No, not really. Doesn't matter how you go about doing it, if you didn't pay for it (assuming it's payware) it's still illegal. Also, Limewire isn't a torrent software.   

most of the stuff transferred on those networks are pirated software, movies and music. The technology itself is perfectly legal, as it just allows efficient file transfer. The problem is the files being transferred.

and the fact that this is a MAJOR WAY to invite spyware/malware/viruses into your lil' ol' machine

It gets very fuzzy.  Technically, so long as they do not host content themselves and merely point to other sites for everything, they're not directly infringing.  They are however engaging in contributory infringment which is also a crime.  They try and hide by saying "for educational purposes only" or other disclaimers, but with bittorrent sites and such that list pirated content exclusively, they have very little ground to stand on.

P2P technology is not in itself illegal.  Bittorrent is used for legit purposes.  A good analogy is how a telephone can allow you to conduct illegal business.  The telephone itself is not an illegal tool, nor is the phone line that allows the illegal act to happen, illegal.  It's how you USE the technology that can be legal or illegal.

the word "Warez" kinda means pirated software... so i guess a yes to that part...

But as far as the software used goes it isn't illegal at all, the content that is shared is what comes under copyright.

As was said above, Bit Torrent and Limewire are different networks of P2P users, although the newest versions of Limewire support connecting to the Bit Torrent network.

The question you asked tho is one major concern with those largeish American Anti-Piracy Groups that are all over web news (well they where, died a bit in the last month or two but they will be back), the ones that going after all the Bit-Torrent providers and are trying to do location traces on Limewire sharers, they are killing a technology that has nothing to do with what is being shared on it, for example there are a good many very legal Torrent providers around that are still catching fire from these groups.

In fact Bit Torrent is great for spreading content that is created and sold over the net, or that people give away for free (read Open Source and free meida), that would other wise never get distributed as the creators can't afford distribution.

More then a few tech groups; peer guardian, Slashdot and Wired to name just a few, have all had articles up over the last 6 to 8 months talking about the very real concern that these piracy groups that are just trying to 'help' us could easily do to next generation internet development if they are able to pass some of the crap they are trying too.

and with that...

/rant

but seriously go check out the articles, they are a good read to boot

I heard that back in '98 a person actually used p2p to transfer a file legally.   

Limewire is a portal for Viruses trojans and rootkits.

I recently read an article (WWW Link) about a man who came up with the idea to have ISP's charge user's a $5.00 a month "Tax" for access to all the music you want to download, it sounds like a great idea I wonder if the labels and ISP's would bite?

I wonder how many more ways will be said that its illegal to rip off stuff without paying?  

Some countries, like the UK and France, are actually putting pressure on the ISP's to stop the torrent networks and I believe in the case of the UK that the government are seriously thinking about legislation. Over here in the US, Comcast have been having quite a battle with customers and BitTorrent and there has been an intersting developement in the last week which is worth reading here

And it looks like one of the biggest ISP's in the UK, Virgin, are going to crack down on the Pirates. This came out today WWW Link

But, of course, they would. They are one of the biggest entertainment outlets so they must be losing huge amounts of revenue in just CD sales alone.