Someone once sang/said/lied(?): “The best things in life are free.” True or not, the world we live in today offers countless treats for little or no cost. Photos, music, satellite images, communication (sorry, USPS) and so much more. And free movies and the internet are certainly no strangers.
Keep reading…
The Wall Street Journal points out in today’s paper an interesting trend: loads of illegally uploaded, full-length movies are finding their way on to YouTube, and studios are doing nothing about it.
And you know what? It’s right. A quick Google throws up full versions of The Three Faces of Eve, Misery, Battle Royale, The Illusionist… we could go on, but you can use a search engine by yourself.
The Journal suggests that most of these films are from Walt Disney, Columbia and Tristar studios, and—as of yet—they’re not doing anything about it. From the WSJ:
Why the movie studios didn’t block the films by using a special YouTube program-called Content ID-for identifying their copyrighted content is a mystery.
Google in late 2007 launched Content ID, which helps identify copyrighted material so content owners can block the content from appearing on the site altogether, or in certain geographical markets. Alternatively, content owners can choose to let YouTube sell online advertisements that appear next to or on top of the videos while they play.
Clearly, this isn’t a situation that will last for very long; those studios are bound to wise up sooner or later and pull that content. But in the meantime, you can probably find yourself a fine evening of free movie viewing on YouTube—if you don’t find the idea morally troubling. [WSJ]
Update: Giant Speck points out, there is a Reddit page dedicated to pointing out full movies on YouTube.
(Republished from Gizmodo.com).
Click here to visit YouTube’s free movies page
Where else can we find free movies?
A few of my favorites:
- Crackle.com – http://www.crackle.com/c/Movies
- Viewster (free movies, with some ads) – http://www.viewster.com
- Netflix (with a $7.99/mo fee you can watch streaming movies and TV) – www.netflix.com
- Hulu Plus (many free movies and TV and there is also an option to pay a $7.99/mo fee for more options) www.hulu.com/movies
- Sony Movie Channel (lots of free on-demand movies, but you will have to be a subscriber to a cable company and log in) – www.sonymoviechannel.com
Thought this topic would be relevant on such a rainy night…
Best to you,
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