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Message: <blockquote data-quote="scott-fs" data-source="post: 1546189" data-attributes="member: 5714">Filesharing ?  Illegal ?  Not in Canada<a href="http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5182641.html" target="_blank">Cnet News.com</a> I felt that this might be interesting to add to the discussion.  I had only heard this second hand not long ago, and didn't think to search for a link for this particular discussion.  At the current time, it is currently legal to download and have files shared in a p2p program.  Downloading in Canada has always been legal (ie downloading is NOT copyright Infringement).Copyright Infringement (as far as Canada is concerned) is the act of distributing something which you do not own the copyright.  That's right, distribute.  Giving something to someone else, but not taking something someone is offering.For those who read the article in the link provided above and at the end of this message, it also explains that simply having a file located in a directory that happens to be shared does not constitute distribution unless you take a positive action such as sending copies out or advertising that they are available to be copied.Needless to say, we pay a price for our ability to share files.  The government imposes fees on recordable media and mp3 players, which they then take and distribute to copyright holders.The only thing that doesn't make sense is that only recording artists/labels see this revenue.  Movie Studios and, Software and Video Game companies, do not see any of this, and it has been my experience that music is not the only thing that gets put on such media.  Games are the obvious one.  Most games require a cd to run (unless you crack it), and in general, we make copies of our games so that we don't wear out the originals.<a href="http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5182641.html" target="_blank">Cnet News.com</a> Does this mean that I will go out and start downloading as much music as I can find ?  No.  Does this mean that I will search for gaming products to get "for free" ?  No.  What it does mean is that I know legally that I am fine to download something to preview it.  If it is good enough, I will support the artist or company.  It is very difficult to find cds for European bands here where I live (unless they are incredibly popular), and I much prefer to support B&M stores, rather than go online.  More for the fact that when I pay for it, I'll have it in my hand right then, rather than having to wait a few days.As this will apply to the RPG market: I don't plan to be purchasing much more d20, as I'm pretty much done with it.  Most of my future purchases will be creating a Harn collection.  As a result, I'm not likely to be a customer for any publisher on these boards (presuming most are d20/OGL publishers), therefore any pdfs I may download in the future will not constitute a lost sale.  On the other hand, products that I would be interested in are historical supplements that are very well researched.  If I came across a book called for example: "Real World Religions" which accurately detailed many of earth's religions since the beginning of time, it would be an invaluable resource as I'm trying to introduce in my campaign setting the feel of religions from history.</blockquote>

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