The Popular 123Movies Site Might Get Shut Down

[Len]

• Reports are indicating that the popular 123Movies website might disappear in the upcoming weeks.
• The Digital Economy Act has now been passed as a law, and as punishment for piracy can lead up to 10 years in jail.
• End-Users are also being warned to stay away from pirated content as they might get caught in the crossfire.

The war against piracy is as heated as ever with TV players like Kodi, and torrenting websites like The Pirate Bay are facing a potential closure. However, current words of concern are related to 123Movies as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) was fixated their eyes on the service, calling it “the world’s most popular illegal movie site.”

Jan Van Voom, the executive vice president and chief of Global Content Protection at MPA concluded, “Right now, the most popular illegal site in the world, 123movies.to (at this point), is operated from Vietnam, and has 98 million visitors a month,” and further added, “There are more services like this [123movies] – sites that are not helpful for local legitimate businesses.” Voom is currently working with the Office of the Police Investigation Agency C44 to tackle this problem.

The crackdown against piracy in the UK has also reached a very severe state. For example, people selling “fully loaded” Kodi boxes are being handed out fines, and sometimes even arrested. Also, earlier this year, a Sky user was fined five thousand pounds for streaming the Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko match live on Facebook.

With the new Digital Economy Act having passed as a law, people who are involved in sharing of illegal files in the UK can end up in jail for up to 10 years which was previously set to 2 years. Despite not being targeted at the end-users, authorities are warning consumers to not indulge in piracy.

“Whilst end users are not a target, they could get swept up in one of our operations and become part of the whole criminal investigation, which could lead to prosecution alongside the suppliers, retailers, and importers,” warned Kieron Sharp, FACT Chief Executive.