Some say that Showbox is illegal. Others argue that downloading TV shows and movies is illegal but not when you’re streaming them online for free.
And then there are those that say downloading is fine as long as you don’t upload or share what you downloaded. Because then it would be easier to get caught and slapped with copyright infringement.
In Europe, streaming illegal content online is legal as ruled by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
But has anyone been caught using Showbox?
There are no reports that provide evidence of such an incident. But you should know that the possibility is high.
Legal issues have been raised with torrents and Showbox has been known to use them. So this increases the risk of someone getting caught.
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Kodi vs. Showbox
As an app that lets you watch TV shows and movies in HD for free, Showbox functions similar to the versatile media player Kodi. The difference between the two, however, is that the latter has many legal uses and movie channels, so using Kodi is safe and legal. Content on Kodi is also accessible worldwide if you have a Kodi VPN to bypass geoblocking.
Showbox, on the other hand, can’t make the same legal claims of any kind. While downloading copyrighted material without permission is outright illegal, streaming the same copyrighted content is a bit of a gray area.
At the moment, there is no settled legal law on the issue of streaming copyrighted content. Most legal actions only happened over highly pirated events like boxing matches shown on pay per view.
Getting to you through Showbox
Although there are no reported cases, the movie industry has a way of knowing whether or not you’re using the Showbox app. Just like torrents, every time you download, stream, or connect to anything, your IP is logged. So, yes, you can be traced.
This doesn’t mean, however, that the movie industry can easily track your down. They still need to have a jurisdiction to request IPs from the host of the data that Showbox is streaming in order to retrieve your information.
In most cases, it may not be worth the effort and the time to track everyone using the Showbox app. As previously mentioned, only highly pirated shows threatened legal action.
The only time that you really need to worry is when the host in question is being raided or is required to hand over data records. The same is true if they keep logs of IPs and downloads. Most of the time, they don’t.
So you can breathe easy. Or not.
Moral Issue vs. Illegal Issue
Because there are no reports of anyone getting caught using Showbox, you can continue to have fun with it. As long as you don’t mind downloading and streaming copyrighted content that can be likened to stealing.
In this case, illegal or not, it’s your moral compass that is in question.
Then again, it can be so hard to say no to a free movie and TV show if the legal alternative is quite expensive.
Learn more about video streaming and Showbox facts if you want to stay on the safe and legal side.