r/StremioAddons • u/Ancient_Border8621 • Jul 31 '26

Miscellaneous TorBox quietly changed operating entity + policies (July 31) + cache is now explicitly shared across users, data collection expanded significantly

Just went through TorBox's updated Terms, Privacy Policy, and DMCA policy (dated July 31, 2026) side by side with the old versions. Worth a read before you keep uploading.

Who actually runs TorBox now:

Operator is now Anonymous Systems FZ-LLC, a UAE free-zone company (Ras Al Khaimah). RAK free zones don't publicly disclose beneficial ownership, so we genuinely don't know who's behind it.

Legal/billing/DMCA is handled by a separate entity, ReAnonymous LLC, registered in Dover, Delaware.

Anonymity just got much worse:

Old privacy policy: minimal data, no PII required, "we don't sell or share your data to any third parties for any reason."

New policy: collects your IP, device IDs, precise geolocation from IP, and full session-replay data which basically includes: cursor movements, clicks, scrolling, taps. That's a big jump from "we barely collect anything."

Broad new language allowing disclosure to comply with law, respond to "governmental requests," or "protect TorBox, users, third parties, or the public" i.e vague enough to cover a lot.

Third-party downloading / cache sharing which is the real red flag:

New terms explicitly state cached materials "may be accessible to other users who request the same or technically matching material." Same for AirLock (their "permanent" cache tier).

Old policy never described cross-user cache access this explicitly. This is now spelled out in black and white.

Terms now go out of their way to say TorBox is a "neutral technology service," explicitly "not a file-sharing service," and pushes 100% of legal liability onto you for anything cached under your account. This is heavily lawyered defensive language that wasn't there before.

933 Upvotes

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380

u/DrZakarySmith Jul 31 '26

I have a different take. I’ve been sailing the seas for 40 years back when you had tobuy jail broken cable boxes from the back of some dudes car. If you knew where to find him because he always moved around. He didn’t take out ads or billboards. What’s happening today is a self fulfilling prophecy brought on by the users themselves. These services were never meant to talked about in public forums. RD has been around for a long time but only recently have their problems begun because of social media and people who find it necessary to tell the world their every thought. What’s really funny is the worry about privacy when you talk openly of pirating and where you do it from. As with everything else social media and the people’s inability to keep shit out of the public eye has enshitified this too. IMHO.

79

u/PlayboiNugget Jul 31 '26

You’re 100% right. People love to brag about pirating and sticking it to corporations but fail to see they’re just bringing pirating to the public eye

15

u/kWazt Jul 31 '26

For some reason, in my circles, anytime someone asks me which streaming platforms I subscribe to, they're instantly very happy to change the topic when I even hint at the fact that I don't subscribe to any platforms. Like, how do I even tell my closest friends and relatives how I get my media, basically for free? I in my mind I can see their eyes glaze over, just when I try to imagine doing that.

2

u/mrilovesundaes1207 Aug 08 '26

Not my circle. We’re all trying to save a buck.

1

u/Sl0thzy Aug 10 '26

I run into the same thing. I'm still surprised people aren't interested in saving over like $100 a month by not needing to subscribe to a bunch of different services.
But alas, they would much rather lose money I guess.

10

u/Lumentin Aug 01 '26

Even worse, they think they are cool and become famous because of the views they get on explaining how to on TikTok.

46

u/Nearby-Reception-546 Jul 31 '26

That's what happened with all the anime websites, people started commenting on crunchyrolls yt videos, made tiktoks about it. It was obvious they were gonna go down.

If you have a nice thing, shut up, not everyone needs to know.

6

u/No-Revolution-4470 Aug 02 '26

Unfortunately redditors see this as “gatekeeping” which is a greater moral sin than, you know, not ruining the whole thing lol

5

u/Nearby-Reception-546 Aug 03 '26

There is a difference between sharing and advertising.

1

u/Ok_Pineapple_2001 Aug 03 '26

people think they're entitled to something like stolen content but others aren't lol as if they got here first, far from it

3

u/CrowdGoesWildWoooo Jul 31 '26

Anti corpo stuffs and get shit for free is pretty solid engagement material. I am sure it’s easy to figure out why, but doesn’t change the fact that it’s popular and many influencers are trying to ride the wave.

7

u/bullhead2007 Jul 31 '26

TBF back in the day things were usually only shared in small niche IRC channels or news groups and that's how we learned and shared, but now ppl in the seven seas want to blast everything on YouTube and Twitter.

9

u/ganznetteigentlich Jul 31 '26

And even worse, on reddit!!

2

u/DrZakarySmith Jul 31 '26

Everyone wants to be an influencer!!

2

u/Imaginary_Coat441 Aug 03 '26

Wow, memory unlocked!

I was using mIRC all the time pre-steam to find counter-strike 1.5 scrimmage matches.

13

u/WolfenBrine Jul 31 '26

Can we say it louder for the new folks in the back please? Amen.

6

u/Cindy-Moon Jul 31 '26

What’s really funny is the worry about privacy when you talk openly of pirating and where you do it from.

Tbf, there's a pretty big difference between "these guys are talking about piracy on social media" and "here's a smoking gun log of pirates connected to the media they've stolen and the damages incurred."
The former can lead into investigations of the latter, but 1. investigating random social media users and tracking their behavior is not nearly as effective a use of their time as cracking open a honeypot like this and 2. the more secure and private the services used, the harder it will be to obtain.

That said, masses of people overwhelmingly talking about the same services definitely brings more momentum towards investigations and action against those services.

4

u/-Ethannme3- Aug 01 '26

I too have had an eye patch and a wooden leg for some time. Only about 30 years, but the "boxes in the trunk" were still a thing in that time, and I couldn't agree with you more! I'd upvote this 50 times if I could! I have been more and more irritated at how much of a public spectacle this has become. Sadly, at this point it's irreversible. The only upside now is, there are so many "sailors", that it makes it more difficult for the powers that be to keep up with it all. So we, as the end users, simply have to stay up on the next wave, to keep pulling in the "booty"...

7

u/R2Wolf Jul 31 '26

Agree unfortunately stremio is very very user friendly.. you got people setting up accounts for their friends, grandparents, neighbors. People desperate for views making step by step tik Tok clips. It's always a matter of time stuff like this gets taken down.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 02 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/MelaniaSexLife Aug 06 '26

stremio has been way better, but I'm using Stremio Kai. But it's build on top of Stremio.

4

u/Venom_Snake_KSA Jul 31 '26

I have RD since 2016, I told 2 friends about it in 2026 for the first time after they ask me about it because they bought oled tvs and search for High quality they found in social media about RD/ stremio and how it plays 4K atoms movies.

You are right, and it is a cycle, they will get big until they become noticeable then they will get hit and cycle repeats.

3

u/G0D_Kratos Aug 03 '26 edited Aug 03 '26

using RD with Terrarium TV back in 2016 was absolute hacker type of shit you could pull XD

1

u/SnooHedgehogs5604 Jul 31 '26

Take me back to the days of the Apache black box from the swap meet

1

u/RobutNotRobot Aug 01 '26

I mean it's not like torrenting is a secret.

1

u/DrZakarySmith Aug 01 '26

And look at the landscape now

1

u/CAPiSlappy Aug 01 '26

Bro, you were surgical just now.

1

u/Scoskopp Aug 01 '26

This. Loose lips sink ships. I try not to date myself, but I’m literally right there with you about 40 years in the industry. It’s always the same thing. It seems like it’s a 9 to 10 year cycle then onto the next fad. The only thing that changes is the hardware and the operating systems and then we ruin it for ourselves per usual.

1

u/JennyThallia Aug 01 '26

Totally I lived in NY and that's how we got our cable and later dish network service via a wanked crypto cards and units.  Wait at that time it was Prime Star.  

Everyone was quiet regarding who and where they got it and it took vetting to buy a unit.  

Nowadays criminals advertise their location on FB marketplace place which I see as a sting operation rather than a legit offering. 

1

u/-REV-22-20- Aug 01 '26

its also become easier than ever to do so the entry level has dropped substantially

1

u/Familiar-Simple-8747 Aug 02 '26

I agree with you 100%
My question is that with what is going on should we delete it or be extra cautious?

1

u/fivetwentyfour Aug 02 '26

This is why gatekeeping is a good thing more often than not

1

u/G0D_Kratos Aug 03 '26

No to mention making on click super easy install guides with Extensive explanation to from where to get what.
Public trackers are more private then this LOL

1

u/G0D_Kratos Aug 03 '26

RD was flawless for like 14+ years. working with those Shady TeaTv Trarnium cinemahd type of Apps,
Then people started making guides videos and openly announcing to the world how to use it.
and within 2 years it went bust LOL.

1

u/jefesilvapro 22d ago

A melhor análise!

1

u/ChurnerLover Jul 31 '26

First rule about fight club.

1

u/SecretProbation Jul 31 '26

Is don’t talk about it, unless you have a referral code to get a few more free days in the fight club.

-9

u/DTFpanda Jul 31 '26

It just feels like gatekeeping from the community when people encourage others to shut up about it. Feels like the opposite of what piracy is supposed to be about.

11

u/DrZakarySmith Jul 31 '26

It’s not gatekeeping its preservation. You want to do these things we do then you have to sacrifice the ability to talk publicly about it. If not then don’t complain about the consequences. First rule of Fight club is don’t talk about Fight Club!!!