Not sure what caused it but one day I couldn't download any files into my download directory where the error was "Insufficient permissions". I tried other locations /Documents /Desktop but I didn't have permission for those either. I can only download into /home. I thought this might be google chrome specific but I tried in firefox and also with transmission but every time it fails. I'm running 64 bit, 14.04 on AMD FX(tm)-8320 dual boot with windows 8. How can I get permission to download files anywhere but my home directory?

Thanks and sorry for the noob question

Output of ls -l

drwxr-xr-x   3 www-data www-data     4096 Jul 11 18:13 Desktop

drwxr-xr-x   4 www-data www-data     4096 Jul 14 18:43 Documents

drwxr-xr-x   5 www-data www-data     4096 Jul 10 13:29 Downloads

-rw-r--r--   1 www-data www-data     8980 Jun 26 19:39 examples.desktop



drwxr-xr-x 450 www-data www-data    20480 Jul  8 19:03 Music

drwxr-xr-x   2 www-data www-data     4096 Jun 26 19:53 Pictures

drwxr-xr-x   2 www-data www-data     4096 Jun 26 19:53 Public

drwxrwxr-x   5 www-data www-data     4096 Jul  1 00:58 sketchbook

drwxr-xr-x   2 www-data www-data     4096 Jun 26 19:53 Templates

drwxr-xr-x   2 www-data www-data     4096 Jun 26 19:53 Videos

And output of ls -l /

total 100

drwxr-xr-x   2 root root  4096 Jul 24 09:56 bin

drwxr-xr-x   4 root root  4096 Jul 23 14:17 boot

drwxr-xr-x   4 root root  4096 Jun 26 20:50 boot-sav

drwxrwxr-x   2 root root  4096 Jun 26 19:39 cdrom

drwxr-xr-x  17 root root  4360 Aug  1 09:04 dev

drwxr-xr-x 145 root root 12288 Aug  1 12:58 etc

drwxr-xr-x   3 root root  4096 Jun 26 19:39 home

lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root    33 Jul 17 20:23 initrd.img -> boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-32-generic

lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root    33 Jun 26 19:41 initrd.img.old -> boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-24-generic

drwxr-xr-x  23 root root  4096 Jun 26 19:42 lib

drwxr-xr-x   2 root root  4096 Apr 16 21:21 lib64

drwx------   2 root root 16384 Jun 26 19:29 lost+found

drwxr-xr-x   3 root root  4096 Jun 26 19:53 media

drwxr-xr-x   3 root root  4096 Jun 26 20:50 mnt

drwxr-xr-x   4 root root  4096 Jul  1 00:52 opt

dr-xr-xr-x 257 root root     0 Aug  1 05:04 proc

drwx------   8 root root  4096 Jul 14 18:02 root

drwxr-xr-x  25 root root   820 Aug  1 12:39 run

drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 12288 Jul 24 09:56 sbin

drwxr-xr-x   2 root root  4096 Apr 16 21:21 srv

dr-xr-xr-x  13 root root     0 Aug  1 05:04 sys

drwxrwxrwt   8 root root  4096 Aug  1 17:17 tmp

drwxr-xr-x  10 root root  4096 Apr 16 21:21 usr

drwxr-xr-x  14 root root  4096 Jul 11 18:17 var

lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root    30 Jul 17 20:23 vmlinuz -> boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-32-generic

lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root    30 Jun 26 19:41 vmlinuz.old -> boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-24-generic