Uploading is not illegal [it depend on what you upload]
Downloading it not illegal [it depends on what you download]

Finally let's say I wanted to pirate gigs of content. Well most file sharing networks have swarming features. Let say it takes me days or weeks to download the pirated content. During that time I am also a source for that content during that time. How would you know that their isn't an agency spider querying your host? You don't

Furthermore, people [not you] have presented arguments what if I named the file something else? how would they know the the file I have is the real one without downloading the entire file?

Again most of these arguments overlook fundamental facts.

The agencies use the same system used by the P2P networks to weed out fakes. Remember hash values etc. Therefore they know the real files by its values not the names.

__________________
Lee Evans, President
LeeWare Development
http://www.leeware.com