5 ms·

Disney and Warner Bros. Are Causing Internet Piracy to Boom

52 points by elorant 3y ago

jwalton 3y ago
> Sure enough, The Software Alliance—a Washington, D.C. anti-piracy organization—claimed digital piracy declined by 37 percent in 2017. Since The Software Aliance only estimates piracy of PC software, this seems like a weird source to quote in an article about media piracy. I also wonder, now that people get scary notices from their ISP whenever they torrent anything, if more people are turning to less-easy-to-track alternatives?
- hightrix 3y ago
  > I also wonder, now that people get scary notices from their ISP whenever they torrent anything, if more people are turning to less-easy-to-track alternatives? Do people still get these notices? I recall getting one many years ago, but after starting to use a VPN for any torrent traffic, I haven't gotten one. As an aside, the moment a streaming service removes the ad-free plan, or drastically increases price of ad-free, will be the moment that service is canceled for many people. I've recently canceled Prime and am now downloading the shows I hadn't yet finished or wanted to watch again. Additionally, I fully understand this is my own entitlement, but if I've paid licensing fees[0] for content for a period of time then I feel zero guilt about downloading that content if the service changes the terms of the deal, such as by removing ad-free viewing. [0] - A subscription to a streaming service
- jncfhnb 3y ago
  I bring this up fairly often but I do not understand why people’s default privacy mental image is torrenting and not the perfectly convenient Netflix clones like Sflix that require no software
  - calamari4065 3y ago
    Because that isn't private? Instead of Netflix tracking what you watch, it's some other site. Sites which usually come with awful ads and tracking to pay for the gargantuan amount of bandwidth a streaming platform needs. When I say private, it means that absolutely no one except me and my computer needs to know that I'm watching Xena for the hundredth time.
    - jncfhnb 3y ago
      Piracy*
  - cqqxo4zV46cp 3y ago
    I doubt that very many people here even knows how civilians pirate things. These threads are always full of people describing how they have a 80PB ZFS array on OVH with a Plex server, unlimited Usenet block account, and 50 private trackers, acting like they’re describing anything relevant to anyone besides the ultra-nerdy. Sharing streaming service passwords. 16-part Family Guy episodes on TikTok, and ridiculous ad-ridden streaming websites ending in odd TLDs are all the rage. The latest generation of young adults grew up on Chromebooks.
    - jncfhnb 3y ago
      Like, sure. But SFlix is easier than all of those things and is a perfect match to a Chromebook. I just don’t understand why it’s not in the public conscious.
trompetenaccoun 3y ago
There are many other reasons people pirate, it's not all about convenience and cost. Personally I would never pay a cent to Disney again, because I do not like them and do not want to support their business. A lot of people would not pirate anything if they could pay the creators directly, without the questionable middlemen. The good news is that many of the problems can be solved with a single solution. Bring back pay-to-own, make it convenient by having marketplaces where you simply pick and payments are done automatically in the background. Give artists and creators the ability to self-publish on the platforms. That in turn will bring down the cost, because now the money goes directly to them. What's that you say, a team of hundreds of people has worked on a movie? That can all be baked into the token if payments are handled by a smart contract and they can each get their exact percentage with each sale. Seems a lot fairer for everyone involved. It will also increase quality again, or at least give a boost to productions people want to see. The issue with the current model is that viewers are not directly voting with the wallets anymore, the studios do it for them. That will not stand, there is a growing disconnect between what these corporations produce and what people actually want to see. You can hear people complain all over about how the quality of movies and TV shows is declining. The subscription model is flawed, sooner or later it will die.
- cocacola1 3y ago
  Studios like money and will produce what makes money. When that changes, they’ll slowly adapt. Slowly being the key word. People love their blockbusters, though, so that’s less likely to change.
- Grimblewald 3y ago
  another thing likely driving piracy is the unprecedented economic pressure felt world wide at the moment.
  - monstertank 3y ago
    Personally it's the unmitigated loads of unwanted ideology jammed down my throat by each platform...I'm just over it. Piracy is so much more reliable.
Sapere_Aude 3y ago
So what? It doesn't even harm them financially. The EU Suppressed a 300-Page Study That Found Piracy Doesn’t Harm Sales https://gizmodo.com/the-eu-suppressed-a-300-page-study-that-found-piracy-do-1818629537 https://gizmodo.com/the-eu-suppressed-a-300-page-study-that-...
sweetdekker 3y ago
I have no idea how to pirate any more. Torrents were my tool of choice, but I don't think they're that popular any more. I miss Demonoid :(

52 points by elorant 3y ago

> Sure enough, The Software Alliance—a Washington, D.C. anti-piracy organization—claimed digital piracy declined by 37 percent in 2017. Since The Software Aliance only estimates piracy of PC software, this seems like a weird source to quote in an article about media piracy. I also wonder, now that people get scary notices from their ISP whenever they torrent anything, if more people are turning to less-easy-to-track alternatives?

hightrix 3y ago
> I also wonder, now that people get scary notices from their ISP whenever they torrent anything, if more people are turning to less-easy-to-track alternatives? Do people still get these notices? I recall getting one many years ago, but after starting to use a VPN for any torrent traffic, I haven't gotten one. As an aside, the moment a streaming service removes the ad-free plan, or drastically increases price of ad-free, will be the moment that service is canceled for many people. I've recently canceled Prime and am now downloading the shows I hadn't yet finished or wanted to watch again. Additionally, I fully understand this is my own entitlement, but if I've paid licensing fees[0] for content for a period of time then I feel zero guilt about downloading that content if the service changes the terms of the deal, such as by removing ad-free viewing. [0] - A subscription to a streaming service
jncfhnb 3y ago
I bring this up fairly often but I do not understand why people’s default privacy mental image is torrenting and not the perfectly convenient Netflix clones like Sflix that require no software
- calamari4065 3y ago
  Because that isn't private? Instead of Netflix tracking what you watch, it's some other site. Sites which usually come with awful ads and tracking to pay for the gargantuan amount of bandwidth a streaming platform needs. When I say private, it means that absolutely no one except me and my computer needs to know that I'm watching Xena for the hundredth time.
  - jncfhnb 3y ago
    Piracy*
- cqqxo4zV46cp 3y ago
  I doubt that very many people here even knows how civilians pirate things. These threads are always full of people describing how they have a 80PB ZFS array on OVH with a Plex server, unlimited Usenet block account, and 50 private trackers, acting like they’re describing anything relevant to anyone besides the ultra-nerdy. Sharing streaming service passwords. 16-part Family Guy episodes on TikTok, and ridiculous ad-ridden streaming websites ending in odd TLDs are all the rage. The latest generation of young adults grew up on Chromebooks.
  - jncfhnb 3y ago
    Like, sure. But SFlix is easier than all of those things and is a perfect match to a Chromebook. I just don’t understand why it’s not in the public conscious.

trompetenaccoun 3y ago

There are many other reasons people pirate, it's not all about convenience and cost. Personally I would never pay a cent to Disney again, because I do not like them and do not want to support their business. A lot of people would not pirate anything if they could pay the creators directly, without the questionable middlemen. The good news is that many of the problems can be solved with a single solution. Bring back pay-to-own, make it convenient by having marketplaces where you simply pick and payments are done automatically in the background. Give artists and creators the ability to self-publish on the platforms. That in turn will bring down the cost, because now the money goes directly to them. What's that you say, a team of hundreds of people has worked on a movie? That can all be baked into the token if payments are handled by a smart contract and they can each get their exact percentage with each sale. Seems a lot fairer for everyone involved. It will also increase quality again, or at least give a boost to productions people want to see. The issue with the current model is that viewers are not directly voting with the wallets anymore, the studios do it for them. That will not stand, there is a growing disconnect between what these corporations produce and what people actually want to see. You can hear people complain all over about how the quality of movies and TV shows is declining. The subscription model is flawed, sooner or later it will die.

cocacola1 3y ago
Studios like money and will produce what makes money. When that changes, they’ll slowly adapt. Slowly being the key word. People love their blockbusters, though, so that’s less likely to change.
Grimblewald 3y ago
another thing likely driving piracy is the unprecedented economic pressure felt world wide at the moment.
- monstertank 3y ago
  Personally it's the unmitigated loads of unwanted ideology jammed down my throat by each platform...I'm just over it. Piracy is so much more reliable.

Sapere_Aude 3y ago

So what? It doesn't even harm them financially. The EU Suppressed a 300-Page Study That Found Piracy Doesn’t Harm Sales https://gizmodo.com/the-eu-suppressed-a-300-page-study-that-found-piracy-do-1818629537 https://gizmodo.com/the-eu-suppressed-a-300-page-study-that-...

sweetdekker 3y ago

I have no idea how to pirate any more. Torrents were my tool of choice, but I don't think they're that popular any more. I miss Demonoid :(