3 ms·

> Like piracy? It's ilegal and fines are often hefty so shouldn't it deter people from pirating movies or downloading roms etc? Yes, and it mostly works! Bans

> Like piracy? It's ilegal and fines are often hefty so shouldn't it deter people from pirating movies or downloading roms etc? Yes, and it mostly works! Bans on piracy work well already, most people don't torrent games or movies. And locked down platforms exist, demonstrating the technical feasibility of even greater control. Software piracy in particular is much more difficult on the sort of computers that manufactures deliberately design to be locked down, like modern video game consoles and iOS devices. It is still possible, but has been made sufficiently difficult to stop the majority of the population from doing it.

throwaway8689 4y ago
Piracy may have been displaced into Netflix password sharing, or diminished and replaced by bona fide streaming subscriptions (why pirate if you can get what you want at a low price). But falling real incomes and Netflix tightening up on 'free' users could see more pirating.
irusensei 4y ago
Plex works on iOS and video game consoles doesn't? You can install VLC or similar software on your iOS device and watch a downloaded mkv. People are often caught when selling or seeding a torrent file, which is easily avoidable by using a VPN or seedbox not by playing a rip of Dune.2020.4k.en.it.h264.mkv on their phone. Piracy has been mitigated through better services at competitive prices offered by the likes of Steam, iTunes, Spotify or how Netflix used to be and not at all by law enforcement.
- slackdog 4y ago
  > Plex works on iOS and video game consoles doesn't? As long as that remains permitted by Apple/Sony and your government, yes. If either of them decide to ban Plex or VLC, it will become effectively impossible for most people with normal levels of motivation and technical know-how. > You can install VLC or similar software on your iOS device and watch a downloaded mkv. Presently, you can. And yet presently, relatively few people do. These sort of bans aren't ever 100% effective; you'll probably always be able to squeeze through the cracks if you try hard enough. That guy in Japan managed to make a homemade shotgun that was good enough to kill the ex-PM, but the simple fact remains that gun control generally works in Japan. And so do anti-piracy measures even today, before the full technical means of authoritarian control have even been brought to bear. Locked bootloaders exist and mostly work. The fact that you can presently buy computers without locked bootloaders doesn't change the fact that the technical means of control have been demonstrated to work. Political policy is all that protects us today.
- zirgs 4y ago
  Game piracy doesn't work on game consoles. In order to pirate you have to jailbreak it (and risk bricking it in the process). Jailbroken consoles also don't work online. And not all firmware versions are vulnerable. Basically - it's a mess and most console players don't bother. And as far as I know - XBox One, Series X and PS5 haven't been jailbroken at all.

throwaway8689 4y ago

Piracy may have been displaced into Netflix password sharing, or diminished and replaced by bona fide streaming subscriptions (why pirate if you can get what you want at a low price). But falling real incomes and Netflix tightening up on 'free' users could see more pirating.

irusensei 4y ago

Plex works on iOS and video game consoles doesn't? You can install VLC or similar software on your iOS device and watch a downloaded mkv. People are often caught when selling or seeding a torrent file, which is easily avoidable by using a VPN or seedbox not by playing a rip of Dune.2020.4k.en.it.h264.mkv on their phone. Piracy has been mitigated through better services at competitive prices offered by the likes of Steam, iTunes, Spotify or how Netflix used to be and not at all by law enforcement.

slackdog 4y ago
> Plex works on iOS and video game consoles doesn't? As long as that remains permitted by Apple/Sony and your government, yes. If either of them decide to ban Plex or VLC, it will become effectively impossible for most people with normal levels of motivation and technical know-how. > You can install VLC or similar software on your iOS device and watch a downloaded mkv. Presently, you can. And yet presently, relatively few people do. These sort of bans aren't ever 100% effective; you'll probably always be able to squeeze through the cracks if you try hard enough. That guy in Japan managed to make a homemade shotgun that was good enough to kill the ex-PM, but the simple fact remains that gun control generally works in Japan. And so do anti-piracy measures even today, before the full technical means of authoritarian control have even been brought to bear. Locked bootloaders exist and mostly work. The fact that you can presently buy computers without locked bootloaders doesn't change the fact that the technical means of control have been demonstrated to work. Political policy is all that protects us today.
zirgs 4y ago
Game piracy doesn't work on game consoles. In order to pirate you have to jailbreak it (and risk bricking it in the process). Jailbroken consoles also don't work online. And not all firmware versions are vulnerable. Basically - it's a mess and most console players don't bother. And as far as I know - XBox One, Series X and PS5 haven't been jailbroken at all.