The internet helps studios share their works globally with a few mouse clicks, but it also enables digital pirates to spread copyrighted content all over the place, without the creators pocketing that revenue.
How do you know if you're using illegal movie websites? Here are 10 signs to look out for, as well as a few free (and legal) alternatives.
How Does Illegal Movie-sharing Happen?
One common way occurs when users download and install software that connects them to so-called torrent files, which let you download online material by pulling data from multiple computers hosting the same content. In another scenario, a black-market site hosting the movie will stream it on demand, much like a YouTube video.
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and those in movie production frown upon these kinds of data sharing. Whereas you might see these services as a convenient way to watch movies, the MPAA views your actions as outright theft, to the tune of nearly $250 billion a year [source: Freakanomics].
In legal terms, streaming sites are a strange beast. If you're caught illegally streaming movie, you could face a fine of $750 or more for the misdemeanor offense, USA Today reported in 2019. What's more, the people who actually operate the streaming sites themselves sometimes wind up in hot water, charged with multiple serious crimes.
Illicit movie-streaming sites also present other dangers. They sometimes host malware, may attempt to steal personal information or will flood your screen with annoying ads. We'll show you how to spot sketchy movie sites that will try to tempt you with a selection of the latest movies.
10 Red Flags
1. Kindergarten-level Web Design
Illegal file-sharers don't typically spend much time designing their websites. Compared to a legitimate business site, theirs often suffer from a lot of rather basic and easy-to-spot errors.
Keep your eyes open for clear giveaways like these. Such a site will likely contain grammatical and spelling mistakes. Graphics are missing, improperly placed or totally out of context with the rest of the material. Fonts are ugly, weird, inconsistent or unreadable.
In short, the site looks and feels fishy and unprofessional — and maybe just a little illegal.
2. An Explosion of Ads
Many illegal sites don't charge users anything at all for free movie streaming. That's because they don't make their money from their streaming service. Instead, these illegal free movie websites make their cash through ads. Many, many, many ads.
Some sites don't make any attempt to hide their blatant ad-based revenue scheme. They pile on pop-up and pop-under ads by the dozen or spread huge, flashing banner graphics all over the page. Each time a visitor clicks one of those ads, the site operator receives revenue.
So when you stumble upon a site that seems to be more about obnoxious, cheesy commercialism than professional streaming, you can bet that it's not legit.
3. Featuring Titles Still in the Theaters
Sometimes you can instantly spot the thieves simply by browsing the movies they're offering. When it comes to ambitious pirating sites, this is one of the most obvious giveaways for a few reasons.
Pirate sites compete not only against law enforcement but against each other. To entice as many viewers as possible, they offer up the freshest blockbusters.
Major studios seldom allow websites to stream movies that are still in theaters (though there was a shift at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic). So if you see streaming titles that are still showing at your local matinee, you can bet that the site is more than a little shady.
A few legit streaming sites, such as Netflix, will release a movie it has produced in the theaters at the same time as on its streaming platform, but in those cases, there wouldn't be a copyright infringement.
4. Misleading Links
You could call it the Case of the Missing Link: It's the endless shell game you play when you're trying to stream a show and you can't seem to find a link that actually plays these free movies.
For example, let's say you find a title you want to watch. You click the movie title or graphic. The site directs you to another page with another link. You click the movie title again. It directs you, again, to yet another page filled with more links to the same movie title, including options that lead to third-party pages or even supposed software that will let you play back the film.
This game usually doesn't end well.
At best, you'll endlessly click links that don't seem to go anywhere, you'll inadvertently click advertisem*nts for suspicious products or you'll wind up stuck in a loop of sites that point to each other in the hopes that you'll share personal information or generate revenue by clicking the aggravating ads.
5. Disclaimers in the 'About Us' Section
If you've never heard of a particular streaming site, do a bit of sleuthing. All official sites have information pages that explain how their service works. Illicit sites are quite different.
Look for an "About Us" or "Help" link that further explains who made the site and how they back up their service. If the site says explicitly that it doesn't actually host any material and lists a disclaimer stating that it "merely" links to movies elsewhere on the web, you can bet that it's not a legitimate business.
Read the fine print and you may see some eye-opening statements that would enrage any Hollywood investor. A lot of illegitimate sites actually boast about their illegal streams. Those are the kinds of sites you'll want to avoid.
6. Weird Domain Address
Illegal sites, by definition, are digital counterfeits. They aren't Rolex, but they often want to make you believe that they're the real deal, plated in gold and silver, when actually they're just cheap knockoffs.
The name might be your first clue that you're dealing with imposters. Check the domain name that appears in the address line of your browser. Many illicit sites (of all kinds) are hosted in far-flung or obscure locations and thus may not have a typical .com name that denotes so much of the web's more credible traffic.
What's more, the site's full name might give you pause. If a site name likeWeHazMoviez4Freez.biz, for example, doesn't make you think twice about its legality, you may need to sharpen your Internet scam-detecting skills before doing more surfing.
7. Warnings From Your Browser
Web browser designers are constantly updating the security features of their software. To that end, many browsers display a can't-miss warning if you try to load questionable sites like illegal streaming websites.
If a site seems insecure, either due to its illegal material or because it hosts potentially damaging malware, your browser halts the loading process and shows a warning. In most cases, you'll have the option of reversing course, or, at your own peril, plunging ahead into dangerous digital waters.
You can be sure that legal, above-board sites rarely trigger such messages. Don't rely on a browser's warning system alone to protect you, though. Prevent egregious user errors (that is, clicking away at weird links) by avoiding questionable sites whenever possible.
8. Requirements to Download Special Software
Let's say you find a site with a tantalizing selection of great, new movies. You excitedly click a title to play the movie, and instead of the opening credits, you see a pop-up indicating that you need to download special video playback software.
Downloading and installing software from an unknown source is perhaps the single biggest security mistake you can commit. According to the Federal Trade Commission, doing so can open a virtual Pandora's Box. A virus can impair your computer. Someone can steal your personal information, including credit card and bank account numbers.
When necessary, legitimate services will offer adequate explanations and alerts before they ask you to install a program. Illegal sites, however, merely try to persuade you to click through a download process as quickly as possible. Avoid such sites altogether and you and your computer will be much safer.
9. An Emphasis on 'Free!'
Operators of illegal sites often couldn't care less if you pay for their so-called services. Their primary goal is to get you to click the ads or to download iffy software from their servers. That's why they use huge fonts and flashing graphics to emphasize the word "free."
Free, of course, is a trigger word that sends many consumers into a mouth-frothing frenzy. Click a few links for a free movie? Why not? Oh, I have to click on a bizarre graphic for Indonesian cheesecake first? No problem!
That's exactly the mentality that illicit site owners hope you'll follow. Legit sites, on the other hand, lure users with a few streams but hold the good stuff closer to their vests, hoping you'll ante up for a subscription or at least a one-time fee for the right to play their content.
Keep in mind, some legitimate sites allow you to watch movies online for free — such as Pluto TV, Tubi, and Crackle — but you may have to watch commercials. Others (like Kanopy) require a library card or a college .edu email address to watch.
You can usually watch the biggies like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime for the first 30 days for free. Just remember to cancel your subscription before your time is up to avoid charges.
10. Needing a Hacked Device for Access
Many legitimate devices, like Roku or Fire TV, connect to your TV and help you access legal streaming services online. But you can also find for sale hacked versions of these devices. Sometimes they're "jailbroken" devices or "Kodi boxes."
Only, they don't access legal material. Instead, once you connect them to the internet, they stream content from, you guessed it, illegal repositories.
The idea is that even though you have to pay money for the jailbroken device, you'll save money because you're not paying for streaming services.
The downside (aside from the obvious legal and ethical ones) is that by using these illegal devices, you're giving hackers a wide-open opportunity to access your home network. Then, they can steal all sorts of personal information and generally wreak havoc. In short, the trade-off isn't worth it.
As bandwidth speeds increase and mobile devices become more adept at playing high-resolution video, you're seeing more and more options for video streaming all over the internet. By avoiding illegal streaming sites and devices, you'll dodge scams and security problems galore, access higher-quality content and know that you're paying for the content you use.
Legal and Free Streaming Sites
Free movie streaming sites do exist, but they may not have as much variety as a paid service or an illegal streaming site. You may also have to watch commercials, similar to the experience of watching movies on cable. Here are four legitimate free streaming websites.
Tubi: Tubi offers free TV and movies. It has a catalog of 200,000 movies and episodes.
Crackle: Crackle is an ad-supported platform that features free movies, original programming and TV shows. The site explains that the selection may not always be available after an agreement with a provider ends.
Kanopy: Kanopy is free but not available to everyone. You can access the website through your library or university, but this does not include every institution. If your library allows you to access Kanopy, you can watch ad-free movies.
Vudu: You can rent or buy movies on Vudu, but the platform also has a selection of movies you can watch for free with ads.
Lots More Information
Author's Note: 10 Signs that Streaming Movie Site Isn't Legit
Contemporary peer-to-peer networks continue to flourish in spite of the best efforts of heavyweight copyright and corporate attorneys. When one service finally gets unplugged, another takes its place.
As if unauthorized downloads alone weren't causing enough difficulty, streaming content further muddies the waters. If you really love movies, you can do yourself and other movie buffs a favor: Find legal ways to pay for and enjoy that content. In doing so, you support the entertainment industry and you dodge digital security pitfalls of all kinds, too.
Sources
Albanesius, Chloe. "Senate Panel Oks Bill That Makes Streaming Pirated Content a Felony." PCmag.com. June 17, 2011. (April 15, 2020) http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2387202,00.asp
Bilton, Nick. "Internet Pirates Will Always Win." The New York Times. Aug. 4, 2012. (April 15, 2020) http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/sunday-review/internet-pirates-will-always-win.html
Bilton, Nick. "Disruptions: For HBO, Still Beholden to a Cable Company." The New York Times Bits Blog. June 10, 2012. (April 15, 2020) http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/disruptions-for-hbo-still-beholden-to-a-cable-company/
Collinson, Patrick and Jill Papworth. "Movie Download: Are you Sitting Comfortably (and Legally?)." The Guardian. April 15, 2011. (April 15, 2020) http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/apr/16/movie-downloads-streaming-legally
Digital Citizen's Alliance. "Fishing in the Piracy Stream: How the Dark Web of Entertainment is Exposing Consumers to Harm." April 2019. (April 15, 2020) https://www.digitalcitizensalliance.org/clientuploads/directory/Reports/DCA_Fishing_in_the_Piracy_Stream_v6.pdf
Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Felony Penalties Proposed for 'Illegal Streaming': Senate Bill 978." June 23, 2011. (April 15, 2020) https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/06/felony-penalties-proposed-illegal-streaming-senate
Engleman, Eric. "Illegal Video Streaming Elevated to Felony Under Senate Bill." Bloomberg. June 16, 2011. (April 15, 2020) http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-16/illegal-video-streaming-elevated-to-felony-under-senate-measure.html
Epstein, Zach. "Founder of Illegal Movie Streaming Site Sentenced to 4.5 Years in Jail, $4.7 Million Fine." BRG.com. June 15, 2012. (April 15, 2020) http://www.bgr.com/2012/06/15/file-sharing-shutdown-kino-to-founder-jail-fine/
Fiegerman, Seth. "Streaming Movies Illegally May Soon be a Felony." Mainstreet.com. June 17, 2011. (April 15, 2020) http://www.mainstreet.com/article/moneyinvesting/news/streaming-movies-illegally-may-soon-be-felony
Motion Picture Association of America. "Get Movies & TV Shows." (April 15, 2020) http://www.mpaa.org/contentprotection/get-movies-tv-shows
Motion Picture Association of America. "Types of Content Theft." (April 15, 2020) http://www.mpaa.org/contentprotection/types-of-content-theft
Newberg, Katelyn. "2 Las Vegas men plead guilty to charges in illegal streaming case." Las Vegas Review-Journal. Dec. 17, 2019. (April, 15, 2020) https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/courts/2-las-vegas-men-plead-guilty-to-charges-in-illegal-streaming-case-1914364/
Puig, Alvaro. "Malware from illegal video streaming apps: What to know." Federal Trade Commission. May 2, 2019. (April 15, 2020) https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2019/05/malware-illegal-video-streaming-apps-what-know
Purewal, Sarah Jacobsson. "Senate Committee Votes to Make Illegal Streaming a Felony." PC World. June 17, 2011. (April 15, 2020) http://www.pcworld.com/article/230532/senate_committee_votes_to_make_illegal_streaming_a_felony.html
Rabiner, Stephanie. "Is Streaming or Watching Movies Illegal?" Findlaw Blogs. April 23, 2012. (April 15, 2020) http://blogs.findlaw.com/law_and_life/2012/04/is-streaming-or-watching-movies-illegal.html
Raustiala, Kal and Chris Sprigman. "How Much Do Music and Movie Piracy Really Hurt the U.S. Economy?" Freakonomics.com. Jan. 12, 2012. (April 15, 2020) http://www.freakonomics.com/2012/01/12/how-much-do-music-and-movie-piracy-really-hurt-the-u-s-economy/
United States Copyright Office. "DMCA Section 104 Report." August 2001. (April 15, 2020) http://www.copyright.gov/reports/studies/dmca/sec-104-report-vol-1.pdf
6: The 'About Us' Has Disclaimers
If you've never heard of a particular streaming site, do a bit of sleuthing. All official sites have information pages that explain how their service works. Illicit sites are quite different.
Look for an "About Us" or "Help" link that further explains who made the site and how they back up their service. If the site says explicitly that it doesn't actually host any material and lists a disclaimer stating that it "merely" links to movies elsewhere on the web, you can bet that it's not a legitimate business.
Read the fine print and you may see some eye-opening statements that would enrage any Hollywood investor. A lot of illegitimate sites actually boast about their illegal streams. Those are the kinds of sites you'll want to avoid.
5: The Domain Address Is Weird
Illegal sites, by definition, are digital counterfeits. They aren't Rolex, but they often want to make you believe that they're the real deal, plated in gold and silver, when actually they're just cheap knockoffs.
The name might be your first clue that you're dealing with imposters. Check the domain name that appears in the address line of your browser. Many illicit sites (of all kinds) are hosted in far-flung or obscure locations and thus may not have a typical .com name that denotes so much of the web's more credible traffic.
What's more, the full name of the site might give you pause. If a site name likeWeHazMoviez4Freez.biz, for example, doesn't make you think twice about its legality, you may need to sharpen your Internet scam-detecting skills before doing more surfing.
4: Your Browser Freaks Out
Web browser designers are constantly updating the security features of their software. To that end, many browsers display a can't-miss warning if you try to load a questionable site.
If a site is deemed insecure, either due to its illegal material or because it hosts potentially damaging malware, your browser halts the loading process and shows a warning. In most cases, you'll have the option of reversing course, or, at your own peril, plunging ahead into dangerous digital waters.
You can be sure that legal, above-board sites rarely trigger such messages. Don't rely on a browser's warning system alone to protect you, though. Prevent egregious user errors (that is, blindly clicking away at weird links) by avoiding questionable sites whenever possible.
3: You Need to Download Special Software
Let's say you find a site with a tantalizing selection of great, new movies. You excitedly click a title to play the movie, and instead of the opening credits, you see a pop-up indicating that you need to download special video playback software.
Downloading and installing software from an unknown source is perhaps the single biggest security mistake you can commit. According to the Federal Trade Commission, doing so can open a virtual Pandora's Box. Your computer may be crippled by a virus. Your personal information, including credit card and bank account numbers, could be stolen.
When necessary, legitimate services will offer adequate explanations and alerts before they ask you to install a program. Illegal sites, however, merely try to convince you to click through a download process as quickly as possible. Avoid such sites altogether and you and your computer will be much safer.
2: The Emphasis is on 'Free!'
Operators of illegal sites often couldn't care less if you pay for their so-called services. Their primary goal is to get you to click the ads or to download iffy software from their servers. That's why they use huge fonts and flashing graphics to emphasize the word "free."
Free, of course, is a trigger word that sends many consumers into a mouth-frothing frenzy. Click a few links for a free movie? Why not? Oh, I have to click on a bizarre graphic for Indonesian cheesecake first? No problem!
That's exactly the mentality that illicit site owners hope you'll follow. Legit sites, on the other hand, lure users with a few streams but hold the good stuff closer to their vests, hoping you'll ante up for a subscription or at least a one-time fee for the right to play their content.
Keep in mind, there are some legitimate sites that offer free content, such as Pluto TV, Tubi, and Crackle, but you may have to watch commercials. Others (like Kanopy) require a library card or a college .edu email address to watch. And you can usually watch the biggies like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime for the first 30 days for free. Just remember to cancel your subscription before your time is up to avoid charges.
1: You Need a Hacked Device to Access It
Many legitimate devices, like Rokuor Fire TV, connect to your TV and help you access legal streaming services online. But you can also find for sale hacked versions of these devices. Sometimes they're called "jailbroken" devices or "Kodi boxes." Only they don't access legal material – instead, once you connect them to the Internet, they stream content from, you guessed it, illegal repositories.
The idea is that even though you have to pay money for the jailbroken device, you'll save money because you're not paying for streaming services.
The downside (aside from the obvious legal and ethical ones) is that by using these illegal devices, you're giving hackers a wide-open opportunity to access your home network. Then, they can steal all sorts of personal information and generally wreak havoc. In short, the trade-off isn't worth it.
As bandwidth speeds increase and mobile devices become more adept at playing high-resolution video, you're seeing more and more options for video streaming all over the internet. By avoiding illegal streaming sites and devices, you'll dodge scams and security problems galore, access higher-quality content and know that you're paying for the content you use.
Lots More Information
Author's Note: 10 Signs that Streaming Movie Site Isn't Legit
Contemporary peer-to-peer networks continue to flourish in spite of the best efforts of heavyweight copyright and corporate attorneys. When one service finally gets unplugged, another takes its place.
As if unauthorized downloads alone weren't causing enough difficulty, streaming content further muddies the waters. If you really love movies, you can do yourself and other movie buffs a favor: find legal ways to pay for and enjoy that content. In doing so, you support the entertainment industry and you dodge digital security pitfalls of all kinds, too.
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Sources
Albanesius, Chloe. "Senate Panel Oks Bill That Makes Streaming Pirated Content a Felony." PCmag.com. June 17, 2011. (April 15, 2020) http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2387202,00.asp
Bilton, Nick. "Internet Pirates Will Always Win." The New York Times. Aug. 4, 2012. (April 15, 2020) http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/sunday-review/internet-pirates-will-always-win.html
Bilton, Nick. "Disruptions: For HBO, Still Beholden to a Cable Company." The New York Times Bits Blog. June 10, 2012. (April 15, 2020) http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/disruptions-for-hbo-still-beholden-to-a-cable-company/
Collinson, Patrick and Jill Papworth. "Movie Download: Are you Sitting Comfortably (and Legally?)." The Guardian. April 15, 2011. (April 15, 2020) http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/apr/16/movie-downloads-streaming-legally
Digital Citizen's Alliance. "Fishing in the Piracy Stream: How the Dark Web of Entertainment is Exposing Consumers to Harm." April 2019. (April 15, 2020) https://www.digitalcitizensalliance.org/clientuploads/directory/Reports/DCA_Fishing_in_the_Piracy_Stream_v6.pdf
Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Felony Penalties Proposed for 'Illegal Streaming': Senate Bill 978." June 23, 2011. (April 15, 2020) https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/06/felony-penalties-proposed-illegal-streaming-senate
Engleman, Eric. "Illegal Video Streaming Elevated to Felony Under Senate Bill." Bloomberg. June 16, 2011. (April 15, 2020) http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-16/illegal-video-streaming-elevated-to-felony-under-senate-measure.html
Epstein, Zach. "Founder of Illegal Movie Streaming Site Sentenced to 4.5 Years in Jail, $4.7 Million Fine." BRG.com. June 15, 2012. (April 15, 2020) http://www.bgr.com/2012/06/15/file-sharing-shutdown-kino-to-founder-jail-fine/
Fiegerman, Seth. "Streaming Movies Illegally May Soon be a Felony." Mainstreet.com. June 17, 2011. (April 15, 2020) http://www.mainstreet.com/article/moneyinvesting/news/streaming-movies-illegally-may-soon-be-felony
Motion Picture Association of America. "Get Movies & TV Shows." (April 15, 2020) http://www.mpaa.org/contentprotection/get-movies-tv-shows
Motion Picture Association of America. "Types of Content Theft." (April 15, 2020) http://www.mpaa.org/contentprotection/types-of-content-theft
Newberg, Katelyn. "2 Las Vegas men plead guilty to charges in illegal streaming case." Las Vegas Review-Journal. Dec. 17, 2019. (April, 15, 2020) https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/courts/2-las-vegas-men-plead-guilty-to-charges-in-illegal-streaming-case-1914364/
Puig, Alvaro. "Malware from illegal video streaming apps: What to know." Federal Trade Commission. May 2, 2019. (April 15, 2020) https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2019/05/malware-illegal-video-streaming-apps-what-know
Purewal, Sarah Jacobsson. "Senate Committee Votes to Make Illegal Streaming a Felony." PC World. June 17, 2011. (April 15, 2020) http://www.pcworld.com/article/230532/senate_committee_votes_to_make_illegal_streaming_a_felony.html
Rabiner, Stephanie. "Is Streaming or Watching Movies Illegal?" Findlaw Blogs. April 23, 2012. (April 15, 2020) http://blogs.findlaw.com/law_and_life/2012/04/is-streaming-or-watching-movies-illegal.html
Raustiala, Kal and Chris Sprigman. "How Much Do Music and Movie Piracy Really Hurt the U.S. Economy?" Freakonomics.com. Jan. 12, 2012. (April 15, 2020) http://www.freakonomics.com/2012/01/12/how-much-do-music-and-movie-piracy-really-hurt-the-u-s-economy/
United States Copyright Office. "DMCA Section 104 Report." August 2001. (April 15, 2020) http://www.copyright.gov/reports/studies/dmca/sec-104-report-vol-1.pdf
Original article: 10 Signs You're Using Illegal Movie Websites
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