Flickr Music - flickrmusic.com - is one of several sites that advertise millions of free downloads and then take money for recommending and supporting free P2P file sharing software.

The advertising on flickrmusic.com is misleading. Visitors may think they are signing up for a service that offers over 80 million legal music and movie downloads. Instead they are paying for Flickr Music to recommend and support free P2P file sharing software.

This brings up several questions:

• Is file sharing legal?
  • File sharing in and of itself is legal as long as the files are not copyright protected. What they don't tell you is that a huge majority of P2P network files are copyrighted content and therefore illegal to download.
  • The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has taken legal action against more than 30,000 people for downloading and/or sharing copyrighted music.
• Does P2P file sharing software normally cost money?
  • No it does not. While flickrmusic.com doesn't mention it on their home page if you dig deeper you'll find that the cost is for their recommendation and support of the free file sharing software.
• Is Flickr Music doing anything illegal?
  • They make sure to cover the bases in different areas of the site. The Terms of Use section states that you are paying for their support of the free P2P software.
• Is Flickr Music misleading visitors?
  • We definitely find their site misleading. Visit McAfee Site Advisor for more opinions of the site.