The film DS watched at his mates last night....

[MrsPiddlewink]

...isn't out on DVD yet. Any other way they could have watched it without it being pirated?! DS is 8 so is probably none the wiser, but I'm a bit . Or is this standard? Would it be over the top to mention it?

"The chances of your average "downloader" being prosecuted are, well, you have more chance of winning the lottery"

Well in that case I'll start doing that.... perhaps I could do it on my phone, whilst driving, and carrying an offensive weapon (no. 20 on the Fails list)

Or maybe not

Hmm, I'm wondering now if I do break the law ever... I can think of a few instances I have and felt guilty about it, but I don't think I do it on a daily basis.

I used to record the charts off the radio but I don't think that is illegal? Like recording something off the tv to watch at a later date? It isn't something I do now anyway but interesting to look into whether it was illegal at the time.

Then why the jeff is everyone doing it?!

Because as Lottie pointed out, people will steal anything if they think they won't get caught.

Recording TV shows to DVD/VHS is illegal, I believe, same as copying songs off the radio - you're getting a version to keep for free without paying for it.

I used to record the charts off the radio but I don't think that is illegal?

Yes, it is / was.

Yeah it was illegal.

That is really interesting - so using a video recorder is illegal too? Wow. In that case I used to break the law a lot! I assume TiVo is legal?

My mum used to borrow records from the library and record them onto tape, I knew that wasn't right even when I was young and would ask her not to do it.

I definitely wouldn't have taped the radio if I had known it was illegal. And all those mix tapes I made for my friends... Eek.

we use the Showbox app to watch movies/box sets. Its probably illegal too.

And all those mix tapes I made for my friends... Eek.

ooooooh that's worse, that's........... PRODUCING AND DISTRIBUTING!! ;-)

we use the Showbox app to watch movies/box sets. Its probably illegal too. yup, all these apps are illegal

Why were they allowed to sell blank videos/cassettes and equipment to record tv/audio legally then?!

If this is where you are going to start drawling the line between suitable and unsuitable friends for your DS, he is going to end up being a very lonely child.

Not all parents will parent exactly the same as you and as long as the children are safe and being well cared for you really just have to 'let it go'. Save your wrath for the parents letting them play GTA at 8.

Because you can video other things and record them to VHS/DVD. Plus, lots of equipment has two uses - ie. it CAN be used legally therefore it can be sold, even if the primary purpose is an illegal one.

it's not illegal to record tv shows as such......

"Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 states that the recording of TV programmes should be for time-shift purposes; in other words, to view at a more convenient time. "

It's more to do with recording it to duplicate and supply to others, that's illegal.

It wasn't illegal to record tv to video for your own use. It was only illegal to use it for public viewing (and a couple of friends doesn't count)

Nor was it illegal to make a tape of your own singing or whatever (god forbid) so of course tapes were freely and legally sold.

I agree with Chip, if you were to ban your DS from going to every household where illegal downloading / streaming had took place, you would be very limited in terms of playdates!

Quite tempted by these Android boxes now I've seen them mentioned on this thread!

Android Boxes are very good. You can watch every satellite channel known to man, Every episode of every TV show ever, plus nearly any film, ever.

This streaming is obv illegal tho people!

TBH if I was the parent who showed the DVD and you contacted me I would ban my child every playing with your kid again. You seem to have completely OTT feelings about a harmless enough thing that the vast majority of people do.

Yep digital release date is until Oct 21st (on i-tunes) so def illegal..... but I wouldn't mention it.

We download our films, watch then delete them. We stream them from our phones, no discs anymore. I use a thing called ShowBox on my phone where I've just downloaded the first three harry potter films for me and DP to watch, we have the DVDs but they're broken. I planned to buy the box set but it was too much money, so waiting until christmas. As long as you're not downloading and selling, it's fine. The only way you can get caught is if you're downloading, say, 20,000 films from Pirate Bay (which people still use through proxy) on uTorrent, and continue to seed the films when they're finished and uploading to HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of people. Thats uploading on a massive scale, try, terrabytes of information. one or two at a time doesn't harm anybody, everyone I know does it. We all have copy DVDs. Very very OTT to mention this.

This is one of those threads that has made me just because it's something that seems so unimportant to worry about.

OP, I think you should slow down and think. Read some of the heartbreaking threads on here, from parents who see their child with no friends.
If you are serious about 'editing out' undesirable types, and you continue to hold such a hard line, your DC will be very, very lonely. And that will be in part down to you.
I get that you would never do anything illegal (knowingly), but that just isn't the case with a lot of others. People jay walk, download songs, break the speed limit by a few kms, these things happen. That doesn't mean that their children will damage yours by playing together.

Is it illegal to watch a pirated film?