4 ms·

What kind of person thinks buying some cheap chinese set top box off eBay lets them watch stuff for free legally?

by cocotino 10y ago

adrianN 10y ago
Anybody who is not a techie.
- ivanhoe 10y ago
  not really, people just willingly choose not to care about it... it's the same as with any other pirated goods, of course you know it couldn't possibly be the original, but it's easier to play dumb about it and hope it's a good deal...
  - adrianN 10y ago
    I can go into a shop and buy a TV and watch TV for free, legally. Why shouldn't I assume that this other box that allows me to watch things is equally legal?
    - throwanem 10y ago
      On the other side of things - why should you assume that this other box, which you can only get from a super sketchy online dealer and which gives you something for nothing that you're accustomed to having to pay for, is legit?
      - mikeash 10y ago
        Because "is legit" is the default for stuff you buy out in the open. People naturally (and mostly correctly) assume that if you don't have to know a guy who knows a guy and you're not paying in unmarked bills with nonsequential serial numbers, it's legitimate. Keep in mind that recognizing an online seller as "sketchy" requires a great deal of technical skill all by itself. To the average Joe, there's not much difference between eBay and Amazon. Hell, I just searched for "kodi" on Amazon and turned up a ton of stuff there advertising free movies and TV shows. Amazon! You want to tell me that the average person should see something sold on Amazon with Prime shipping that says you can use it to stream movies and TV for free, and understand that this is not legal?
        ultramancool 10y ago
        It's even worse than that. There's literally signs on my street now advertising for a local company that sells Android sticks with Kodi preloaded and a bunch of piracy channels. Are normal people supposed to expect companies that advertise out in the open like that to not be legitimate? And I mean... they sort of are, they can deliver what they're advertising, they'll come to your house and set it all up and even give you support. Most consumers wouldn't know (or likely even care much about) the difference.
        throwanem 10y ago
        Wow. I had the idea this was mostly a thing you'd find in the sketchier corners of eBay, and that at least to some extent you'd have to go looking for. But that's not so, which rather cuts my argument off at the knees.
        mikeash 10y ago
        I thought the same thing initially. I started writing something about Amazon Marketplace sellers, then had a "wait a minute..." thought and tried searching for "kodi." I was quite surprised!
  - adrusi 10y ago
    There are large swathes of the population who have no idea what technology is. They see "box that you plug in to your TV to watch free movies" as a technological improvement, as in, some kind of breakthrough enabled the free delivery of movies. They're not likely to think about the economics of it unless it's pointed out to them. There's probably a decent number of people who bought this and had no idea it was illegal.
    - Aelinsaar 10y ago
      I can offer anecdote in support of this... a lot of anecdote. My mother's friends discovered that an HDMI cable and their various tablets could let them stream with these "Cool sites with all of this free stuff!". It never even occurred to them that it was piracy. When they thought of "pirating" or "theft", a glossy site that their friends told them about, and that asked nothing of them wasn't it.
- orbitingpluto 10y ago
  Or anybody who thinks purchase of the hardware alone entitles them to the content advertised. Who hasn't heard, "Where's Word and Excel on my new laptop?" (not 1:1 but close enough)
  - oddevan 10y ago
    To be fair, buying an antenna entitles you to any broadcasts you can pick up with it. And to a lot of people, that's "TV."
e1ven 10y ago
I'm somewhat technical, and I find it difficult at times. For example, there's a new licensed/authorized streaming television service that was recently launched by Southern Fibernet. Compare their webpage- https://southernfibernet.com/index.php/television https://southernfibernet.com/index.php/television to one that operates without any licenses- http://rapidiptv.net/ http://rapidiptv.net/ If I encountered both of those webpages without context, it wouldn't be immediately obvious to me that one of the services is "legit" and one isn't.. They're both online streaming companies, and both offer similar services.
mhuffman 10y ago
Some of these "pirate boxes" have a google logo on them (chrom ebox) and it makes non-techies think that it is legit.
jjrh 10y ago
These boxes are advertised all over the place, Kijiji, facebook, hell there is a advertisement in my elevator for one. Can you blame folks for thinking that if it's being advertised all over the place and sold in local stores, it MUST be legal?
sp332 10y ago
You mean like a Chromecast?
- 0x6c6f6c 10y ago
  How is a Chromecast a valid response? It's the wireless equivalent of an HDMI cable. You need access to a service on your phone/tablet/computer to push it to the Chromecast.
  - sp332 10y ago
    Well, a bit. You control the playback with your phone, but the Chromecast gets the video from YouTube or Hulu etc. directly. Maybe a $50 Roku stick is a more direct comparison.
    - soylentcola 10y ago
      In many cases, yes. But it also mirrors tabs and it's how I watch Amazon Prime video on my TV since they don't offer Chromecast support (since they sell a competing device). So instead, I just cast the tab fullscreen from my laptop or desktop. That sort of thing doesn't really work well enough for full motion video on a mobile device but a "regular" computer handles it about 99% as well as a native Chromecast app. Beats screwing around with cables at least.
jlgaddis 10y ago
You'd be surprised. My ex-girlfriend's mother sent me a link to some small little device for sale on Craigslist a while back and asked what I thought about it. I forget now exactly what it was, but it was basically something like a Chromecast but that streamed TV shows, movies, etc., off of the Internet and displayed it on your TV screen. I think it was $100 and she was going to buy one -- it was advertised with bullet points such as a "lifetime subscription" and that you could now cancel your Netflix, et al., subscriptions. It was only after I described how they really worked that she decided not to buy one. ETA: It was something similar to this item [0]. [0]: http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/ele/5655216394.html http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/ele/5655216394.html

What kind of person thinks buying some cheap chinese set top box off eBay lets them watch stuff for free legally?

adrianN 10y ago

Anybody who is not a techie.

ivanhoe 10y ago
not really, people just willingly choose not to care about it... it's the same as with any other pirated goods, of course you know it couldn't possibly be the original, but it's easier to play dumb about it and hope it's a good deal...
- adrianN 10y ago
  I can go into a shop and buy a TV and watch TV for free, legally. Why shouldn't I assume that this other box that allows me to watch things is equally legal?
  - throwanem 10y ago
    On the other side of things - why should you assume that this other box, which you can only get from a super sketchy online dealer and which gives you something for nothing that you're accustomed to having to pay for, is legit?
    - mikeash 10y ago
      Because "is legit" is the default for stuff you buy out in the open. People naturally (and mostly correctly) assume that if you don't have to know a guy who knows a guy and you're not paying in unmarked bills with nonsequential serial numbers, it's legitimate. Keep in mind that recognizing an online seller as "sketchy" requires a great deal of technical skill all by itself. To the average Joe, there's not much difference between eBay and Amazon. Hell, I just searched for "kodi" on Amazon and turned up a ton of stuff there advertising free movies and TV shows. Amazon! You want to tell me that the average person should see something sold on Amazon with Prime shipping that says you can use it to stream movies and TV for free, and understand that this is not legal?
      - ultramancool 10y ago
        It's even worse than that. There's literally signs on my street now advertising for a local company that sells Android sticks with Kodi preloaded and a bunch of piracy channels. Are normal people supposed to expect companies that advertise out in the open like that to not be legitimate? And I mean... they sort of are, they can deliver what they're advertising, they'll come to your house and set it all up and even give you support. Most consumers wouldn't know (or likely even care much about) the difference.
      - throwanem 10y ago
        Wow. I had the idea this was mostly a thing you'd find in the sketchier corners of eBay, and that at least to some extent you'd have to go looking for. But that's not so, which rather cuts my argument off at the knees.
        mikeash 10y ago
        I thought the same thing initially. I started writing something about Amazon Marketplace sellers, then had a "wait a minute..." thought and tried searching for "kodi." I was quite surprised!
- adrusi 10y ago
  There are large swathes of the population who have no idea what technology is. They see "box that you plug in to your TV to watch free movies" as a technological improvement, as in, some kind of breakthrough enabled the free delivery of movies. They're not likely to think about the economics of it unless it's pointed out to them. There's probably a decent number of people who bought this and had no idea it was illegal.
  - Aelinsaar 10y ago
    I can offer anecdote in support of this... a lot of anecdote. My mother's friends discovered that an HDMI cable and their various tablets could let them stream with these "Cool sites with all of this free stuff!". It never even occurred to them that it was piracy. When they thought of "pirating" or "theft", a glossy site that their friends told them about, and that asked nothing of them wasn't it.
orbitingpluto 10y ago
Or anybody who thinks purchase of the hardware alone entitles them to the content advertised. Who hasn't heard, "Where's Word and Excel on my new laptop?" (not 1:1 but close enough)
- oddevan 10y ago
  To be fair, buying an antenna entitles you to any broadcasts you can pick up with it. And to a lot of people, that's "TV."

e1ven 10y ago

I'm somewhat technical, and I find it difficult at times. For example, there's a new licensed/authorized streaming television service that was recently launched by Southern Fibernet. Compare their webpage- https://southernfibernet.com/index.php/television https://southernfibernet.com/index.php/television to one that operates without any licenses- http://rapidiptv.net/ http://rapidiptv.net/ If I encountered both of those webpages without context, it wouldn't be immediately obvious to me that one of the services is "legit" and one isn't.. They're both online streaming companies, and both offer similar services.

mhuffman 10y ago

Some of these "pirate boxes" have a google logo on them (chrom ebox) and it makes non-techies think that it is legit.

jjrh 10y ago

These boxes are advertised all over the place, Kijiji, facebook, hell there is a advertisement in my elevator for one. Can you blame folks for thinking that if it's being advertised all over the place and sold in local stores, it MUST be legal?

sp332 10y ago

You mean like a Chromecast?

0x6c6f6c 10y ago
How is a Chromecast a valid response? It's the wireless equivalent of an HDMI cable. You need access to a service on your phone/tablet/computer to push it to the Chromecast.
- sp332 10y ago
  Well, a bit. You control the playback with your phone, but the Chromecast gets the video from YouTube or Hulu etc. directly. Maybe a $50 Roku stick is a more direct comparison.
  - soylentcola 10y ago
    In many cases, yes. But it also mirrors tabs and it's how I watch Amazon Prime video on my TV since they don't offer Chromecast support (since they sell a competing device). So instead, I just cast the tab fullscreen from my laptop or desktop. That sort of thing doesn't really work well enough for full motion video on a mobile device but a "regular" computer handles it about 99% as well as a native Chromecast app. Beats screwing around with cables at least.

jlgaddis 10y ago

You'd be surprised. My ex-girlfriend's mother sent me a link to some small little device for sale on Craigslist a while back and asked what I thought about it. I forget now exactly what it was, but it was basically something like a Chromecast but that streamed TV shows, movies, etc., off of the Internet and displayed it on your TV screen. I think it was $100 and she was going to buy one -- it was advertised with bullet points such as a "lifetime subscription" and that you could now cancel your Netflix, et al., subscriptions. It was only after I described how they really worked that she decided not to buy one. ETA: It was something similar to this item [0]. [0]: http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/ele/5655216394.html http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/ele/5655216394.html