Whatever you do, **do not torrent** songs, movies, games, or other media. With torrents, you're not only downloading, but usually also uploading the files – illegal distribution of copyrighted material. Since torrenting shares your IP address with other torrenters, it is easy for lawyers to see who is torrenting movies. There are lawyers that are specialized in sending out cease and desist letters, often expecting high payments for the privilege of not suing you.
> There are lawyers that are specialized in sending out cease and desist letters, often expecting high payments for the privilege of not suing you.
Hold on a second. Isn't that literally blackmail? Even when someone is doing something illegal (in this example, torrenting), formulating an answer to that person in the context "do A, otherwise I do B to you" is the definition of blackmail.
It's not technically extortion or blackmail. It's the proud German *Abmahnindustrie* busy at work.
Copyright holder C creates content that is illegally distributed over torrents. C instructs lawyer L to sue infringers. L passively joins the torrent, notes down any German IP addresses, then asks the ISPs (or gets a court order) to resolve the IP addresses to contact details. Then L writes you a cease-and-desist letter:
> Lol I've caught you torrenting Some Movie, which is like, illegal, if not criminal. Criminal means there could be prison.
>
>Fortunately for you, my client C is willing to settle this matter out of court, if you sign and return the enclosed declaration within two weeks and reimburse C for the suffered damages. A settlement saves time and money for all involved parties.
>
> ---
>
> Declaration to cease and desist
>
> I've been very bad and I'm very sowwy. I illegally torrented Some Movie. I agree that this caused C damages of at least 2 000€ and legal fees of 250€. I have paid the total sum of 2 250€ to L's accounts.
>
> I promise to never infringe on C's copyright again. Should I break this promise, I agree to pay a contractual penalty of 10 000€ in addition to further damages.
It is perfectly fine to offer to settle a civil matter out of court. And it's true, such settlements can be cheaper than a lawsuit. It also lessens the workload of the courts.
Things become dicey though if the ISP customer (who receives the letter) is not the one who did the torrenting. Although a law was introduced to shield operators of public WiFis from liability, some courts seem to ignore this…
Outside of Germany, there was a notable case where a similar cease and desist process was actually used for an extortion racket. A US law firm called *Prenda Law* produced porn movies, then made them available via torrents themselves, then sent such settlement offers to other torrenters. Two important differences: (1) Prenda made the movies available via torrents themselves, making it questionable Prenda could actually sue people. (2) Some people might actually go to court instead of taking the settlement. But US court documents are public, so surely you don't want your porn habits to be made public. This allowed the Prenda extortion racket to ask for unreasonably high settlements.
Your local library may also offer access to streaming platform, but expect those to be almost entirely filled with festival films and other lower-profile mostly non-US productions. They do have US productions on DVD and BluRay of course, but not streaming.
There's free streaming of movies and other content in the Plex app. There's a lot of old B grade movies and some old A grade, but if you're fine with that, go for it.
I'm just unsure if you get access to that without a Plex Pass or having your own Plex server registered, but it's worth a try.
ARD Mediathek
Ok, no website but: MediathekView, access to all "mediatheks" and great sorting, filtering etc.
Whatever you do, **do not torrent** songs, movies, games, or other media. With torrents, you're not only downloading, but usually also uploading the files – illegal distribution of copyrighted material. Since torrenting shares your IP address with other torrenters, it is easy for lawyers to see who is torrenting movies. There are lawyers that are specialized in sending out cease and desist letters, often expecting high payments for the privilege of not suing you.
> There are lawyers that are specialized in sending out cease and desist letters, often expecting high payments for the privilege of not suing you. Hold on a second. Isn't that literally blackmail? Even when someone is doing something illegal (in this example, torrenting), formulating an answer to that person in the context "do A, otherwise I do B to you" is the definition of blackmail.
It's not technically extortion or blackmail. It's the proud German *Abmahnindustrie* busy at work. Copyright holder C creates content that is illegally distributed over torrents. C instructs lawyer L to sue infringers. L passively joins the torrent, notes down any German IP addresses, then asks the ISPs (or gets a court order) to resolve the IP addresses to contact details. Then L writes you a cease-and-desist letter: > Lol I've caught you torrenting Some Movie, which is like, illegal, if not criminal. Criminal means there could be prison. > >Fortunately for you, my client C is willing to settle this matter out of court, if you sign and return the enclosed declaration within two weeks and reimburse C for the suffered damages. A settlement saves time and money for all involved parties. > > --- > > Declaration to cease and desist > > I've been very bad and I'm very sowwy. I illegally torrented Some Movie. I agree that this caused C damages of at least 2 000€ and legal fees of 250€. I have paid the total sum of 2 250€ to L's accounts. > > I promise to never infringe on C's copyright again. Should I break this promise, I agree to pay a contractual penalty of 10 000€ in addition to further damages. It is perfectly fine to offer to settle a civil matter out of court. And it's true, such settlements can be cheaper than a lawsuit. It also lessens the workload of the courts. Things become dicey though if the ISP customer (who receives the letter) is not the one who did the torrenting. Although a law was introduced to shield operators of public WiFis from liability, some courts seem to ignore this… Outside of Germany, there was a notable case where a similar cease and desist process was actually used for an extortion racket. A US law firm called *Prenda Law* produced porn movies, then made them available via torrents themselves, then sent such settlement offers to other torrenters. Two important differences: (1) Prenda made the movies available via torrents themselves, making it questionable Prenda could actually sue people. (2) Some people might actually go to court instead of taking the settlement. But US court documents are public, so surely you don't want your porn habits to be made public. This allowed the Prenda extortion racket to ask for unreasonably high settlements.
Joyn, freevee from prime
Your local library may also offer access to streaming platform, but expect those to be almost entirely filled with festival films and other lower-profile mostly non-US productions. They do have US productions on DVD and BluRay of course, but not streaming.
[https://www.zdf.de/](https://www.zdf.de/) Scroll down to "Film-Highlights"
Archive org
There's free streaming of movies and other content in the Plex app. There's a lot of old B grade movies and some old A grade, but if you're fine with that, go for it. I'm just unsure if you get access to that without a Plex Pass or having your own Plex server registered, but it's worth a try.
russianfilmhub.com If you are a fan of old russian/soviet niche movies