To all German visitors: Are Torrents safe in Germany?

[laminaatplaat]

I have this question because my parents have bought this house in Germany where we will go sometimes for holidays etc.. And I was wondering if I could just download stuff there with torrents without being afraid to get in jail

The internet provider we have in Germany is: T-com (T-home.de) Do those guys check your internet traffic?

anyway, thnx

 

[mrgone]

t-com/telekom is THE former monopolist

they have a hard battle with their new competitors

i'm still with them, as i see it, if they rat me out, i go to a competitor ( and tcom is already loosing subscribers)

 

[Master Mo]

I am downloading through a torrent at this very moment and I also did this before and I`ve never encounter any problems... be it legally or functionally. Works just like everywhere else

 

[Satangel]

I am downloading through a torrent at this very moment and I also did this before and I`ve never encounter any problems... be it legally or functionally. Works just like everywhere else

So just the same like any other European country

The only country I've heard making problems about it is Australia, and I'm not even sure about that.

 

[laminaatplaat]

I'm downloading torrents in Germany too at this very moment

But I just wanted to be sure

 

[KenjieX]

I dind't have any issues with my provider (which is the same as yours).
Therefore happy torrenting. =D

 

[enarky]

There aren't any more problems then anywhere else. You'll mainly get into trouble for downloading German PC games and German Porn here. This, though, is going to be really expensive then. We have a concept called an "Abmahnung", that's just like the notices you get from Copyright holders in other countries, but over here they additionally have the right to charge you for the costs of the lawyer that wrote that notice and any additional fees, like for finding out your adress via the state attorney (noone else has the right request your address from the ISP). This is usually somewhere in the 3-900 EUR regions.

Only very "few" (couple of thousand each month) people get persecuted that way, since the process is rather complicated and state attourneys recently refuse to be abused as an IP look up database.

If you stick to international (english) releases you should mostly be safe. Like anywhere else in the world I'd still stay away from public trackers, though.

 

[Curley5959]

Australia doesnt like you to download Torrents but they go for the person who created it, not the person who is downloading it.. And I dont think anyone has got caught in Aus.. I do it all the time.. Just dont go to random sites downloading torrent files and cracks and stuff.. Stick with a safe reliable torrent..

I know that doesnt really have anything to do with actual trafficking.. But its safe.. Im pretty sure its safe in Germany and even Australia..

 

[Diosoth]

There aren't any more problems then anywhere else. You'll mainly get into trouble for downloading German PC games and German Porn here. This, though, is going to be really expensive then. We have a concept called an "Abmahnung", that's just like the notices you get from Copyright holders in other countries, but over here they additionally have the right to charge you for the costs of the lawyer that wrote that notice and any additional fees, like for finding out your adress via the state attorney (noone else has the right request your address from the ISP). This is usually somewhere in the 3-900 EUR regions.

Only very "few" (couple of thousand each month) people get persecuted that way, since the process is rather complicated and state attourneys recently refuse to be abused as an IP look up database.

If you stick to international (english) releases you should mostly be safe. Like anywhere else in the world I'd still stay away from public trackers, though.

Given how bad the censorship is in German games, I don't see why would want them over the english copy anyway. Yeah, unless you can't read english, but still...

 

[mrgone]

Given how bad the censorship is in German games, I don't see why would want them over the english copy anyway. Yeah, unless you can't read english, but still...

i think he meant game FROM germany, i.e. produced , which only MAYBE get an english release
the censoring most of the time covers only ego-shooters/violent games

 

[snikerz]

The provider isn't the problem, the lawyers are. There are many lawyers who check big sites likes TPB for people illegally downloading files. They send out dissuasions (don't know whether this is the correct term) in which they claim that you might have to pay a certain amount of money. Downloading files from big trackers would be too risky for me .. rather go with Anti-Leech-Tracker (ALTs) or OCH like Rapidshit ..

 

[enarky]

While I wholeheartedly agree with Diosoth, what I really meant is what mrgone wrote. Sharing Earth 2160 via eDonkey was a sure way to get such an "Abmahnung" for a short while, for example.

 

[miruki]

Well, it's mostly GERMAN software and music that's not safe to load in Germany - so if you load US versions from US trackers it's not really much of a problem - I'd refrain from downloading music through torrents while you're in Germany tho... mhn, there was this list somewhere in the intarwebs with the software that gets the most warnings, but it seems like it's gone now.. ;_; does anyone by any chance know where to find it?