Illegal downloads?

Who is breaking the law? The person that offers stuff for downloading (eg mp3s, videos, software) or the person that actually downloads it? Does this differ from country to country? I reside in the netherlands.

Someone told me recently that the...

person offering the stuff is the illegal one. If the stuff that is there for downloading is simply put in a shared folder on their pc that happens to be open to the internet is that still illegal? After all they might not have realised that other people can see it and download it?

Well both are involved equally.

Both are involved yes, but does that mean that both could potentially get fined/imprisoned for it? Im not interested in opinions, just the facts. I know so many people who download stuff and just wanted to know what the legal system does to try and control it.

If it is there to download it is not illegal.

And what about the person who leaves files on a shared directory by accident? That could be just plain computer ignorance? Could they go to prison for that?

if its from a file sharing program such as lime wire, bear share and among others then it is not illegal because the person you are down loading from has already bought the file or what ever it is so sharing it is not illegal.