Legal Question in Technology Law in Iowa

newsgroup servers

Is there or any laws recently passed stating that information downloaded from local newsgroup servers which is normally the cable company isp servers is legal. I would think so since the information posted is coming directly through the ISP which has granted us access to the server since we are valid member of the cable company.

Kazaa users being sued for downloading and uploading I can see due to P2P servers being utilized, but these are servers within the cable companies itself providing us the downloads. Any information appreciated.


Asked on 5/01/04, 5:47 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

Re: newsgroup servers

What matters isn't *how* you download but rather *what* you download. Trying to obtain copyrighted material without paying for it is illgeal except where the copyright owner has chosen to make it available for free. If someone else is trying to make it available free, then he is violating the copyright and so are people who copy from him.

Likewise, it is illegal to obtain materials such as child pornography, private records, trade secrets and so on over the internet; it doesn't matter at all what kind of server you are using.

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Answered on 5/01/04, 6:06 pm


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