It's been discussed. Because it was published in a public forum, fair use is certainly a consideration. Is it legal to copy stuff from websites without permission? U.S. courts haven’t made a clear determination. Andy Sellars, a staff attorney at the Citizen Media Law Project, says he would argue that it counts as “fair use” under copyright law. However, he notes that the Archive Team’s torrents don’t offer a mechanism for copyright holders to demand that certain material be taken down, which could hurt its case in a court. http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/426434/fire-in...