Subscriptions
Streaming once beat piracy by being the easiest option: one service, everything in it. That’s over. Today every studio keeps its own productions on its own platform: Severance on Apple TV, The Boys on Prime Video, Stranger Things on Netflix, Andor on Disney+, The Last of Us on HBO Max. If the legal way gets harder, piracy becomes attractive again.
I checked where 23 popular films and series can be watched in Germany, Italy and the USA.
- One title, one service. In Germany, 15 of the 23 titles are on exactly one service.
- Originals can’t be bought. 7 titles (e.g. Severance, Squid Game, The Bear) can’t be rented or bought in Germany at all. The subscription is the only legal way.
- Different country, different service. Michael is already on Starz in the US but not yet on any subscription in Germany.
- Paying doesn’t mean no ads. Prime Video, WOW and NOW show ads unless you pay extra.
So to watch everything, you need almost every subscription:
Germany needs 6 subscriptions, Italy 6, the USA 8. After the first two or three, each one adds only one or two titles.
That’s about €49 a month in Germany and €93 in the USA. Renting a single title costs about €3.50 on average, so for films, buying separately is often cheaper. For originals it isn’t an option.
What about poorer countries? Egypt looks cheap: the subscriptions cost about €4 a month, and renting about €0.65. But relative to the minimum wage of 8,000 EGP, that’s about 3% of a month’s income. In Germany it’s about 2%. And only 13 of the 23 titles are on any subscription in Egypt; 3 aren’t available legally at all.
When the legal option is fragmented, expensive or simply missing, people pirate.
In germany one would pay ~1.9 % of income (~2,600€/Month assumed) and for Egypt it is ~2.3 % (165€/Months assumed). Due to the prices and governments not prosecuting piracy on the net torrenting is more prevelent in Egypt. A quote of an Egyptian friend:
Hisham 24 Oct 2026 02:18 PM:
In Egypt I would say it’s like 1:10. For every subscriber there are 10 pirates
This plots/data was generated using justwatch.com on 23.10.2026. The files used to create it are here.
Legal Advice: The next paragraphs are talking about illegal practices. I don’t do any of that, nor do I recommend anyone doing it.
Torrenting
Peer-to-peer: you download pieces of a file from other users and upload to them at the same time. Simple and Robust, but your IP address is visible to everyone sharing the file. In Germany, that uploading is what rights holders track, and it typically leads to an Abmahnung: a warning letter costing more than 1000 Euro.
To find other users who share a file, your client connects to a tracker.
Public trackers
Public trackers are open to everyone, no invitation needed. That includes the anti-piracy firms that join popular downloads and log every IP address they see. I got an Abmahnung for €1,500 for torrenting when I was young, and so did a friend of mine. Most likely that’s how we were caught.
A VPN would cloak your real IP.
Private trackers
Usenet
An old network of newsgroups, now mostly used for files. You download from a paid provider’s server and upload nothing, so other users never see your IP. Ironically, it’s a subscription too.
Here a quote off the net:
A VPN is not necessary. Usenet itself is completely legal and all data traffic is SSL-encrypted. This means that nobody can see what you download. In addition, compared to torrents, you don’t upload yourself, which is why you are not relevant for these lawyers anyway (even if it is technically impossible to get caught anyway). Also, unlike torrents, your IP address is not publicly visible. In 25 years of file sharing via Usenet, there has not been a single warning letter.
You need two things, and both cost money:
Provider
The provider runs the servers that store the newsgroup posts and gives you access with a username and password. Providers differ in retention (how far back files go), speed and how quickly they remove files after takedown notices. Download speed is super fast and SSL encrypted, meaning only the provider you pay knows what you downloaded.
The download speed is limited only by your connection.
In this case its 47MB/s~360MBit/s (should be 300Mbit/s by contract)
This means downloading is very fast.
Cost: varies, from a few euros per year to a few euros per month. Deals: here
Indexer
Usenet has no built-in search, and files are often posted under obscured names. An indexer is a search engine that catalogues posts and gives you a small .nzb file, which tells your download client which parts to fetch from the provider.
Some indexers have lifetime passes (60usd) and others have invitation only. Cost: some are free, others cost a few euros per year. Overview: here
Low Friction Streaming
Assume you would want a streaming platform, where you can stream without hustle. I think having 9+ accounts (+ paiment details) and tools to see where even is what available is cumbersome.
A selfmade solution not based on streaming services is called an ARR stack. Both Torrenting/Usenet can be used. Usenet automation seems better.
With this solution the viewing experience might look like this:
- Go on own streaming interface (e.g. Jellyfin/Plex)
- Click on search button and search for the media you want to watch
- Click on request
- Wait 2 min for it to download
- Media will appear in library and its ready to be consumed
Guides for this kind of setup can be found online. Here a 50sec example of how such a setup could look like.
Comparison
| Streaming (legal) | Public torrents | Private torrents | Usenet | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | ~€49/month for 6 services (DE), or ~€3.50 per rental (Complicated Setup!) | Free | Free, but invite only; you have to keep sharing | Paid provider, a few € per year |
| Availability | Fragmented, depends on country; some titles missing | Popular titles yes, older or niche titles not available/slow | Large, well-kept archives | Large, but files can get taken down (second backbone to lower the chances dramatically) |
| Speed | Instant stream | Depends on how many others share; slow for rare files | Usually fast | Fast, full line speed |
| Legal (DE) | Legal | Illegal; you also upload, so Abmahnungen are common | Illegal (same law); less exposure because it’s closed | Illegal but not possible to prosecute |
Books
There’s no JustWatch for books, and that already says a lot: the situation is much less fragmented than with films and series.
Most ebooks are available in all the big stores, usually for around €5–10.
Many e-readers come with a built-in store, which makes buying quick and easy.
If a book isn’t available legally, these are the usual alternatives, all of them pirated sources:
| Source | Chance the book is there |
|---|---|
| Anna’s Archive | 100% |
| Public torrents | poor |
| Private torrents | unknown |
| Usenet | surprisingly high (~100%) |