4 ms·

I believe it morally justifies downloading Disney+ content via torrents.

newfangle 7y ago
Tell yourself whatever you like
egypturnash 7y ago
Oh come on, “Disney won’t stream their stuff to my niche OS” is not a reason to get their stuff without paying. You can wait for a DVD, you can scrounge a used device that will run their DRM, or you can decide you hate all DRM and boycott their stuff until the unlikely event they offer a copyable version. Lots of people work hard making this shit, and they have bills to pay, these things don’t just spring fully-formed onto a hard drive like Athena from Zeus’ skull. Maybe there’s some morality going on if you buy a ton of merch for what you watch. Maybe. Or you can reward the companies that do support your niche OS by paying for their stuff, that’s pretty unassailable. I am far from without sin in this area, but I don’t try to make excuses. Watching stuff without paying its asking price is stealing.
- prepend 7y ago
  Niche or not “Disney won’t sell me content I want to buy” seems like a tough position for Disney to argue past. This was the argument back in the days when movies wouldn’t be released in many countries as the market is too small. What do you expect potential customers to do? Should they buy new computers? Not watch Disney stuff? I think I would expect the latter, but if they aren’t Disney’s customer then them pirating isn’t losing Disney any business.
  - zokier 7y ago
    > Niche or not “Disney won’t sell me content I want to buy” seems like a tough position for Disney to argue past. I feel that is such an entitled attitude. Watching Disney+ is hardly some inalienable human right nor essential for survival. Why would anyone think their right to use a service, and cosume content, overrides Disneys well-established ownership?
    - scrollaway 7y ago
      Disney getting paid isn't an inalienable human right either. We're talking about customers paying for entertainment. And their ownership over the IP isn't either. It may be well established in law but it's not like we're talking about the right to air and water. If Disney won't sell them the stuff they shouldn't be surprised they'll resort to other means to acquire the content.
    - prepend 7y ago
      What’s wrong to entitled attitudes? I feel like “entitled” is some sort of jerk buzzword. Entitled is a wonderful thing. I think it’s good to be entitled to not being exploited by billion dollar companies making decisions that make like worse for people. Even if it’s just a little worse like not being able to watch a movie with your kids. Sadly, we’re not entitled to such a thing. Why is Disney entitled to oppressive “well-established ownership?” I’m not sure how one is more entitled than retaining copyright for 70 years after the artists who create something die.
    - matheusmoreira 7y ago
      Getting paid isn't some inalienable human right either. Even if it were, Disney is not a human. Disney is a corporation worth tens of billions of dollars. It used a portion of that money to lobby for multiple copyright extensions, eroding the rights of every american. So who's really entitled here? The social contract behind copyright was "we'll pretend your intellectual property is scarce for like 20 years so you can make your profits and once the time's up your work enters the public domain". When was the last time you saw something enter the public domain? You are literally defending the company that did that. They will try again in the 2020s. They have no intention to fulfill their end of the bargain. If "piracy" could straight up kill Disney, copyright infringement would be a moral imperative. We don't even have that power.
    - fucking_tragedy 7y ago
      > Watching Disney+ is hardly some inalienable human right nor essential for survival. Neither are never-expiring copyright laws, and there's no reason someone in a country that doesn't abide by them should have to honor them.
- Andrew_nenakhov 7y ago
  Oh. I was going to start my previous message with "I personally don't plan to watch any of their programs", but it would deny me the joy of reading your comment, full of virtue and moral superiority. Thank you.
  - dang 7y ago
    Please don't cross into personal attack, regardless of how wrong or annoying another comment is or you feel it is. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- ddingus 7y ago
  Actually, it is infringing. We have that word for very specific reasons. In this case, nothing was stolen.
earenndil 7y ago
If you purchase a subscription and then torrent, that's justified. Otherwise--uh, no.
- sucrose 7y ago
  I think the point is to not pay them until the get their service fixed.

Tell yourself whatever you like

Oh come on, “Disney won’t stream their stuff to my niche OS” is not a reason to get their stuff without paying. You can wait for a DVD, you can scrounge a used device that will run their DRM, or you can decide you hate all DRM and boycott their stuff until the unlikely event they offer a copyable version. Lots of people work hard making this shit, and they have bills to pay, these things don’t just spring fully-formed onto a hard drive like Athena from Zeus’ skull. Maybe there’s some morality going on if you buy a ton of merch for what you watch. Maybe. Or you can reward the companies that do support your niche OS by paying for their stuff, that’s pretty unassailable. I am far from without sin in this area, but I don’t try to make excuses. Watching stuff without paying its asking price is stealing.

prepend 7y ago
Niche or not “Disney won’t sell me content I want to buy” seems like a tough position for Disney to argue past. This was the argument back in the days when movies wouldn’t be released in many countries as the market is too small. What do you expect potential customers to do? Should they buy new computers? Not watch Disney stuff? I think I would expect the latter, but if they aren’t Disney’s customer then them pirating isn’t losing Disney any business.
- zokier 7y ago
  > Niche or not “Disney won’t sell me content I want to buy” seems like a tough position for Disney to argue past. I feel that is such an entitled attitude. Watching Disney+ is hardly some inalienable human right nor essential for survival. Why would anyone think their right to use a service, and cosume content, overrides Disneys well-established ownership?
  - scrollaway 7y ago
    Disney getting paid isn't an inalienable human right either. We're talking about customers paying for entertainment. And their ownership over the IP isn't either. It may be well established in law but it's not like we're talking about the right to air and water. If Disney won't sell them the stuff they shouldn't be surprised they'll resort to other means to acquire the content.
  - prepend 7y ago
    What’s wrong to entitled attitudes? I feel like “entitled” is some sort of jerk buzzword. Entitled is a wonderful thing. I think it’s good to be entitled to not being exploited by billion dollar companies making decisions that make like worse for people. Even if it’s just a little worse like not being able to watch a movie with your kids. Sadly, we’re not entitled to such a thing. Why is Disney entitled to oppressive “well-established ownership?” I’m not sure how one is more entitled than retaining copyright for 70 years after the artists who create something die.
  - matheusmoreira 7y ago
    Getting paid isn't some inalienable human right either. Even if it were, Disney is not a human. Disney is a corporation worth tens of billions of dollars. It used a portion of that money to lobby for multiple copyright extensions, eroding the rights of every american. So who's really entitled here? The social contract behind copyright was "we'll pretend your intellectual property is scarce for like 20 years so you can make your profits and once the time's up your work enters the public domain". When was the last time you saw something enter the public domain? You are literally defending the company that did that. They will try again in the 2020s. They have no intention to fulfill their end of the bargain. If "piracy" could straight up kill Disney, copyright infringement would be a moral imperative. We don't even have that power.
  - fucking_tragedy 7y ago
    > Watching Disney+ is hardly some inalienable human right nor essential for survival. Neither are never-expiring copyright laws, and there's no reason someone in a country that doesn't abide by them should have to honor them.
Andrew_nenakhov 7y ago
Oh. I was going to start my previous message with "I personally don't plan to watch any of their programs", but it would deny me the joy of reading your comment, full of virtue and moral superiority. Thank you.
- dang 7y ago
  Please don't cross into personal attack, regardless of how wrong or annoying another comment is or you feel it is. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
ddingus 7y ago
Actually, it is infringing. We have that word for very specific reasons. In this case, nothing was stolen.

earenndil 7y ago

If you purchase a subscription and then torrent, that's justified. Otherwise--uh, no.

sucrose 7y ago
I think the point is to not pay them until the get their service fixed.