4 ms·

I wonder if the MAFIAA can pressure software vendors to ban classes of software. I think agreements like: "We'll only make it legal to run our streaming service

I wonder if the MAFIAA can pressure software vendors to ban classes of software. I think agreements like: "We'll only make it legal to run our streaming service on your OS if you can prevent these specific set of software from running". I think this already happens with TV's but anyone knows if there is already pressure in this direction in the software world?

ugjka 5y ago
If I can't stream i pirate and I do it on linux. No Loki in my region? Didn't stop me
- dtx1 5y ago
  I basically do the same thing. Why bother figuring out how to run Netflix with DRM on Linux and pay for the pleaser of a subpar libary when my little Raspberry Pi Seedbox, a 5$/Month VPN and Membership in a private Tracker gets me everything I want without the hassle or annoying DRM to deal with. But we are not the ones that will be hit by this. It's the normies and computer illiterates that will have to deal with the issue. And god save us from the politicians that will make OSes that can pirate content just plain illegal.
  - criddell 5y ago
    > Why bother figuring out how to run Netflix with DRM on Linux Because you want to pay for things. You want to support people making the things you enjoy. You want Netflix and other streaming companies to see that Linux users matter.
    - neonihil 5y ago
      What if you pay for Netflix — because you want to support creators, — but you actually download stuff — because you also want to be able to watch it without hustle? Like Netflix 4K is not working on Linux. It’s just not. And it wasn’t working on Macs either until very recently, but it needs some special hardware.
      - dtx1 5y ago
        > What if you pay for Netflix — because you want to support creators, — but you actually download stuff — because you also want to be able to watch it without hustle? I dont have to do that with music (spotify works on linux and my phone so its fine) or with games (steam works with linux and valve makes linux gaming better every single day). I don´t mind paying a fair price for media and i like the convenience of a large, always available, curated, searchable, instantly available Media service. But the movie and TV Industry doesn´t offer it. Netflix here in Germany has a pathetic libary and i dont want to subscribe to 5 services to watch the 5 or 6 TV shows i want to see. Thats neither fair nor convenient. I´d rather take that money to my local cinema and pay for the experience instead of just the content. Piracy is mostly a distribution problem and to a much lesser degree a pricing problem. As long as I can´t buy into a service that is better than pirating content why should I pay for it.
    - dtx1 5y ago
      Yeah, no. I don't have to prove to a company that i am worthy to use their service without selling my soul and privacy to shaddowy entities. It's their job to sell a service that i would want to use to me.
    - tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago
      You don't do that by paying them for _not_ working on your platform.
stronglikedan 5y ago
Everyone would just add a "streaming" user account, and run all the prohibited software under another user.
_fat_santa 5y ago
> "We'll only make it legal to run our streaming service on your OS if you can prevent these specific set of software from running" With windows I don't think this will be technically feasible. Sure I could see something like this happen on a mobile device or even MacOS but with Windows I feel like it's far too open ended for MS to do something like this without screwing their enterprise customers. And even if they did do something like this, most pirates will just pirate the enterprise version of Windows and run that.
- alpaca128 5y ago
  > With windows I don't think this will be technically feasible. It's not only feasible but it's basically reality. Anti-cheat systems for online games can literally ban you if they detect that you run a blacklisted program in the background or use a modified graphics driver. And you won't even know why you were banned, and lose access to all games you bought with that account.
gruez 5y ago
>I wonder if the MAFIAA can pressure software vendors to ban classes of software. What if the vendor just says "no"? Who's going to win in the court of public opinion when this hits the press? Besides, they don't seem to care that much, considering that very few people actually watch videos on their computers anymore. In case they do, it's through a browser which sandbox (at least on firefox) the decryption modules to prevent them from scanning the operating system.
- marcodiego 5y ago
  The "court of public opinion" didn't prevented walled gardens on the mobile world. People wouldn't stop watching BigStudio if they didn't offer their service for a TV vendor, people would just buy from the vendor who bowed to the imposed conditions. In Brazil, there's nothing legally preventing you from recording OTA TV but no big name TV vendor add a unencrypted record feature. You can find it on cheap digital decoders which have no support for streaming or apps. I don't think this is mere coincidence, I think streaming services and content producers already pressure TV vendors to not support "unwanted features"; in exchange, they gain the right to include some apps out-of-the-box.
  - gruez 5y ago
    >The "court of public opinion" didn't prevented walled gardens on the mobile world That's more like megacorp vs consumers, not megacorp vs megacorp. Trying to force vendors to remove piracy apps would be closer to the latter. As a concrete example, apple's app tracking transparency seem so be doing pretty well.
    - marcodiego 5y ago
      So how to you explain the complete lack of recording features on TV sets that support streaming services?
      - gruez 5y ago
        The complete lack of recording features? I can't comment about brazil because I don't like there, but in the US they're pretty popular, to the point that cable providers even advertise it as a feature, eg. https://www.xfinity.com/learn/digital-cable-tv/x1 https://www.xfinity.com/learn/digital-cable-tv/x1 (search for "DVR")

ugjka 5y ago

If I can't stream i pirate and I do it on linux. No Loki in my region? Didn't stop me

dtx1 5y ago
I basically do the same thing. Why bother figuring out how to run Netflix with DRM on Linux and pay for the pleaser of a subpar libary when my little Raspberry Pi Seedbox, a 5$/Month VPN and Membership in a private Tracker gets me everything I want without the hassle or annoying DRM to deal with. But we are not the ones that will be hit by this. It's the normies and computer illiterates that will have to deal with the issue. And god save us from the politicians that will make OSes that can pirate content just plain illegal.
- criddell 5y ago
  > Why bother figuring out how to run Netflix with DRM on Linux Because you want to pay for things. You want to support people making the things you enjoy. You want Netflix and other streaming companies to see that Linux users matter.
  - neonihil 5y ago
    What if you pay for Netflix — because you want to support creators, — but you actually download stuff — because you also want to be able to watch it without hustle? Like Netflix 4K is not working on Linux. It’s just not. And it wasn’t working on Macs either until very recently, but it needs some special hardware.
    - dtx1 5y ago
      > What if you pay for Netflix — because you want to support creators, — but you actually download stuff — because you also want to be able to watch it without hustle? I dont have to do that with music (spotify works on linux and my phone so its fine) or with games (steam works with linux and valve makes linux gaming better every single day). I don´t mind paying a fair price for media and i like the convenience of a large, always available, curated, searchable, instantly available Media service. But the movie and TV Industry doesn´t offer it. Netflix here in Germany has a pathetic libary and i dont want to subscribe to 5 services to watch the 5 or 6 TV shows i want to see. Thats neither fair nor convenient. I´d rather take that money to my local cinema and pay for the experience instead of just the content. Piracy is mostly a distribution problem and to a much lesser degree a pricing problem. As long as I can´t buy into a service that is better than pirating content why should I pay for it.
  - dtx1 5y ago
    Yeah, no. I don't have to prove to a company that i am worthy to use their service without selling my soul and privacy to shaddowy entities. It's their job to sell a service that i would want to use to me.
  - tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago
    You don't do that by paying them for _not_ working on your platform.

stronglikedan 5y ago

Everyone would just add a "streaming" user account, and run all the prohibited software under another user.

_fat_santa 5y ago

> "We'll only make it legal to run our streaming service on your OS if you can prevent these specific set of software from running" With windows I don't think this will be technically feasible. Sure I could see something like this happen on a mobile device or even MacOS but with Windows I feel like it's far too open ended for MS to do something like this without screwing their enterprise customers. And even if they did do something like this, most pirates will just pirate the enterprise version of Windows and run that.

alpaca128 5y ago
> With windows I don't think this will be technically feasible. It's not only feasible but it's basically reality. Anti-cheat systems for online games can literally ban you if they detect that you run a blacklisted program in the background or use a modified graphics driver. And you won't even know why you were banned, and lose access to all games you bought with that account.

gruez 5y ago

>I wonder if the MAFIAA can pressure software vendors to ban classes of software. What if the vendor just says "no"? Who's going to win in the court of public opinion when this hits the press? Besides, they don't seem to care that much, considering that very few people actually watch videos on their computers anymore. In case they do, it's through a browser which sandbox (at least on firefox) the decryption modules to prevent them from scanning the operating system.

marcodiego 5y ago
The "court of public opinion" didn't prevented walled gardens on the mobile world. People wouldn't stop watching BigStudio if they didn't offer their service for a TV vendor, people would just buy from the vendor who bowed to the imposed conditions. In Brazil, there's nothing legally preventing you from recording OTA TV but no big name TV vendor add a unencrypted record feature. You can find it on cheap digital decoders which have no support for streaming or apps. I don't think this is mere coincidence, I think streaming services and content producers already pressure TV vendors to not support "unwanted features"; in exchange, they gain the right to include some apps out-of-the-box.
- gruez 5y ago
  >The "court of public opinion" didn't prevented walled gardens on the mobile world That's more like megacorp vs consumers, not megacorp vs megacorp. Trying to force vendors to remove piracy apps would be closer to the latter. As a concrete example, apple's app tracking transparency seem so be doing pretty well.
  - marcodiego 5y ago
    So how to you explain the complete lack of recording features on TV sets that support streaming services?
    - gruez 5y ago
      The complete lack of recording features? I can't comment about brazil because I don't like there, but in the US they're pretty popular, to the point that cable providers even advertise it as a feature, eg. https://www.xfinity.com/learn/digital-cable-tv/x1 https://www.xfinity.com/learn/digital-cable-tv/x1 (search for "DVR")