can I get in trouble for this? Is it lawful?

[John Kooper]

hey guys,

recently I got honey-potted by a company. I downloaded some of their stuff through file sharing and torrent sites and I used to be Facebook friends with one of their employees and he honey-potted me by asking for the serial number of the software I was using and when I gave it to him he told me that that was the version that the company itself put on file sharing/torrent sites so they could catch the down-loaders. And after that he went like: you stole a big amount of money from us, get ready for the feds when they show up at your door and all that.... Well I got really mad at his threatening and all that and I told him that maybe he should take this case up with the up-loaders and the file sharing sites (honestly guys there's nothing on Earth that could convince me that downloading is illegal, I mean you find something out there you take it.You didn't STEAL it in the first place, you FOUND it) but anyway this thing happened a month ago and I haven't heard anything yet, even though this company has my contact info from Facebook. I would like to know how can I protect myself if they do sue me? I mean they honey-potted me, they built a trap for me, isn't that illegal? How much do you pay for this type of crime? Jail or really huge fines? Or do I just pay the price of the software and the media I downloaded? How can I protect myself in this mess? Does this particular type of crime have a statute of limitations (if yes what's the length of it)?

[Paul]

u cant

[Art Vandelay]

The statute of limitations could be between 1 and 3 years, depending on where you live or where the company is that was stolen from.

You are wrong in your attitude of "finding" versus "stealing". If you have your PC stolen, and some innocent person down the line receives it as a gift, buys it, or just finds it lying around, is it not yours anymore because it left your custody, or do you want compensation for your loss?

The fines for this can be hefty; jail is not probable since this will probably be pursued as a civil suit and not a criminal case. What they did to trap you is not illegal and is done all the time.

All you can do to protect yourself if they sue you (and they are doing this more and more these days) is to have your attorney standing by with your facts; hopefully he can get them to leave you alone or get it settled for much less than they are suing for.

[highgrandmother658]

Interesting that 'nothing in the world will convince you that this is illegal". That merely indicates that you are uneducated in the law, because it IS illegal.

You took something for which you had no legal right. That is illegal. You might pretend you don' believe it, but you're wrong.

You are looking at MASSIVE fines if they chose to make an example of you.

[Cassidy]

If you get a good lawyer, you might win if they press charges, but you might lose. However, if you haven't heard from them in a month, you might be okay. But if you really didn't think you were doing anything wrong and you weren't selling what you were downloading, it *could* fall under fair use. Good luck.

[Foolishhaircut896]

sure
it matters not what you think is or is not stealing
it only matters what the law thinks is stealing

your statement
"you find something out there you take it "
will not serve you well in life

you did not write the software
you did not pay the creator to use the software

lets put it this way
if you found ten thousand dollars of stolen money
you took it home and then spent it

even if you did not steal it in the first place
the money or in your case intellectual property
is stolen

its no yours to down load and use

if i were you i would see a lawyer

you might get lucky and it will all blow over
but if they want to
they can hurt you bad