5 ms·

Movie industry demands US law requiring ISPs to block piracy websites

68 points by leotravis10 3y ago

SlightlyLeftPad 3y ago
Really curious to see the discussion on this and this recently posted article that’s loosely related: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39994804 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39994804
salawat 3y ago
U.S. Public demands Movie Industry nut up and shut up. ISP's should be dumb pipes. Movie industry should also stay the fuck out of colliding with playback device manufacturers. We see what you're trying to do eith HDMI 2.
throwaway5959 3y ago
That won’t be the last speech they stop if they get away with this.
airstrike 3y ago
You'd think given the way the music industry went, they'd at least be able to look to that for inspiration about how to come up with a better business model If only they had access to a streaming service where they could watch The Playlist
- Gibbon1 3y ago
  Considering the movie industry isn't something like farming them not being able to figure out how to turn a crank and print money shouldn't be the governments problem. Perhaps if they want this than maybe we reduce copyrights to 17 years.
olliej 3y ago
Do we get to demand a law that means that studios can’t retract sales and can’t prevent people from making usable backups of the things they buy? No? Weird…
chii 3y ago
the movie industry should not be externalizing their copyright enforcement costs onto others.
- kelseyfrog 3y ago
  Yep, it's pure rent seeking.
patrakov 3y ago
Predicted outcome: piracy websites will use non-US CDNs which would make them impossible to block (due to DoH making DNS-level blocks non-working and thus obsolete) without causing a lot of collateral damage. Something similar has already happened in Russia - with collateral damage levels as high as 1000:1, and with official answers from the government agency responsible for website blocking amounting to this: "we do not ask ISPs to block victim.com, it's just their inferior equipment does not support cracking SSL keys in real time."
FireBeyond 3y ago
"Consumers demand US law requiring movie industry to not remove access to 'purchased' licensed digital content when it becomes even remotely inconvenient or insufficiently profitable."
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
trescenzi 3y ago
Slight tangent, but movie DRM is really awful. My younger brother has a developmental disability and one of his favorite things is to watch movies. He’s capable enough to use streaming services but since he grew up with dvds he really likes the tangible part of picking a movie out from the cabinet and watching it. He’s in need of a personal computer and ideally it’ll be a Chromebook since he’s the most comfortable with that OS. However it would also be great if he could play movies on the computer for travel, or if the tv is occupied. But the difficulty of trying to play a legally purchased movie on a laptop, even not a Chromebook, makes this almost an impossible task. He _might_ be able to use VLC on ChromeOS to play some/all dvds but it’s highly unlikely he’ll be able to watch blu rays. I’m very tempted to just rip and reburn all of his dvds and blu rays for him so that he can just play the video file off of the dvd. Not really sure where I’m going with this but fuck DRM.
- happytiger 3y ago
  Let’s make this the top comment? Haha I love it. The love of your brother is evident and you finished with the point just so eloquently.
- retrobox 3y ago
  You triggered a memory from when I bought Avatar on blu-ray. PC at the time had a blu-ray drive. Booted up Windows. Opened up one of the few dedicated software options I was forced to buy for blu-ray support. Disc doesn’t work properly?? Check software’s support forum and the software hadn’t been updated with the most recent DRM. I felt burned at that point. Pirate copies already existed but I couldn’t play my legally acquired copy. So yeah, +1 on fuck DRM.
- atoav 3y ago
  This is the problem with DRM: It is a pain for honest customers, while not preventing people who copy things. If you want customers to pay for your thing you just need to make paying for it easier, more straightforward and more reliable than pirating it. As of now the only way they try to reach that goal is by making pirating harder.
  - 3y ago
happytiger 3y ago
We should pass a law that any company that tries to outsource their trademark and copyright costs onto the public loses them in reaction to this ongoing waste of money and time.
blackeyeblitzar 3y ago
If this were done, it’ll be just the early stages of a more normalized censorship / great firewall thing that’s one day a lot bigger than just piracy sites. We shouldn’t set even one foot in that direction.
southernplaces7 3y ago
It seems to me that DRM enforcement pushes by industry are welcomed among many politicians because they also make such a useful Trojan horse for much more pervasive internet controls over content, expression and basic privacy. Bureaucrats almost always love trampling such things, or anything related that limits their own ability to limit the free flow of information which might one day harm their interests, and of course major tech companies will go right along with the same because nothing helps enforce the massive siloed, moated platforms they've built like a highly restrictive, onerous regulatory landscape. Somewhat related is the supposed "danger" around current AI, promoted in part by the very companies that are pushing AI systems out the door. And why do they make such double sided arguments? Because much like in the point above about DRM, it invites them to neatly settle into a market where their presence is increasingly surrounded by regulatory moats and controls over free experimentation with the use of technology in circumventing arbitrary limitations (a fundamental aspect of any useful technology in my view).
yashg 3y ago
People won't resort to downloading movies off the internet if they just made them available legally across the world at local prices. As a Godzilla fan, there is no way for me to watch Godzilla Minus One. It wasn't released theatrically in my country. No news of it releasing it on any streaming services either in near future. I am willing to pay if only they would take my money. The stupid studio executives should focus their energies on making movies accessible rather than lobbying for more stupid laws. But of course they won't do that because they are too short-sighted.
RecycledEle 3y ago
I guess the movie industry wants the VPN companies to be massively more profitable?
- specto 3y ago
  VPN companies are next I'm sure.
eleveriven 3y ago
Piracy is driving me insane
bluish29 3y ago
I understand this is movie industry but I will be against any trial to block piracy website. The simple fact that Anne archive and sci-hub will be a premium target for any block is too much loss to human knowledge
bnolsen 3y ago
If only there was anything worth watching anymore...
SirMaster 3y ago
I wish the digital video industry would go the way that the digital music industry went. DRM free and most content available in 1 place. How were all the record labels able to agree on having all their content available drm-free on like itunes and amazon, and have all their content on one streaming service. But movie and tv show studios can't come close to this concept and seem to keep becoming more and more fractured.

68 points by leotravis10 3y ago

Really curious to see the discussion on this and this recently posted article that’s loosely related: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39994804 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39994804

salawat 3y ago

U.S. Public demands Movie Industry nut up and shut up. ISP's should be dumb pipes. Movie industry should also stay the fuck out of colliding with playback device manufacturers. We see what you're trying to do eith HDMI 2.

throwaway5959 3y ago

That won’t be the last speech they stop if they get away with this.

airstrike 3y ago

You'd think given the way the music industry went, they'd at least be able to look to that for inspiration about how to come up with a better business model If only they had access to a streaming service where they could watch The Playlist

Gibbon1 3y ago
Considering the movie industry isn't something like farming them not being able to figure out how to turn a crank and print money shouldn't be the governments problem. Perhaps if they want this than maybe we reduce copyrights to 17 years.

olliej 3y ago

Do we get to demand a law that means that studios can’t retract sales and can’t prevent people from making usable backups of the things they buy? No? Weird…

chii 3y ago

the movie industry should not be externalizing their copyright enforcement costs onto others.

kelseyfrog 3y ago
Yep, it's pure rent seeking.

patrakov 3y ago

Predicted outcome: piracy websites will use non-US CDNs which would make them impossible to block (due to DoH making DNS-level blocks non-working and thus obsolete) without causing a lot of collateral damage. Something similar has already happened in Russia - with collateral damage levels as high as 1000:1, and with official answers from the government agency responsible for website blocking amounting to this: "we do not ask ISPs to block victim.com, it's just their inferior equipment does not support cracking SSL keys in real time."

FireBeyond 3y ago

"Consumers demand US law requiring movie industry to not remove access to 'purchased' licensed digital content when it becomes even remotely inconvenient or insufficiently profitable."

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

trescenzi 3y ago

Slight tangent, but movie DRM is really awful. My younger brother has a developmental disability and one of his favorite things is to watch movies. He’s capable enough to use streaming services but since he grew up with dvds he really likes the tangible part of picking a movie out from the cabinet and watching it. He’s in need of a personal computer and ideally it’ll be a Chromebook since he’s the most comfortable with that OS. However it would also be great if he could play movies on the computer for travel, or if the tv is occupied. But the difficulty of trying to play a legally purchased movie on a laptop, even not a Chromebook, makes this almost an impossible task. He _might_ be able to use VLC on ChromeOS to play some/all dvds but it’s highly unlikely he’ll be able to watch blu rays. I’m very tempted to just rip and reburn all of his dvds and blu rays for him so that he can just play the video file off of the dvd. Not really sure where I’m going with this but fuck DRM.

happytiger 3y ago
Let’s make this the top comment? Haha I love it. The love of your brother is evident and you finished with the point just so eloquently.
retrobox 3y ago
You triggered a memory from when I bought Avatar on blu-ray. PC at the time had a blu-ray drive. Booted up Windows. Opened up one of the few dedicated software options I was forced to buy for blu-ray support. Disc doesn’t work properly?? Check software’s support forum and the software hadn’t been updated with the most recent DRM. I felt burned at that point. Pirate copies already existed but I couldn’t play my legally acquired copy. So yeah, +1 on fuck DRM.
atoav 3y ago
This is the problem with DRM: It is a pain for honest customers, while not preventing people who copy things. If you want customers to pay for your thing you just need to make paying for it easier, more straightforward and more reliable than pirating it. As of now the only way they try to reach that goal is by making pirating harder.
- 3y ago

happytiger 3y ago

We should pass a law that any company that tries to outsource their trademark and copyright costs onto the public loses them in reaction to this ongoing waste of money and time.

blackeyeblitzar 3y ago

If this were done, it’ll be just the early stages of a more normalized censorship / great firewall thing that’s one day a lot bigger than just piracy sites. We shouldn’t set even one foot in that direction.

southernplaces7 3y ago

It seems to me that DRM enforcement pushes by industry are welcomed among many politicians because they also make such a useful Trojan horse for much more pervasive internet controls over content, expression and basic privacy. Bureaucrats almost always love trampling such things, or anything related that limits their own ability to limit the free flow of information which might one day harm their interests, and of course major tech companies will go right along with the same because nothing helps enforce the massive siloed, moated platforms they've built like a highly restrictive, onerous regulatory landscape. Somewhat related is the supposed "danger" around current AI, promoted in part by the very companies that are pushing AI systems out the door. And why do they make such double sided arguments? Because much like in the point above about DRM, it invites them to neatly settle into a market where their presence is increasingly surrounded by regulatory moats and controls over free experimentation with the use of technology in circumventing arbitrary limitations (a fundamental aspect of any useful technology in my view).

yashg 3y ago

People won't resort to downloading movies off the internet if they just made them available legally across the world at local prices. As a Godzilla fan, there is no way for me to watch Godzilla Minus One. It wasn't released theatrically in my country. No news of it releasing it on any streaming services either in near future. I am willing to pay if only they would take my money. The stupid studio executives should focus their energies on making movies accessible rather than lobbying for more stupid laws. But of course they won't do that because they are too short-sighted.

RecycledEle 3y ago

I guess the movie industry wants the VPN companies to be massively more profitable?

specto 3y ago
VPN companies are next I'm sure.

eleveriven 3y ago

Piracy is driving me insane

bluish29 3y ago

I understand this is movie industry but I will be against any trial to block piracy website. The simple fact that Anne archive and sci-hub will be a premium target for any block is too much loss to human knowledge

bnolsen 3y ago

If only there was anything worth watching anymore...

SirMaster 3y ago

I wish the digital video industry would go the way that the digital music industry went. DRM free and most content available in 1 place. How were all the record labels able to agree on having all their content available drm-free on like itunes and amazon, and have all their content on one streaming service. But movie and tv show studios can't come close to this concept and seem to keep becoming more and more fractured.