Is that why bnet sux for dling maps, even though it's not a true torrent?

No, it's because you are downloading from one person, who may have a shitty upload speed / connection.

Bnet is a shitty download client.

FYI, downloading isn't as dangerous as uploading. ISPs don't care what you do, and can't monitor what you do unless you are a repeat offender (it's impractical to do so). I was reading my ToS for my ISP though, and found that porn is forbidden. People get caught by a mole in the p2p program will find everyone's IP address, resolve it to the ISP, and report them to the ISP. Typically the ISP then issues a C&D on the person. If the ISP has numerous violators in a small area or something (colleges) the MPAA may then press charges.

The people you know are limiting their exposure to possible moles. It's like playing poker. You can make good decisions which increase your probability of "winning", but it's still based on luck.

About the moles: That's why we use peerguardian.

Good luck identifying them.

PG2 has a current list of 983617910 banned IP addresses. So far it has caught approximately 4500 IPs that are moles.
The day I started using PG2 has when I got a C&D letter for a Maxis download. After PG2, I downloaded it again for the lulz. And no more letters. Since then, I have downloaded approximately 500gb of data on the "Watch List," like Adobe products, and Maxis products. I think I'm safe.

It's impractical to try and catch all the people who download illegally so instead they go after the programs and such that provide these downloads.

Your logic for that program working is flawed.

I download things all the time, but my high bandwidth time is kinda limited so I don't get to download as much as I'd like. I get amazing speeds where I live now, though. I got 1.7 MB/s the other day. Averages around 700/kB/s unless other downloads are going (from another computer) in which case it 50/50's it down to 300-400 kB/s

Emulators are illegal? I know that ROMs are illegal. I use an emulator for my GBA programming projects, using it is illegal?

Emulators themselves are legal. However, if the emulator requires a bios rom file from the system, it cannot be distributed with the emulator. A workaround for this would be to recreate the bios from scratch using clean-room methods, but it would be a lot of work.

From my experience it's pretty safe to download old stuff even via p2p programs. Like 3 years and older. Companies aren't actively trying to catch you for that stuff.

The other source is Rapidshare & Co. You just need to find the links from underground sites.

i always love the word underground lol. it makes sense to use it for music... but lol what do you mean an underground website. Websites are genrally open to just about everyone.

There are websites that aren't. Notably, private trackers.

So how could you access some of those websites?

Typically you have to be invited. Friends invite friends invite friends. The way you make friends is through forums and IRC, but it's better through real life, since then you're more likely to actually know the person. Some sites have open registration for a time, (so they're no longer really private) and others limit the number of invites available depending on ratio. The problem is finding the sites, then getting the invite. Some tend to have random names like waffles and what, or even worse, I recall seeing one with aweekljaw or something as the name.

I have downloaded tons of MP3s off of Limewire and other places.

I usually end up buying the albums for the music I download anyway.
This is because I live near a great secondhand electronic media output.

Redeemed right?

All my music comes from youtube.