In my country (New Zealand) there is now a copyright law in place with warnings and such, would BetaArchive break that law?
Here is a link to the law information: http://www.copyright.org.nz/

BetaArchive is not based in New Zealand, therefore shouldn't be affected by NZ law. Hope that answers Q1.

Q2, not sure what you mean?

What FTP program? What you're describing is impossible. No application can download anything when it's not running.

I know eh? But it stopped when uninstalled, so I have no idea. Ignore that question actually.

Ok. But I have heard about american companys issueing them as well. They can be disputed and gotten rid of but would that be possible either? Or m I just being too much of a worry wart?

American companies issuing what, exactly? You've got to be clear as to what you're asking, otherwise you're just making more work for yourself.

As long as you are not knowingly violating the laws of your country, or international law, there's nothing to worry about. But it's quite easy to make the case that everyone is violating at least one law every day, without their knowledge, and they aren't being arrested and imprisoned. If that were the case, everyone would be in jail, and have a criminal record.

Unless you live in Iran, you're probably violating copyright law by using this site to download any copyrighted material, including abandonware and betas. You're also breaking contract law if you use any software against the End User License Agreement, such as by using software you don't have a licence for.

If you live in Iran, you're breaking bigger laws by visiting this decadent western site.

Lol, true that.

Yes it does as even though what is on the server is old/isn't released it still under copyright. However they would have to be able to detect and prove that you are. The law is targeting torrents (and to keep warner bros. happy) more as it is very easy to see who is downloading/sharing. Unless the copyright holders/enforcers (MPAA, RIAA or whatever) have access to the server logs etc.. you will be safe.

Ok. Thanks guys...

You could just anonymize and encrypt your BitTorrent traffic; that way nobody can see what you're doing, much less know your actual IP address.

Still illegal. Just less likely to be caught. But you could still be caught.

Quite unlikely though. SSL is pretty hard to break. This is why you haven't been caught downloading BA's content; SSL. That said, ISPs usually turn a blind eye to an end user torrenting.
It's also worth noting that not all torrents are illegal.

They would still know your IP, just not know what you were downloading.

In my opinion its entirely possible that people could still find out what your doing, even if you use SSL, but I don't think anyone would care enough to try and find out. I've downloaded some legal torrents in the past, so I understand that not all torrents are illegal (I just assumed that since this topic was on copyright law, the torrents would be copyrighted).

I have actually downloaded an illegal Microsoft torrent in the past (DOS), and that was before I knew about any type of security, it was just uTorrent (without even peer-blockers). Never heard from that, the FBI did not knock down my door (although they could have me on a list, for all I know). I haven't downloaded torrents for years, and the only illegal files that I've downloaded (apart from the DOS) would be from the BA FTP. Stuff I doubt anyone would try to track me down. In my opinion main worry would be if your hosting the content...

It's easy enough on torrents. People have been sent fines just by the music industry for example downloading the torrent themselves and making a list of IP's that are connected to the tracker for that file. Encrypted or not that information is freely available even if your ISP doesn't know the contents of the data being sent.

Point is I wasn't tracked. So either they don't care about an old MS release, or its taking them years to get onto me. I know they would easily find out. Nice going on http://www.youhavedownloaded.com/ and seeing what people from my current IP address have downloaded, usually theres nothing, but sometimes theres a big list of stuff..

I think people are missing the point, and a bit confused as to the technology. I'm not talking about SSL; I'm taling about anonymizing your taffic, which means that no one will know your true IP address, and it cannot be divined from nothing. After that is accomplished, encrypting your traffic means that nobody knows what you're downloading, and they would have no way to find out.

All this talk about they could or would still know it is nonsense and patently false.

Mulder you can perhaps share your methodologies or accomplishing this? These days out of habit for internet related I use TOR and peer guardian.