Star Wars The Last Jedi Movie Torrents and FREE Online Streams: Disney'll clamp down?

[Len]

STAR WARS FANS might be tempted to watch an illegal movie torrent or 'Free' online stream for The Last Jedi, but is it worth the risk? And is Disney to blame for the rise in piracy?

Star Wars The Last Jedi finally made its way to UK cinemas earlier this week before eventually releasing in the United States on Friday.

The must-see Christmas blockbuster is the follow on from JJ Abrams’ Star Wars The Force Awakens movie, which debuted in 2015.

Naturally, the movie has been praised by critics and fans alike, but as with every big cinematic release, there's already a string of illegal means by which you can watch the film.

At the time of writing, the Episode VIII The Last Jedi movie is available to watch from several notorious Torrent sites, Putlocker links and a number of 'free' online streams

However, Star Wars fans should avoid clicking on any of these links, not just because they might all be swimming in malware which could damage your PC or Mac, but also because the risks associated with illegally watching films online are just not worth it.

While it might seem smart trying to watch the film from a dodgy angle whilst a bloke occasionally wonders in front to go to the loo, there's also the small matter of what could happen if you get caught.

Despite the risks, American website Finder noted in the lead up to release that more than 4.7 million Americans were expected to watch Star Wars: The Last Jedi illegally, via online streams.

4.7 million might seem relatively small, in the grand scheme of things, but that's also only one country in the world.

More importantly, the overall total will represent a massive chunk of change for the film distributor, Disney, to be losing on what is arguably the biggest film of the year.

"Most plan to do so by gaining an illicit copy of the movie from a friend (3.2%), while the rest will either illegally download it, stream it or buy a pirated DVD (1.8%)," Finder explained.

Looking at demographics, men are more likely to watch it through illegal means than women — 4.8% compared with 3.7% of women. As for generations, both millennials and Gen Xers are equally as likely to watch it illegally (5.3%), followed by baby boomers (2.4%) who plan to do so. 

Whilst this may seem pretty harmless, the fact is that earlier this year Disney, along with a number of other entertainment companies formed a new anti-piracy alliance.

And the companies are looking to clamp down on these pirates.

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) includes a majority of the most powerful studios and content creators around including the likes of Amazon, Sky, Netflix, HBO, BBC Worldwide, and Twentieth Century Fox.

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment is focused on building efforts to dimminish online piracy.

ACE will conduct its own research and work alongside law enforcement around the world as part of its anti-piracy efforts.

This occurs in the same year that penalties for online piracy has become more severe thanks to the Digital Economy Act becoming law.

The new law raised the maximum possible sentence for online copyright infringement offences from two to 10 years.

The maximum sentence will only apply to people who commit serious copyright crimes, such as distributing content.

Ironically though, inquisitr and TorrentFreak has this week noted that people are only being spurned on to torrent and stream movies illegally, largely because companies, like Disney, are making it harder to watch legal content online.

Talking about Disney's recent decision to pull all content from Netflix to start their own streaming service, TorrentFreak noted:

"This fragmentation stretches consumers thin and forces them to subscribe to multiple different services in order to watch all the television shows and movies they wish.

"Disney’s decision to split from Netflix helps ensure there is always demand to watch movies like Star Wars: The Last Jedi online by making it harder to do so legitimately."

TorrentFreak argues this 'fragmentation' may actually be keeping the pirate ecosystems intact.

"While legal streaming services work just fine, having dozens of subscriptions is expensive, and not very practical. Especially not compared to pirate streaming sites, where everything can be accessed on the same site.”

Whilst TorrentFreak are onto something, the fact is that torrenting or watching streams could be even more expensive if you get caught.

So if you want to watch Star Wars: The Last Jedi online or at home, you're going to have to wait.

Otherwise, you'll just have to head out into the cold and spend the cash at the cinema to see the new film before you read the multiple movie spoilers.