Torrents, oh torrents. Lets just dive right into what a torrent is. A torrent is a "file", or rather a group of "files", that anybody anywhere can download (assuming they have a torrent client like utorrent, bittorrent, etc etc). The torrent clients connect to others (peers and seeders) that have the file you are looking for and take bits and pieces from them and give them to you. Then the clients take the pieces from you and distributes them to others. This is an ingenious way to distribute files because it takes very little of a users upstream to give back to the community.
Now here comes the big question: Is it legal? Unfortunately this is probably the best answer you're going to get: Yes and no. Of course it depends on the type of file you're downloading. Yes it's less legal downloading a copyrighted file. But it's also equally legal in that you're not actually downloading the file itself but pieces of the file. That's why very rarely do people ever go to jail or get fined for having downloaded a file. Now you can't go downloading any sort of movie or music that isn't technically released yet (that is, without a doubt, fully illegal), but there is virtually no way in court to prove that you didn't buy it or even just "borrowed" it from a friend.
Here are some starting links that I know will "get the ball rolling" for new torrenters.
thepiratebay.org
www.isohunt.com
www.btjunkie.com
Just head these words of warning:
1) Even though you most likely won't get fined or go to jail
2) Please use protection when torrenting. Protection being A) proxy services, B) Antivirus, C) Firewalls, and D) Updates.
3) Be smart when torrenting, don't just go downloading anything that might strike your fancy. There are such a thing as fake torrents that are viruses or malware. Some people just like to watch the word burn.
