Member Avatar for mombasageek

am just curious is creating a torrent site illegal....if illegal does it apply world wide or just in the usa..thanks

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As asked, running a torrent site is not automatically illegal — it depends on what is shared, where the operator is located, and how the service is run. The BitTorrent protocol itself is a neutral technology used by many legitimate projects; copyright rules are territorial and vary by country, so the legal picture changes with location and treaties. WIPO — Copyright FAQ. (wipo.int)

In the United States, protection for an online service that indexes or links to user content is conditional: Section 512 of the DMCA offers safe-harbor benefits only if the operator follows rules such as registering a designated agent, implementing a notice-and-takedown procedure and a repeat-infringer policy. Those precautions reduce risk but do not provide immunity if the site knowingly facilitates or encourages infringement — courts have held operators liable where the service had knowledge or materially contributed to infringing activity (e.g., Napster). ’s suggestion to get local legal advice is sound; ’s idea of filtering helps but active monitoring can create “red‑flag” knowledge that affects safe‑harbor status. US Copyright Office — Section 512 overview. (copyright.gov)

EU law and case law can be stricter about linking and facilitation: the CJEU in C‑160/15 (GS Media v Sanoma) held that posting hyperlinks to works published without consent can amount to a “communication to the public” when done for profit or with knowledge of illegality, and the EU’s 2019 Copyright Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/790) changed platform obligations and national transposition. Practical steps that lower operational risk include: require express rights‑owner claims for uploads, publish clear IP/TOS and takedown procedures, register a DMCA agent where applicable, avoid features that intentionally steer users to infringing content, retain logs for legal requests, and obtain jurisdiction‑specific counsel before launching. CJEU press release — GS Media (C‑160/15) · Directive (EU) 2019/790 text. (curia.europa.eu)

This is general information, not legal advice; for a specific project or country, consult a qualified attorney.

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Member Avatar for pritaeas

You should consult a lawyer for your region.

Member Avatar for stultuske

that depends on your national law, but of course also on the materials you allow to be shared.

for instance, if you add a filter that makes sure that copyrighted material can not be shared, or, in those cases that it passes the filter, can be blocked when detected, you'll have a lot less legal problems than when you're just creating the next: let's share illegal software and warez here.

Member Avatar for jbennet

It depends. In the EU, Facilitating Copyright Theft by providing links to material (even if you do not provide any files) is illegal - hence the piratebay fiasco. Get legal advice.

If you are aiming to make the next big warez site, please leave now and never come back.

On the other hand, if I.E. you just want to provide torrents of your own stuff, which you hold the rights to (i.e. some software you have developed), then go ahead. Torrents themselves arent illegal, its just that they may be used for such means. Many opensorurce projects, for example, distribute large files using torrents to save on bandwidth.

Edited by jbennet because: n/a
commented: do love the correct use of the 'Lord of the Rings' quote :) +0
Member Avatar for Ancient Dragon

Torrents in and of themselves are no more illegal than any other program. Its how you use the torrent that can become a legal issue.

commented: yup thats what I was saying +0
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