Digital Piracy??

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Digital Piracy??

I'm very new to Digital Scrapbooking (basically 1 week in...) As I've been looking through various sites and blogs I came across several references to people having their data on pirate sites. I'm always on the lookout for a good deal, but I certainly don't want to take advantage or swindle the creators, how do I know if the free things I come across are legit or not?

Good question, I have wondered that myself quite a bit! I have only been scrapbooking since the start of January and have also seen references to this. It is especially upsetting when you find a freebie kit on this site that you love, go to the link to download and find out from their blog it has been removed due to piracy...
I will follow this thread with interest to see the answers as I don't want to inadvertently download something that has been stolen.

Although I can;t answer the situation of why designers remove their links when they find their product has been pirated... My experience of knowing when a download is pirated is very evident typically. #1) it's usually found on some random blog or website that is "fishy" #2) It is not the owners/creators website, blog, or store that you find the link at.

The best way to avoid downloading pirated versions of freebies or kits is to NEVER download from a place if it is not the creators very own blog, store, facebook page, or from a forum that is at a website they sell for. If you only download from these places you should be safe. The ONLY legitimate exception I can think of is a blog or FB train where the store blog or forum or FB page is being granted permission to share one part of a mega kit type thing. smiley

@Shawna Thanks for that! Great to know. Do you know much about the website www.bestfreedigitalscrapbook.com That is one that I was never really sure about.
Thanks

Anita: I'm pretty confident that the www.bestfreedigitalscrapbook.com site is legit and perfectly fine.
It is what we like to call a freebie hunting/listing website. If you notice when you click on the link that says download, it will take you directly to the designers website to actually download the files from. So they're just sharing places with you that they've found have great freebies. smiley

Here are a few more that I really like that help search for freebies. This is how I usually learn about new designers I haven't heard about before. So, it's nice to find legitimate search sites like these. I'm sure some of the other members may be able to give you even more freebie listing sites that I can't remember right now of the top of my head... But I know these are trustworthy for sure.
http://qualitydigiscrapfreebies.blogspot.com/
http://scrapbook.creativebusybee.com/
http://www.craftcrave.com/category/digifree/
http://digitalfreebies.com/

ETA: (2/3/14) I started a post here specifically for Freebie Listing Sites as people share more or I think of or find others to tell you about. -enjoy! smiley

Shawna,

Thank you so much. I will be able to breathe a bit easier about the items I have come across. Thank you also for the site leads, I'm looking forward to checking out their products.

@Shawna Thanks, it is nice to put my mind at ease! I appreciate the sites you have given too. smiley

Links offered in stores that sell digikits like Scraps and Pieces, Digital Scrapbook Studio, With Love Studio, etc, are ok too. They´re usually part of challenges or design contests. Also, as these sites are made and directed by designers selling their work, they have zero tolerance to piracy.

If you find a link on a website and isn´t sure if you should click it or not (as pirated stuff may contain virus or malawares), type the name of the designer and name of the kit on google and try to look for the link that goes to the designer´s site or blog (for example, I googled "Pond life" "Jessica art design" and, although the first links that appeared were freebie finders, the 6th or 7th was Jessica´s site, where you can download the kit safely.

I've wondered about this, too. I'm always afraid to download kits, etc from those freebie sites. Thank you for the list of safe sites.

Just a Quick Note: Ladies, I started a post here specifically for Freebie Listing Sites as people share more or I think of or find others to tell you about. -enjoy! smiley