This is as much a legal question as it is a computer question.

Does viewing a screen with questionable visual content constitute downloading?

---

Clarification of Question by ipo1-ga on 31 May 2004 22:43 PDT

I'll certainly understand if Google researchers cannot or will not answer this.

However, in computer-land does viewing equal downloading?

---

Request for Question Clarification by tox-ga on 31 May 2004 23:02 PDT

Hi ipo1-ga!

Your question is a tricky one as it can cover many possible scenarios.
 Also, where you're from and local laws are certainly relevant.

I may be wrong in my interpretation, but from reading your question, I
sense some confusion over how viewing online content works.

What you should understand is that if you're viewing 'something', and
that 'something' came from the internet, then by viewing it, you have
already downloaded it.  That is because 'downloading' describes the
movement of data from one computer to another, so in order to view
something, the data must've moved to your computer.  If that
'something' came from, say, a CD then technically it hasn't been
downloaded since the transfer of data between a host and client
computer has not occured.  Whether this is legal, of course, depends
on the nature of the 'questionable content'.  Content which is illegal
by nature (for example, child pornography) is not legal no matter how
it is obtained, whether by downloading it from the internet or copied
from a CD.  Some content, however, is not inheritely illegal but
rather the means of obtaining it (for example, downloading a
copyrighted film without a license versus buying the DVD and viewing
it on your computer) may be.  In this case, viewing such content, if
obtained from the internet, is downloading.

I may have answered your question, but if not, I encourage you to give
your general location (country, state) and perhaps be a bit more
specific.

Best regards,
tox-ga

I don't consider viewing to be downloading. As I see it, downloading
conveys a reusable copy of something from someone else's computer to
yours. Viewing does not leave a copy (unless you use some sort of
video capture software, or unless there are things left in your "temp"
files that can be retrieved).

anyway you download all you see at your screen.(this files are downl.
to your cache &temp files)

BUT!Viewing/copying a copyrighted film from DVD/Internet i think is
legal because you don't know that copy you watch is illegal