Piracy and copyright infringement go hand in hand with the onset of the internet. For as long as there has been streaming, people have used the medium to download and view movies and shows illegally downloading and viewing copyrighted content. The internet gives the technology to stream and view media easily without major risks, which has led to the rise of free websites offering a large library of movies and shows to watch. Although initially, with the rise of OTT platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime, now that there is stagnation of online platforms with many similar platforms offering too much variety and way too many subscriptions, people have reverted to free websites.

These are websites on the internet offering thousands of movies and shows which may be available on a variety of paid subscriptions, or even not on any OTT platform. Unlike other methods of watching movies online like torrents, these sites are safer and easier to access. Thus, a lot of people flock to these free online websites. One such website is Cataz.net. Cataz.net offers a large library of over a thousand movies and television shows, all of them for free. This raises questions of legitimacy. In this article, we discuss whether cataz.net is legal and safe for movies and TV shows. We also go about internet safety and being aware of potential troubles for watching content from these free websites and more below.

Is Cataz.net Legal and Safe

There has been a rise in illegitimate websites that let people stream movies and watch a lot of copyrighted content for free, as we mentioned. The same is the case for Cataz.net, a famous and widely used streaming site. The site has over 5.3 million total visits, being significant for such types of websites. The reason for this is the fact that Cataz.net has a large library, and offers the latest movies like John Wick 4, The Little Mermaid or Fast and Furious X. These movies are the latest in cinema, with The Little Mermaid and Fast and Furious X even being in the theatres as the day of writing this article. And this website does all this with no registration. This means that people on this site can catch up on the latest movies all for free, and with the leisure and relaxation of staying at home. This raises questions of safety for viewers though, and so we need to address the legality of these sites and if you, the viewer, are safe when watching Cataz.net. But first, we need to understand how Cataz.net functions.

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Gray Area between Legality and Illegality – Working of Cataz.net

Cataz.net is a free streaming website, and like most free streaming websites, it cannot be completely deemed illegal. How is this possible? We go about key pointers and try to explain how these sites operate which makes them exist and not get taken down; with you, the viewer being (mostly) completely safe.

How does Cataz.net Operate?

• Sites like Cataz.net do not directly stream content. They never host the content which they show.
• Instead, they rely on embedding content from other media sites (which are illegal) and playing them on the website.
• Through embedding, they are making sure that the video is never directly on Cataz.net.
• As such, the content you will see will never be playing on Cataz.net.
• This means that their servers are directly streaming the media file to your device, with Cataz.net acting as the middle-man.
• Software on the website simply decodes the files so you can watch your favourite movie or show easily.
• And that explains how Cataz.net (and other similar websites) operate. Now the question is, is this legal?

Am I Safe by Viewing Cataz.net or Could I Get in Trouble?

The short answer is that you as a viewer should not be worried when accessing Cataz.net. Cataz.net is safe for watching movies and tv shows. But there is a bit more elaboration on that, including the legality matters and copyright laws, which we go down on below.

Copyright Laws & Associated Loophole

Streaming copyrighted content, as well as downloading copyrighted content, is all illegal. Even downloading part of a media file can be considered pseudo-streaming, and thus is not right. Same with streaming that content to a big amount of viewers, is also illegal and is a copyright violation. So if anyone is uploading or sharing copyrighted content without any licenses, that is an illegal activity.

However, Cataz.net avoids this by the way of operations they conduct as discussed above. It never directly has any copyrighted media files on its website or its server, instead, it acts as a gateway to accessing the illegal sites. Even though it is letting us, the viewers, access those illegal files, it is not hosting the media file itself, and so it goes under the grey area of whether or not it is legal. The sites hosting the files are of course, definitely illegal, but Cataz.net and other such streaming sites are generally alright. However, action is often taken against these sites as well, such was the case with FMovies, which had a lawsuit filed against the site and was forced to shut down.

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So Are You Completely Safe While Using Cataz.net?

As we discussed earlier, as long as you are not directly uploading unlicensed copyrighted content or downloading such content, you should be completely safe. This means that users do not have to fear using Cataz.net to stream movies. As long as they’re simply viewers, Cataz.net is safe for watching. However, there are a few drawbacks which we discuss below.

Cataz.net Drawbacks

• Downloading content is not advised– As we have covered, viewing movies and shows from Cataz.net is safe generally, however, if you are downloading content then it technically still violates copyright laws. There may not be any issues if you just keep the file with you instead of uploading elsewhere, but still, we cannot advise downloading media from Cataz.net.
• The site may go down– Cataz.net works under loopholes of the copyright laws and thus is safer than pirating sites like IBomma. However, the site can still be taken down at any time as it is not completely reliable.
• The quality may not be at par– While Cataz.net does offer 720 and even 1080p video streaming options, it still cannot compare to the services offered by premium streaming subscription services like Hulu, Disney+ Hotstar or Netflix.

Conclusion

In general, there is no issue with watching movies and TV shows on Cataz.net, it is safe for the viewer. Yes, there are some complications and a few drawbacks as we discussed above, like not being able to download the various movies and shows offered. But the fact remains that all these problems become irrelevant when Cataz.net is offering such a large library all for free, and it does not even have ads or registration or malware. As such, it is generally rated safe. In this article, we have gone into detail on how sites like Cataz.net function and stay on the borders of legality, and how as a viewer we should rest easy while using it to stream our favourite movies or shows. But we always advise our readers to be safe while browsing on the internet, and being aware of their online identity and what sorts of websites they visit. To sum it up though, as long as you are not downloading anything, Cataz.net is safe to view.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q) What are the options for streaming quality offered at Cataz.net?

Ans: Cataz.net offers picture quality of 360, 720 and 1080p for watching. However, newer releases might have cam quality, meaning that it has been recorded in theatres instead of a digital print.

Q) Is there an option to download an app from Cataz.net?

Ans: Yes, like a few popular streaming sites, Cataz.net also has an app for viewing its content. It only works on Android though, and can be downloaded through the site itself.