It is illegal to distribute commercial works electronically, specifically recordings or audiovisual works per the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
A "commercial" work is one whose copyright owner or authorized representative intends to or already does sell, rent, perform, or exhibit under license.
Federal laws allow for fines up to $250,000 and imprisonment up to five years.
Over half of illegal downloads include malware.
Free and/or low cost safe alternatives to piracy do exist.
Sites with lists of links to where students can download digital works legally or at low cost:
All below links are provided without any guarantee, terms of service may change, this is not a complete list as services are offered at the discretion of service providers and may change throughout the year. For example: Amazon Prime, HBO, etc... are services who have discounts for students but change their terms on a regular basis and thus we cannot list a stable URL. To find those search "student discount" + service name |
Additional information regarding copyright, including UC policies and legal issues, may be found at: http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/copyright/