• You can download almost anything from the Internet, but the legality of doing so depends on the source.computer image by blaine stiger from Fotolia.com
  
  “Download Now!” buttons abound on the Internet, offering everything from games to Internet browsers to cellphone ring tones. However, anti-piracy and copyright protection notices also abound. So, what is legal to download from the Internet, and what are the laws that establish legality and liability?
  
  

Copyright

• Copyright is granted automatically to an author as soon as he creates an original work. Copyright covers literary, artistic, musical, dramatic, cinematographic and architectural works, as well as sound recordings. The United States' and most other countries' copyright laws protect both physical and digital copies of such works. Music, books and movies are protected by the same laws when posted on the Internet as when found on CD's or on paper. Computer programs fall into the “literary works” category of copyright law.
  
  

Liability

• According to the U.S. Copyright Office, “uploading or downloading works protected by copyright without the authority of the copyright owner is an infringement of the copyright owner's exclusive rights of reproduction and/or distribution.” Copyright infringement can carry heavy fines and even prison time, so be sure that both you and the entity you download from have the authority to distribute the material in question.
  
  An entity can either have rights as the copyright holder or have limited rights as a licensee, which means the copyright holder has given a third party the right to reproduce, adapt, distribute and/or manufacture copyrighted material in a specific way for a specific amount of time. The legal arrangement should be clearly stated by an “Agreement of Use” before you download anything. That’s what “Check ‘I Agree’ Box to Continue” is all about.
  
  

Laws

• The No Electronic Theft Act clarifies that those who commit copyright infringement can be prosecuted for substantial financial damages even if they do not financially benefit from the infringement. Penalties can reach up to $250,000 in fines and three years in prison.
  
  The Digital Millennium Act prohibits, among other things, any tampering with the anti-piracy controls embedded in most commercial computer programs. The law also stipulates that Internet service providers are not liable for copyright infringement committed by users, but must remove infringing materials when they become aware or it.
  
  

Music and Movies

• Anything downloaded through a peer-to-peer network--i.e., a program that connects anonymous users for the purpose of trading files, such as Limewire or Kazaa--is almost certainly infringing on someone’s copyright. Downloading material from widely known sites such as Netflix, Hulu, CD Baby or iTunes is legal, and the material can be consumed by the purchaser, but not copied or distributed to third parties. Such services cost money, because the provider has an agreement with copyright holders in which it pays them whenever a user downloads their copyrighted material.
  
  Downloading materials from lesser-known sites can be risky. The Center for Democracy and Technology’s website has a list of services that the center says will take your money but do not have legal permission to offer materials for download. Furthermore, free downloads by third-party websites are almost always illegal. Website names often contains words that suggest the possible illegality of the content.
  
  

Programs

• When downloading computer programs, it can be more difficult to ascertain the legality of the download. Unlike music and movies, a lot of people and companies offer their products for free. Only the copyright holder or a licensee can reproduce and distribute a computer program. Hence, the safest way to download programs is to go to the creator’s website and get it there.
  
  After you click “Download,” but before anything else happens, a box with a lot of text should pop up. The text is the legal user agreement, and will state who the copyright holder is and how you, as a user, are allowed to use the program.