2. How are they legal ?
You're correct that law enforcement could theoretically identify what's being cached. The reason debrid services haven't been shut down en masse isn't because they're clearly legal—it's because:
- Copyright holders often target users rather than services
- Services operate across borders, making enforcement complicated
- Some debrid services have legitimate uses (caching legal content)
- Resources for enforcement are limited
So debrid services persist largely due to enforcement challenges and jurisdictional complexity, not because caching copyrighted content is definitively legal. The legal status remains contested.
Just because law enforcement could easily check doesn't mean caching illegal content is legally allowed. The opposite is true:
- Caching copyrighted content without authorization is illegal in most jurisdictions, regardless of how easily it could be detected.
- The fact that detection would be simple doesn't legalize the activity—it just means the illegality would be easy to prove.
Why debrid services haven't been shut down despite this:
The persistence of debrid services happens despite the illegality of caching infringing content, not because of legal permission. They continue operating because:
- Enforcement is selective — Law enforcement and copyright holders prioritize cases, and targeting individual users is sometimes easier than pursuing services.
- Jurisdictional complexity — Services operate in countries where enforcement is weaker or slower.
- Business model resilience — Debrid services shut down by authorities are replaced by new ones.
- Resource constraints — Authorities have limited bandwidth to pursue every infringing service.
The legal reality: Caching copyrighted content without authorization remains illegal. The ease of detection doesn't change the legality—it just makes the illegality obvious if investigated. These services operate in legal violation, not in a legal gray area that permits caching infringing material.
The fact that they haven't all been shut down reflects enforcement gaps, not legal permission.