The FBI just shut down a couple of big streaming services, iStreamItAll and Jetflix. They also brought charges against the people who made them for breaking copyright laws.
These were like Netflix, where you paid a monthly or yearly fee to watch tons of movies and shows. Julius Polo, the guy behind iStreamItAll, even admitted that he was charging people to use it. The prices were anywhere from $19.99 a month to $179.99 a year, and it was super easy to use.
But here’s the thing, they were getting all their movies and shows from illegal torrent sites. They stored them on their own servers so people could stream them on their computers, phones, and even through a Kodi addon.
Polo and his partner, Luis Angel Villarino, have said they’re guilty of copyright infringement. Polo also admitted to money laundering, which is a serious crime. They could both end up in prison for up to 5 years.
Court documents show how they were getting the content. They were using special software to automatically find pirated movies and shows on torrent sites and then making them available on their service.
These services primarily got content from places like torrent sites and Usenet NZB sites that had pirated stuff. They would use programs like SickRage, Sick Beard, and SABnzbd to do this automatically. These programs would find, download, and then make that content available to stream on iStreamItAll.
Polo and Villarino will find out their sentences in March. What do you think about these streaming services getting shut down? Tell us in the comments below!
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