Are these "torrent" things legal?

[T-Dawg]

Lately I've been trying to play my old Civilization II Multiplayer Gold Edition, but I'm finding that it doesn't work on Vista (specifically, it crashes whenever I try to build a city). So I tried googling to find solutions, and I found a couple of these "torrent" things that claim that you can download the game (for free) from them, and that their version is Vista compatible.

Civilization II: Multiplayer Gold Edition [Portable] [Thin] (download torrent) - TPB
Download Civilization II: Multiplayer Gold Edition [Vista] [Portable] - Picktorrent.com - Search Torrents and Download Torrents

Is this legal? The name "torrent" sounds like something illegal, but I technically already have the game and it was legally purchased, so...

 

[freethinker44]

It is just a type of file sharing thing, you need to download bittorrent or a like program to use them. It is no different than using any other kind of file sharing software but I hear torrents are harder to trace and you don't need to set up an account with a file sharing service to download them.

 

[DarkSun]

Lately I've been trying to play my old Civilization II Multiplayer Gold Edition, but I'm finding that it doesn't work on Vista (specifically, it crashes whenever I try to build a city). So I tried googling to find solutions, and I found a couple of these "torrent" things that claim that you can download the game (for free) from them, and that their version is Vista compatible.

Civilization II: Multiplayer Gold Edition [Portable] [Thin] (download torrent) - TPB
Download Civilization II: Multiplayer Gold Edition [Vista] [Portable] - Picktorrent.com - Search Torrents and Download Torrents

Is this legal? The name "torrent" sounds like something illegal, but I technically already have the game and it was legally purchased, so...

First off... how have you not heard of bitt torrenting before?

Secondly... It's not legal, but then again, neither is downloading anything from the internet that's copyrighted.

 

[Willamena]

It only makes sense that downloading copyrighted material is illegal; however, file sharing itself is not. If you choose non-copyrighted things to download, you're okay.

PS: If their version is Vista compatable and yours not, then I suspect you can get a patch through legal means.

 

[.lava]

soon they would tax you for the air you breath and you are asking about torrents....very bad very bad....






.

 

[YmirGF]

It only makes sense that downloading copyrighted material is illegal; however, file sharing itself is not. If you choose non-copyrighted things to download, you're okay.

PS: If their version is Vista compatable and yours not, then I suspect you can get a patch through legal means.

Agreed. I would recommend going to the manufacturer's site and rooting about for their patches to the game. As Patty says, there is bound to be something available there.

A small note about "torrents". Torrents are an excellent way of introducing viruses into your computer, as you have no knowledge of the pedigree of a given file you have chosen to download. It all gets down to how lucky you feel on any given day.

 

[T-Dawg]

I haven't the slightest clue how to get to the manufacturer's site, if they even have one. The game's at least 10 years old, I doubt the manufacturer's site is still up and providing patches...

I've tried googling for Vista patches (and telling it to ignore finds that have the word "torrent" in them), but I couldn't find anything.

 

[DarkSun]

Agreed. I would recommend going to the manufacturer's site and rooting about for their patches to the game. As Patty says, there is bound to be something available there.

A small note about "torrents". Torrents are an excellent way of introducing viruses into your computer, as you have no knowledge of the pedigree of a given file you have chosen to download. It all gets down to how lucky you feel on any given day.

Avast for the win. :bow:

 

[freethinker44]

Have you tried running the game in a compatability mode

 

[T-Dawg]

Er, compatibility mode?

(Even if I knew what you were talking about, I'm sure the game wouldn't have came with a mode for Vista. It's at least 10 years old...)

 

[freethinker44]

Right click the game icon and go to properties and then click on the compatability tab. click the box that says "run in compatability mode" and then select windows xp with service pack 2. It might help to run it in 256 colors and as administrator too. But with xp selected vista will run the game like your computer was windows xp.

 

[Venatoris]

According to a friend of mine, Virtual pc causes severe lag with civ 2 to the point where it is unplayable.

Here is all the info on dos-box but I don't know anyone who has actually used it.:sorry1:
Homepage and download: DOSBox, an x86 emulator with DOS
General information: Main Page - DOSBoxWiki
Instructions: Basic Setup and Installation of DosBox - DOSBoxWiki

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

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[Dirty Penguin]

Lately I've been trying to play my old Civilization II Multiplayer Gold Edition, but I'm finding that it doesn't work on Vista (specifically, it crashes whenever I try to build a city). So I tried googling to find solutions, and I found a couple of these "torrent" things that claim that you can download the game (for free) from them, and that their version is Vista compatible.

Civilization II: Multiplayer Gold Edition [Portable] [Thin] (download torrent) - TPB
Download Civilization II: Multiplayer Gold Edition [Vista] [Portable] - Picktorrent.com - Search Torrents and Download Torrents

Is this legal? The name "torrent" sounds like something illegal, but I technically already have the game and it was legally purchased, so...

Downloading software, movies, books etc. from torrent sites are pretty much considered illegal. Most people who do it believe they won't get caught. For legal reasons you should do as they say...........

 

[freethinker44]

Well if he already owns it then he isn't stealing anything by downloading a version that works. I have actually downloaded music that I already own on a cd just because my computer can download faster than it can copy from the cd. That isn't illegal, it's practical.

 

[Riverwolf]

It's true: if you download things that you already own from torrents, it's not technically illegal.

If you don't own it, I believe there's a 24-hour rule that says that you have to delete the file within 24 hours.

 

[DarkSun]

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Apologies.

 

[Dirty Penguin]

Well if he already owns it then he isn't stealing anything by downloading a version that works. I have actually downloaded music that I already own on a cd just because my computer can download faster than it can copy from the cd. That isn't illegal, it's practical.

Yes and no. I have a license for a particular software. I lost the program. My PC was infected with some nasty bugger. I found the software from the manufacturer and reloaded it and applied my license. This is totally legal.

I own MS Windows XP Pro. My CD got broken. I found a copy out there. I wanted to download it and apply my license. Although it would have worked it was illegal to do so because some one copied it (made it into an .iso file). So I contacted Microsoft and obtained a new CD.

This is one of the reasons now I use the Linux OS. It's open source and it's free. When I need to perform a specific task I look into one of the Linux repositories or look for it online and download it and set it up. Because all of it is open source it's all free. My PC, now, can do anything a MS Windows PC does as well as a Mac and for free.

 

[Dirty Penguin]

Here's a question. Is it illegal to share your purchased music with a friend? I guess this falls under the whole file sharing/copyright issue. Sometimes I think that if it's being shared to you for free then what's the problem but I see how artist and software vendors can get upset because it is potentially taking money out of their pockets.....

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Here's a question. Is it illegal to share your purchased music with a friend? I guess this falls under the whole file sharing/copyright issue.

Depends where you are. From what I understand, file sharing of copyrighted material is flat-out illegal in the US. In Canada, the situation's a bit different:

According to the Federal Court, in a decision issued by Justice von Finckenstein on March 31, 2004, neither downloading a song for personal use nor merely making that file available to others to download from your computer (without some more active sharing activity) amounts to infringement under Canadian copyright law. The court ruled that “the mere fact of placing a copy on a shared directory in a computer where that copy can be accessed via a P2P service does not amount to distribution” or “authorization of the reproduction of sound recordings” under the Copyright Act. On appeal, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled that Justice von Finckenstein had ruled prematurely on the issue and set aside the ruling without deciding the issue. See CIPPIC’s webpage on File-sharing lawsuits for more information on this case.

In addition, industry representatives are lobbying for legislative change to add a “making available” right to the Canadian Copyright Act, so that merely making songs available on your computer for others to access would infringe copyright. See CIPPIC’s webpage on copyright law reform for more information on the legislative front.


Note that there is no private copying exception for movies, software, or even for non-musical sound recordings. Making copies of these kinds of content likely infringes copyright.

Source

Also, on the Internet you run into the problem of just which jurisdiction things are happening in. It may be legal for two Canadians to share music with each other under certain circumstances (though as the article above touches on, Canadian law is a bit murky on the matter right now), but could they run into trouble if the file passes through an American server when it goes from one to the other? I have no idea.