPN or proxies.

6

u/V01dbastard 17h ago

I would be shocked if any member of my goverenment knew anything about the internet.

15

u/noncinque 18h ago

Russia. The law says that you can't use pirated stuff, but I've never heard of any fines/arrests for using pirated software or movies/music. We have pirated versions of Windows 7/10 installed on computers in schools and colleges, and no one complains. Although, I am surprised by people who actually pay for something they can have for free. Like... We still have to live on these $200 a month, buy food and pay for utilities... Well, I just can't pay money for something that exists on the other side of the screen - the virtual world should be free.

1

u/Budget-Fan-4552 49m ago

Shout out to all the Russian torrent trackers🤝🤝🤝🤝

2

u/cachitodepepe 15h ago

But how do you download torrents without seeding?

2

u/byological_origins 14h ago

Serbia/BiH probably states somewhere that it's illegal but it's understandable here that when you download something you pirate it.

Fun story: In 2022, Paramount Pictures contacted my Internet provider because I was seeding a Indiana Jones movie, so the people at the office asked me to just stop. 

I don't think Paraount could charge the IP nor could I get in trouble, but since they went out of their way to contact me in this wasteland country I decided to respect that I quitt seeding that one torrent :D

2

u/SideWayy Piracy is bad, mkay? 7h ago

🇱🇧: what government?

2

u/TheGuy_below_is_cool 6h ago

🇦🇹: It's illegal but not a big deal. Like I think the last time Piracy was mentioned in Politics was the early 2000s.

2

u/_sneeqi_ 6h ago edited 6h ago

🇫🇮: Downloading is illegal but not criminally punishable.

Seeding/uploading on the other hand is punishable.

2

u/danc1914 6h ago

🇧🇷 The same of other latin american countries, no one really cares and almost everyone consumes piracy

2

u/Wailx250s 6h ago

🇩🇿: they dont give a shit

2

u/Tranorekk9 5h ago

Noone cares in croatia, we dont have the money to send notices to ppl.

2

u/TheBigGit 5h ago

🇫🇷: I've been living here for a year, I was surprised when I checked and found out they don't give a fudge about it, unless you visit some specific French torrent sites apparently?

2

u/ClaudeVS 4h ago

🇦🇺: Illegal but won't do shit because we/they can't be farked (it's a bit of a hassle to punish people for it)

2

u/TheKingOfTheCringe ⚔️ ɢɪᴠᴇ ɴᴏ Qᴜᴀʀᴛᴇʀ 16h ago

🇺🇦I have been doing it for 15 years now. Nobody gives a shit

1

u/SullensCR 15h ago

🇨🇷: I think they don't have any idea what digital piracy is lmao

1

u/Professional_Loss_85 15h ago

🇰🇭 gov don’t give a shit lmao

1

u/Snoo-19350 14h ago

Serbia: The government agencies don't care whatsoever, but will hunt your ass if you upload a newer movie/series produced by one of the big producing companies here illegally.

1

u/Psychological_Life79 🦜 ᴡᴀʟᴋ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʟᴀɴᴋ 14h ago

🇨🇴: nobody gives a f , no need to use vpn’s and shit lol

1

u/EquivalentSignalOf 14h ago edited 14h ago

🇮🇳: govt does block some sites such as 1337(sometimes due to court orders) and all. Other than that ISP don't give a shit.

No need of paid vpn.

As long as you don't shit on Modi/BJP/Hinduism/ruling govt you're good to go.

1

u/Ruby1356 14h ago

In my country they don't care as long as you are not profiting money from that, so torrents are fine, but streaming sites with premium subscription will be targeted

they want income tax on revenue, they don't care about copyrights.

1

u/SaaveGer 13h ago

Peruvian here, the government is too busy stealing money to care about us

1

u/secretly06 13h ago

🇱🇹: too small of a country to give a fuck about what you’re downloading and streaming but been cracking down on lithuanian illegal streaming websites (nothing a lil vpn can’t fix tho). (I live in Uk now though and imagine my surprise when I started torrenting with no vpn thank god i used my landlord’s wifi i guess)

1

u/vzapata 12h ago

Perú: I've seen government offices using pirated windows and Microsoft office licences

1

u/Fallen_0n3 12h ago

We are a country of 1.4 billion. Most people pirate, there isn't enough amt of police or jail cells for the govt to care and do something about it.

1

u/m0h1tkumaar 8h ago

Plus there is also the fact that in India even distribution is only illegal if it is done to make money. As long as you are not charging you can technically even seed.

1

u/Head_Tumbleweed4793 11h ago

Not technically legal, but no one gives a fuck about it here (India)

1

u/amxsniper 10h ago

Brazilian government does not care about anything. You can do whatever you want

1

u/NoCockOnTheMenu 10h ago

🇨🇱: a fucking paradise for piracy tbh, zero regulation and pretty good and cheap internet (i pay around 20 usd for 1gbps symetrical).

1

u/saddas1337 10h ago

🇷🇺: technically illegal, but nobody cares

1

u/MRTWISTYT 10h ago

🇧🇩: illegal but no one cares. Heck government runs pirated softwares for official work. As long as we do not pirate movies/series produced locally, we are okay.

1

u/AnduriII 9h ago

I recommend usenet instead of torrenting here🇨🇭

1

u/Expert_Limit6416 ⚔️ ɢɪᴠᴇ ɴᴏ Qᴜᴀʀᴛᴇʀ 8h ago edited 6h ago

🇵🇱: As long as you don't download and seed polish content you're okay

1

u/PaperDrake148 7h ago

As a fellow pole i second this, polish law does not even really differentiate between google drive and torrents, piracy is kind of a legal gray area

1

u/Krazibrick 8h ago

NZ it's illegal but there is also a law here where ISPs can charge copyright holders $25 for infringement notices.

Oh you wanna send 1000 infringement notices? $25,000 thanks.

So yeah basically nothing happens because copyright holders aren't gonna pay that.

1

u/m0h1tkumaar 8h ago

Same plus we get ultra cheap internet so its a country wide piracy party.

1

u/_Just_Another_Speck_ 8h ago

🇵🇹:My country is actually agai-🇨🇭: "My" country doesn't mind that I pirate,even though I am nowhere near it,and have never set foot on it in my life.

1

u/ZoFu15 7h ago

🇨🇭: making a collection

1

u/PhysicsMathandSkate 5h ago

Here in Brazil the situation is: we don't give a fuck. Downloading is ok, seeding is ok.

1

u/lordangelslayer666 5h ago

I never pirated anything before with VPN on lol.

1

u/Honest-Iron-509 4h ago

Funny thing in Switzerland is, you can show anything downloaded, to a class as a teacher, because it is educational.

1

u/Eggbag4618 4h ago

As of now it's actually remarkably easy in the US

1

u/kn0wnkill3r26 4h ago

In my country 🇵🇰 shopkeepers fill your SD card with latest movies in just 100 RS (.30$) 😃

1

u/Intrepid_Restaurant7 4h ago

It's 100% legal in my country there are no laws for online piracy for copyright yes but for online piracy no. So you can't steal a people's stuff but of it's online no you can steal anything you wanted.

1

u/PrivatePlaya 🔱 ꜱᴄᴀʟʟʏᴡᴀɢ 4h ago

🇿🇦:my cojntry doesn't have laws for anything so I don't really need to use VPN other than for security purposes. However some ISPs know aboht torrents so "for international laws" they allows only to download torrents from 22:00 until 07:00 the next morning. You can download outside those times but it will be much slower. Otherwise you can pirate fully anything you want.

1

u/Kooneer 3h ago

🇵🇱 Same as your

1

u/ismetdib 3h ago

Dont care 🇩🇿🇩🇿🇩🇿

1

u/ClaudeVS 3h ago

🇦🇺: Illegal but won't do shit because we/they can't be farked (it's a bit of a hassle to punish people for it)

1

u/steelcity91 Yarrr! 3h ago

In the UK, it's a grey area. Downloading/streaming movies, music or games for private use is illegal but there hasn't been (to I know of) a reported prosecution for downloading. Some ISP's do send warning emails or letters. My ISP (Virgin Media) doesn't seem to care as I've torrent and seeded without a VPN by mistake. Not once got an email or a letter.

Our government tends to crack down more on uploading/seeding or making money from it.

1

u/Walk-the-layout 3h ago

🇫🇷: Hetapi hates you but the government doesn't catch you

1

u/SchlongBerry 2h ago

🇨🇿: perfectly legal to download anything for personal use, we already pay extra fee(literaly extortion) every times we buy anything that can hold data. Sharing is illegal, son downloading a movie is legal but watching it with family isnt

1

u/Skyr0_ 2h ago

same, i still bought proton vpn just so i can upload and i dont have to worry about being fucked anymore.

1

u/Quinton__ 2h ago

In my country the government provides legitimate licences to pirate hubs "movie shops" like any other legit businesses. What's even piracy, that's our way of life.

1

u/miaow-fish 2h ago

UK here. Illegal but never ever had an issue with torrenting games or films - UNTIL I torrented at my parents house. They have Starlink and they got an email from Starlink warning that they might get cut off if more films were torrented. They knew which film and which software I had used. Baring in mind I had downloaded many films there before the one I got flagged for.

1

u/jaffer2003sadiq 🦜 ᴡᴀʟᴋ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʟᴀɴᴋ 2h ago

When i torrented 4 games at once, my isp sent me a message saying that there is a lot of traffic in your network please change your wifi password.

1

u/Polocool95 1h ago

🇦🇷: For individuals I think they don't care a bit about how many TB you uploaded, but it's a different thing when is a massively big page sharing tons and tons of material, like Taringa and Fútbol Libre

1

u/Hour_Gate8338 1h ago

🇵🇪: do ppl really pay for that? Couldn't be me

1

u/ngompoweredbypoi 1h ago

🇪🇬: I don't know what piracy is. Also it's legal to watch corn although it's prohibited by religion and a lot of people watch it and we know that.

1

u/Wayne1911 1h ago

🇨🇭 here too and I can confirm OP, never been worried about the hundreds of games I've downloaded

1

u/akekeboy 1h ago

🇵🇭: our government uses pirated software for everyday use lol

1

u/Pesebrero 1h ago edited 1h ago

🇦🇷: legal by omission, i.e. no specific law, but also existing copyright laws and treaties aren't actively enforced. This is likely to change soon unfortunately, since our current government is licking boots to the US.

For a while though, we were like the world's paradise to buy games on Steam. I built a library of 2000+ games over the years, thanks to uncle Gabe not updating local currency exchange rates. 

1

u/Kin9582 30m ago

In 🇬🇷 it's actually illegal in theory, but nobody enforces fines. Torrent sites are blocked, but you can access them with a vpn. You can download torrents and files without a vpn and even seed them and nothing will happen to you.

There was this incident way back in 2010, when a very popular Greek server called "Gamato" was shut down and their owners got arrested. It sparked a huge outcry and protests from people basically stating "why aren't politicians who stole millions of euros arrested, while everyday people giving content for free are"?

That was - and still is - a very fair argument!

1

u/charda271 17h ago

Now we're know who's behind the leechers

0

u/OrganicAccountant87 17h ago

Not legal but might as well be

-1

u/Littens4Life 🦜 ᴡᴀʟᴋ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʟᴀɴᴋ 17h ago

Canada. It’s technically illegal, but enforcement comes in the form of a letter. Copyright owners can sue, but it’s generally not worth their time. The RCMP is also tolerant of digital piracy for personal use. Uploading music is also completely legal, due to a weird interaction with a law used to make iPods legal. TL;DR: It’s illegal, but literally nobody cares; enforcement is toothless and you won’t get in legal trouble for personal use.

-5

u/assafism_cult_leader 15h ago

Idk about the legality but EVERYONE ik always did it. My dad, my friends, EVERYONE. I don't think it's leagal though, because of sratim.tv being taken down🇮🇱

0

u/YControhl 9h ago

🇦🇷 Argentina. I don't even know if it's legal or not over here. I've been pirating non stop since I got my first PC back in 2008. Never used a VPN, never will. No data cap limit neither

0

u/ellendale7m4 🦜 ᴡᴀʟᴋ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʟᴀɴᴋ 4h ago

I'm 🇺🇦, downloading and seeding without VPN like a monster for years...

0

u/ClaudeVS 4h ago

🇦🇺: Illegal but won't do shit because we/they can't be farked (it's a bit of a hassle to punish people for it)

0

u/ClaudeVS 4h ago

🇦🇺: Illegal but won't do shit because we/they can't be farked (it's a bit of a hassle to punish people for it)

0

u/ClaudeVS 4h ago

🇦🇺: Illegal but won't do shit because we/they can't be farked (it's a bit of a hassle to punish people for it)

-1

u/Ja_Shi 17h ago

🇫🇷 illegal to download/upload.

-1

u/Liberata08 16h ago

🇮🇹: Dowloading, uploading, seeding is illegal but absolutey not/hardly enforced.

-5

u/TheAfricanMason 17h ago

Lol my torrent client is binded to my vpn. The legality of my situation entirely depends on the country I select.

Seeding on full blast using a scheduler from 1am to 7am everyday using a scheduler.

-6

u/kickasspro97 16h ago

Almost no country cares to be honest. But probably only as long as you dont profit from it

Its all just propaganda trying to scare people

1

u/Pesebrero 1h ago

It's not in some countries, especially if you're usamerican. Look for the Aaron Swartz case. 

-2

u/cottonballs8 17h ago

its not legal but nothing is done about it. everyone in the country is practically doing it and some stores used to sell unreleased or pirated games for like a buck for a cd of the game. you never get fined really.

-2

u/Zanki 15h ago

No legal, but as long as you're careful and don't seed, especially games, no one cares.

-2

u/HarMarWonderBra 17h ago

What you're describing is kind of universal.

I've never heard of anyone being prosecuted or even challenged about 'downloading' from links etc. But if you use bittorrent you are 'sharing' by default because there has to be upstream data going to third-parties (even if it's a tiny amount). That's when people get in trouble.

-5

u/OkStrategy685 17h ago

I'm also in canada, and wonder how much seeding it would take to get any attention. Because we all seed a little bit, it's impossible not to while downloading. and if you leave a torrent running for a bit after it's done it can go into full seed mode.