Another point to pirating for those who are still keeping track.
Especially with the recent fragmentation of the streaming market, it is time for consumers to return to giving content producers the middle finger until they sort their shit out.
Especially with the recent fragmentation of the streaming market, it is time for consumers to return to giving content producers the middle finger until they sort their shit out.
I recently tried torrenting for the first time in a while, and it seems like many of the sites I used to use (e.g PB, KAT) are either dead or mining crypto.
I get it, this is the failure of a service, but piracy is hardly the only option.
Piracy still not required. More convenient, yes. But not required.
People will pirate. Whether or not it's right or wrong is irrelevant. even if it's not "That much harder to X, Y, Z", people will do what is easiest.
And piracy isn't illegal? I know which one is definitely more legal and more ethical.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/924197-REG/case_logic...
or
https://www.amazon.com/Snap-N-Store-Double-Storage-6-125-SNS...
> .. and hardware many people do not own anymore
https://www.amazon.com/Blu-Ray-Player-External-Laptop-Burner...
~3 months of Netflix standard gets you storage for 100s of discs plus a drive to play them on.
In the case of DVDs, you can just back them up by imaging the DVD with all parts intact—no deCSS necessary. This is partially what made DMCA anticircumvention legislation so braindead. The people hardest hit were those whose behavior was otherwise ethical and legal. The folks selling burned/counterfeit copies at the flea market or in the street, on the other hand, were undeterred, because (a) DMCA didn't make anything impossible—it just made a new class of things illegal—but the thing the bootleggers were doing (copyright infringement) was _already_ illegal! and (b) system used on DVDs restricts playback; it's not a copy protection system—because (again) if you want to copy a DVD, you can: you just make sure to copy the "DRM" parts, too.
There doesn't appear to be a way to purchase a lot of content with a guarantee that you can access anytime you like.
This is outside the scope of the "studio canal" movies. But you're correct. And if I'm being frank (and probably being a bit of an ass too), there's no inherent right to view this content.
Personally, I view this the same way I do AAA games. There's so many good games out there without all the BS of modern (read: greedy) AAA games that I don't feel the least bit of need to play them. I pay for good games, and I get to play good games.
Don't let FOMO around shows and movies that companies don't want to make available in a reasonable manner control your watching habits. Pick other (often better, even if not as shiny) entertainment, and support those creators.
If content creator want people to buy their content, then they should sell it.
Cant do that with DVD.
I’m not saying you are wrong for not wanting those terms.
Even DVDs will fail this test.
I'd say that most modern media piracy is still a matter of cost and convenience. If you're the kind of person that watches a couple of movies a week, at $20 a pop the cost adds up fast. Plus you have to go to the store or order online and wait for a DVD to show up. With piracy you can watch right away. It's one of the reasons Netflix was such a game-changer.
Somehow along the way a lot of people got it into their heads that all entertainment (and also news and educational materials. Basically, anything that doesn't have a physical form) should be free (free as in beer and free as in freedom) and they'll go through some impressive mental contortions to rationalize their piracy any way they can.
"Thomas Aquinas [argued] ... a law only need to be obeyed if it is [among other things] ... for the common good."[1]
The question we have to ask is: Is current copyright law unjust?
Well, it allows telling people that they are buying something (in large print, even if the fine print says something else) then taking that thing away.
And copyright on digital goods allows unprecedented control over how tools are used, when and where content can be shown, and how things that we've paid for can be retained and resold.
And it is also clear that recent copyright laws were written for the benefit of a few corporations, not for the common good.
So I'm beginning to believe that current copyright law is unjust and should be disobeyed as a principled form of civil disobedience, not merely for convenience or to save money.
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_unjust_law_is_no_law_at_all
Maybe in theory. In practice, I disagree. Care to elaborate if you mean anything other than what's technically said on the box? Even the most recent DVD releases work on the oldest of DVD players without any firmware updates/online drm that could revoke a license or something.
That's clearly not true, since starting from the 70s up until fairly recently one could always buy the movies to keep for life.
> Even DVDs will fail this test.
You'll have to explain that thinking, since they don't. I buy a DVD (which is the only way I buy movies) and it's mine to keep forever. If I get tired of it, I can resell it to someone else.
They are selling it. Just because they're not selling in precisely the way you want them to, that does not mean that you're entitled to the content anyway.
You justify your piracy all you want, but let's not pretend that you'd fork over the cash to legitimize your entire library of pirated entertainment if it showed up tomorrow on some store that offered exclusively freedom-respecting DRM-free downloads (okay, maybe you would, but most people wouldn't).
Not the same. Honestly they should be forced to say "rent until we change our minds" instead of "buy" in the advertisements and interfaces.
Do you mean rent? See parent poster's clarification for the term "buy":
> and when I mean buy, i do not mean "rent for a non specified duration"
> They are selling it.
The word "sell" means something different. They are not selling it if all they are doing is renting it.
Which is their right if that's what they want, but there needs to be some legislation to prevent them from calling it a sale when it's really merely a short-term rental.
I think it's only natural that people make the same assumption when it comes to buying a movie on a service like the PlayStation store. "Buying" ultimately means "owning that thing" to people. You can put all the legalese you want in the fine print, but it's flat out fucking bullshit to be frank. You shouldn't need to be a lawyer to understand what clicking the button labeled "buy now" really does.
this is true. I do like to support content creators.
The thing about TV and movies for me is that I hardly every re-watched things so streaming felt ok (I still do this). Though the pandemic though I did bust out some of my very modest DVD collection and rewatched and dug a little deeper, which I enjoyed.
Some of the DVD "extras" where pretty fun and haven't migrated to streaming/youtube. (for example some of the music in "The Life Aquatic" was music from "The Royal tannenbaums reversed and adjusted. Written by a guy from Devo).
Physical media (especially 4K Blu Ray Discs with their ~80-90GB movie sizes) are higher quality than pirate streams, have resale value, are fully legal, and you can share them easily with friends without them raising an eyebrow.
They're not a real alternative for most people.
Nobody ever said you had the right to just conveniently watch any movie you like, however you like, and never pay a dime if there is a reasonable way to pay but less convenient.
I'm not sure that's true. DRM has never prevented piracy. It's to the point that I'm not even sure they were trying to.
> Physical media (especially 4K Blu Ray Discs with their ~80-90GB movie sizes) are higher quality
Maybe, but when they even have higher fidelity they seem to always be worse in other ways. No subtitles. Subtitles that you CANNOT turn off. Subtitles only in your local country language (so no watching with visiting friends and family), even though in other countries the same movie is being sold with the "right" subtitles. Not the "good edition".
Unless you have a big 4K TV you cannot even buy the quality experience that piracy provides, at any price.
As a customer, using legal options is worse than piracy.
Maybe for movies, but game consoles have had a lot of success with it and have prevented a piracy.