Is downloading music for free still illegal?
You are referring to music piracy and yes this is illegal. However in the UK at least it is not criminal as such. If somebody knows you are doing it and they call the cops they are not going to kick in your door and arrest you. This sort of thing is a violation of civil law (i.e contracts, business, etc). Given the fact that hundreds of thousands of people do it, you will most likely get away with it. Record companies are however hitting back by pursuing individuals and making examples of them. If you are unlucky to be one of these few then you can expect to be summonsed to court, tried and if convicted be presented with a fine. Most likely you would pay the costs of the record companys’ lawyers and you would be bankrupted, meaning that pretty much everything you own would be confiscated and sold. Unless you are downloading zillions of tunes or are very unlucky, this is not very likely to happen.
