"I don't think it's illegal to watch a movie streamed through your computer. I think it's when you download the movie that you take possession of it and that could be considered illegal"

Suppose you get something which has been stolen, and suppose it can be proved that you know it had been stolen, then you made something illegal.

No suits? One New Zealander is being extradited to the US to face charges and a cable company has to pay $25 million for the actions of its customers.

NZ court rules Kim Dotcom can be extradited to US to face internet piracy charges

Court Finds ISP Liable for User’s Copyright Piracy  (12/21/2015) Cox has to pay $25 million to cover the illegal content streaming by its customers. It did not actively discourage the practice.

You have to be kidding.

Everything has a free use policy-- if you don't get caught.

// I think what you have misunderstood is that the "Fair Use Policy" allows you to quote small sections of an article or other copyrighted material in the course of writing about it.   That is different than copying the whole thing or substantial portions of it.

There is no such thing as a legal "Free Use Policy" 

Here's what you get this time of year--awards season. You get "screeners". A website that streams free movies probably has an Academy Award voter get a copy of the film free from the studio. He or she uploads the film to the said website and people watch it. Oddly, this goes on every year...

i need an link free cause streaming need credit card i dont have one .-. 

is cause pawn sacrifice didnt come to cinema in my country ;(((

Here's a great movie I own called "Since You Went Away".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOgFefJ2Ne4

I typed in the name on my google bar and there it is on youtube. Fifty-six thousand views. Sure looks like a big secret crime doesn't it?

A 71 year old movie like "Since You Went Away" is arguably somewhat different than a new release which just came out of the cinema. 

You must not be dialed into copyright issues. There are tons of cases where the music industry (RIAA) and movie industry (MPAA) have sued individual users for sharing music and videos. They also go after those that download/stream too.

Here are some Google results on just movies: https://www.google.com/search?q=miaa&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=mpaa+lawsuits

And what exactly is that argument? Who owns "Since You Went Away"? Who owns the screener for "Pawn Sacrifice"? Movies and music are shared on the Internet just like when you invite people over to watch a movie you rented. Just like when you play a cd for a bunch of people.

Just because it is done doesn't necessarily make it legal.

It's kind of like speeding. Lots of people do it. Lots of people get away with it. But sometimes you get unlucky and have to face the consequences and pay the fines

It really breaks my heart when these guys only have 3 or 4 vacation houses and can barely afford the jet fuel to visit them more than once a year.

Not on the subject of legality, but just thought I'd point that out.

There have even been attempts in the past (and still may be current attempts) to disallow the resale of used goods. The *IAA industries argue that you only buy a license to the product and that license is non-transferable. Add to that the DMCA and other laws that make breaking DVD/Blu-Ray decryption illegal.

So far, the first-sale doctrine has kept the former from becoming a thing and the latter has been used on piracy.

I understand that argument a little bit. Speeding laws are for safety reasons, though. I'm pretty sure that laws concerning what movies or music can be shared on the Internet is an infringement on people's right to share what they already purchased or were given(as in the case of "screeners"). It's not the same

I'm not going to argue if the laws as they exist should be in effect. Only that for the US, many instances of streaming and sharing are currently illegal.

Sharing with a small group of friends, in a closed situation (your home, dorm, borrowing) is quite a bit different than putting something online that millions of people can potentially access. If the *IAA had their way, even those former things (sharing with friends) would be forbidden but luckily, things like that are almost impossible to implement (without serious downsides) and track, even if they somehow could get the law on their side.

I should clarify. If you are sharing the physical medium with friends, then that is allowable under most laws (as far as I'm aware). If you were to make copies of the items to share, then that would be illegal, under current law, though it is something that isn't likely to get you sued, as it would be almost impossible to detect and track.

If you were arrested on some other crime, it may be possible for you to have additional charges if you were found to having infringing materials in your possession though (IANAL so that is just my impression).

I think it will remain impossible to implement so long as fifty-six thousand people will watch an 81 year-old film and the entire comment section is about what they thought of the film rather than who owns the film. We can't see the harm so we don't know why there would be a law against it. Billion dollar corporations won't get my sympathy, that's for sure

Talking about an 81 year-old film is certainly a different discussion. Copyright is already too long and was never intended to last as long as it does --- and it just keeps getting longer

They'll probably come up with some technology which will make their films unviewable on the Internet, or the distributors may even absorb search engines--a Time/Warner/Google mega-corporation seems likely soon...

Naa, that's like saying they'll some day make a door that can never be opened.

Sure it's possible, but it's called a wall, and so it loses all its door-ness in the process!