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True. But you will still need to download them (which the browser does for you). Most modern browsers will save a copy on your hard drive as a cached version.
Agree with others here ..... While you may not be downloading them by hand. EVERYTHING you see on the internet is already on your computer, and was downloaded to a temp folder by the browser. That's just the way the technology works.
From a very simplistic overview, a browser works by downloading the instructions on how to display a page, and then downloads all of the parts (pictures, video, text files, etc) to reassemble that page on your computer.
So it's legal to visit sites that have child porn as long you don't download it? I don't personally do that but wonder about this hypocrisy. Because I wouldn't visit a shop that sold child porn and if I did I'd expect to be charged with a crime whether I bought something there or not.
Visiting a shop that sells something illegal, but not buying it is probably not illegal in and of itself (but you'd have to check the laws). For instance, it's not illegal for a minor to go into a store that sells alcohol or tobacco here, but it's illegal for them to posses those things.
However, as pointed out already, you can't view something on the internet without downloading it. You may not click a download link, but if you see something in a browser, that thing is already on your computer somewhere (downloaded by your browser), and anyone looking at the server that hosts that material can see that you viewed it.
The concept y'all are missing is "theft of services."
Example:
If you go to a movie multiplex, see the movie you paid for, and then walk into a different auditorium and see the movie playing there, that is theft of services. If you watch something online that the site has no rights to show, that is theft of services. Yes, it is illegal. Yes, you could be prosecuted.
However...
Current intellectual property laws are first of all immoral, and secondly are so riddled with corporate "gotchas" and theft that the law itself is confused. Go to your library and check out a copy of a DVD, and you can legally see it. See the exact same DVD rip from a pirate site and it is illegal. If you want to upload and sing a version of "The 12 days of Christmas" you can do so with impunity... As long as you don't include the phrase "five gold rings" which is copyright protected.
The insanity of these laws is such that probably 50% of movies actually contain copyright or trademark violations and are illegal to show in the first place.
I dare to disagree with you, Sir...
Ever used "search" images?
Any webpage/image you view in your web browser has been downloaded/cached by your web browser for viewing. You may not have downloaded it in the sense you're used to, but it has been downloaded and exists as a file on your hard drive.
It's fine to view materials online (articles, pictures, music, movies, videos etc. ) as is, but once you download it, you have the power to distribute it to your liking, and that's where it becomes illegal. Most everything you see online is copyrighted.
Yes and its strange because EVERY IMAGE WE VIEW IS BASICALLY "DOWNLOADED" to our disks!!!! (As temp files)
I guess we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one.
You could have tried explaining it to her as others did later....
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