IRC downloading: arguments against?

Crashtard

I have a friend who likes to download music and whatnot on IRC, and I'm trying to convince him to stop because I'm worried he's going to get himself into some trouble. He says that it's safer than downloading from torrent or things like Limewire, but I really don't believe him. However, I wouldn't pretend to know whether they were actually safer or not, so I guess that's what I'm trying to find out. Is it actually safer, and am I being paranoid for no reason?

ViolentChemistry

No, it's not actually safer. Traps can be laid in IRC just as easily as through any file-sharing app, his usage-patterns will still be suspect, etc. and so forth.

Daenris

It's "probably" safer because the people that are checking for such things are more concerned with massive p2p sharing because it's what the majority of users use. However, as ViolentChemistry says, it's not technically any safer.

Crashtard

Daenris wrote: »

It's "probably" safer because the people that are checking for such things are more concerned with massive p2p sharing because it's what the majority of users use.

This has been my only argument so far, and I feared that it's really only safer because p2p is a much bigger fish. Good to know that my worries are justified. Hopefully I'll be able to convince him to quit.

Kyougu

You could point him towards one of the unlimited music download places. Like for example, I pay 16 bucks a month for the Zune pass, and never illegally download music anymore. It's just much safer, and much more convenient being able to get the quality music, tagged correctly and with cover art with very little hassle.

Scooter

The difference between torrents and IRC is that on IRC only the specified servers are uploading things. As far as I'm aware, the *AAs have only sued uploaders. Also, *AA people can't directly hook up to downloaders on IRC to see what they're downloading or what they've got. Maybe they could sue records out of the IRC server host but I've never heard of that happening either. I've never heard of any IRC "traps".


Btw don't copy that floppy etc etc

EggyToast

I don't think he'll care about safety, he cares about not paying for music. You could show scientific proof that he'll get gonorrhea from downloading music and he'd just say "not me, I'm careful." Even if you could convince him that IRC was bad, he'd just find some other method.

In other words, if you want him to stop, you'll have to address the whole "getting music for free" thing, not simply the medium.

kaliyama

Artists starve if they don't get paid?

TychoCelchuuu

kaliyama wrote: »

Artists starve if they don't get paid?

And if he doesn't care about them starving: artists can't make more music if they don't get paid for the music they made. We'd get like, 1% of the music we have today if nobody made money off of it.

falsedef

In order to catch someone downloading, RIAA needs offer songs, but that creates unwanted technicalities in court. They really can't prove much otherwise. Plus reliable IRC communities are safer than downloading from the unwashed masses of dedicated p2p networks.

If he gets caught, they'll send a cease and desist order, cleverly disguised as a $3k settlement, or however much they charge now. Does that really have you worried this much? Just call him a cheapass and forget about it.

supabeast

IRC users are less likely to get sued given the current habits of the associated industries: not suing people who aren’t running servers. On file sharing systems and Bittorrent, everyone is running a server.

On the downside, people who like to spread viruses around have a tendency to spread their really nasty shit on IRC networks before moving on to other systems.

i8246i

You know, if your friend really wants to listen to free music that suits his style(s), he could just check out this website.

www.pandora.com

It asks you a simple question "what do you want to listen to", and it will either find that song/artist, or it will attempt to find music related to what you typed in, by using a database that they call the "music Genome project" that categorizes songs by certain characteristics, such as beat pattern and mood.

After that, it will start playing songs related to the first song it selects, and from then you can either add more artists or genres, or help make your new "station" the way you want it to be by voting for or against certain songs and artists.

There are some stipulations, such as the number of songs you can simply skip over per hour, but if your friend should find the interface quite nice, and might persuade him to actually BUY some music either digitally or on physical media.