When deciding whether content is legal to copy or share a good rule of thumb to follow is if the item is sold online or in a store, it is likely ILLEGAL to make a copy or make available (share) without permission of the copyright holder.

Here are a few examples of what is legal and not:

• Copy my friend’s purchased content from his/her MAC/PC/portable player to mine? (assuming you do not already own a legal copy of that content) – NOT LEGAL
• Download copyrighted material (stuff sold online or in stores) from a P2P network without paying for it? – NOT LEGAL
• Share tracks I legally purchase on a P2P network? – NOT LEGAL
• Remove the digital rights management (DRM) protections from a track so I can copy it to my iPod or other portable player? – NOT LEGAL
• Download otherwise purchasable music, videos, games for free from a website in a foreign country – NOT LEGAL
• Make a personal backup copy of content I purchase – LEGAL
• Make copies of licensed-waved music, video, games, software – Usually LEGAL
• Is BitTorrent legal? – YES, but using BitTorrent to copy and share copyrighted material w/o copyright holder permission is NOT LEGAL.
• Use email or IM to distribute copyrighted material to friends. – NOT LEGAL