The legalities of downloading the source

J

jester

Guest
For downloading the source code and or beta, and not distributing it
are you liable to be punished in any way?

ive heard some rumors of ISP's turning over people who had downloaded the code

but then I hear some people say that the ISP's cant see what you download, only what you upload

and i also heard it was only illegal to distribute it

some1 explain
 
Well it's stolen property, so if you download it you are not legally the owner of it, so i guess it isn't that legal if you have it.
 
also ISPs have the ability to see what your downloading at the time of you downloading it. to keep a logged file of every thing you downloaded and every site you went to would eat up a lot of HD storage on their part.
 
hm i was pretty sure they kept logs of everything, because in court cases they have the option to request from the ISP a history of everything they had done
 
its like the music industry, they are only suing random people to scare them

the FBI have bigger fish to catch than little kids playing pre-HL2
 
If you walked into a store, picked up a boxed copy of Half-Life 2 and ran out, would you expect it to not be illegal?

Of course you wouldn't. And downloading the source code is much the same thing - theft, pure and simple.
 
Is the law being enforced?

Who knows. I doubt anyone does, unless Valve has come knocking on your door.

Can the law be enforced?

Yes, if they feel like it.
 
Originally posted by monster facial
"if the offense is under paragraph (1), (2), (3), (6), (7), or (10) of subsection (a), a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than 10 years"

Geez, chewy, 10 years is a hellofa slap on the wrist. But then again, HL2 shoud've been released by the time you get out :)
Click to expand...

try actualy reading it before just finding something to spout off.

Jester: the only way and ISP would log what you have done is if they were asked to by local, state or federal authorities to log you activities. take the RIAA cases with stealing mp3s, the only way they new about the IPs was that they were logged. but even then ISPs are not required by law to turn over your info. take this case for example:

http://www.zeropaid.com/news/articles/auto/10052003c.php
 
We have nothing to fear, but fear itself...

:cheers:
 
i sincerely doubt you study any kind of law, mainly by the way you talk to others.

not only that, i back myself with credibale sources. you do not.
 
Yes, Valve could go after the guys who download it, but I don't think they will. Honestly, I think Valve has more important things to do. Like catching the hacker behind all of this, getting Steam working properly, and getting HL2 released. I very much doubt Valve is going to waste their time going after one of their fans who download the leaked version. I can only assume this, but I think most people who download it, probably delete it before the day is over.

As for the source code, I don't think Valve will go after any who downloads it. 99% of the people who download it don't have a clue as to what they can do with it. 99% of the people will download it will just take a look and delete it.

I think we might see Valve request the source code from some games over the next few years that might look a little like HL2.

Anubis
 
Originally posted by monster facial
chwey, wehther you dobut waht I stduy is up to you and beisde the ponit. I hvae asekd you whteher you yousrelf undsretood yuor credibale soucres.
Click to expand...

i hope you're kidding...
 
I fear the real gman coming to my door while barney covers the back of the house incase i try to run out with my burned copy of the code! they they catch me and experiment on my left testi until I scream the name of those responsible! all the while gabe newell drives away laughing.
 
You cannot accept stolen property without breaking the law. How much effort will be put into finding and prosecuting you is unknown. However, the current thinking is starting to turn to the idea that if you go after the end users, that's more effective, because suppliers will always exist: if you can scare the people who demand it that they will get caught, however, it will send a chill.

So, while they haven't been doing this before, they are definately going to ramp up these efforts.
 
Originally posted by monster facial
"if the offense is under paragraph (1), (2), (3), (6), (7), or (10) of subsection (a), a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than 10 years"

Geez, chewy, 10 years is a hellofa slap on the wrist. But then again, HL2 shoud've been released by the time you get out :)
Click to expand...
Don't count on it, man. :)
 
I dont see many law suits unless someone starts making there own versions of HL2 using valves code.We need someone good with statistics to give us a rough estimate of how many people could have downloaded the source?Maybe all of japan? most of europe? half of everyone in the US? probaly over 30 million people by now! And it's growing and growning.
 
it would probably cost them more to sue everyone that it would be worth.
 
it all depends on the laws of the country where the stuff is being downloaded.

at this point there are no real international laws with respect to internet. it will get very hard to prosecute someone in let's say russia or holland. because they don't know the country don't know the laws and don't know what the possibilities in court are. furthermore some penalties in countries are very very low by american standards and would hardly justify the costs of beginning a trial and losing alot of money.
 
Uhh...This isn't at all like the RIAA situation. First thing: These contents were stolen from VALVe's network. It's not like someone bought the game and decided to do waht they want with THEIR property. This is totally different from the RIAA. Second: VALVe isn't randomly suing, I'm not sure their going to sue at all, unless they catch ANON, and or someone refuses to erase the contents from their site. Which they very well may sue those who distributed it. I doubt they'll sue anyone who D/Led it. VALVe doesn't have time to take punk-kids to court who can't pay up. And the FBI has more important things. Shutting down these web-sites will certainly be a satisfying victory. I don't think we'll hear very many court cases over this, if any.

-Ghost.
 
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