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Pretty well, honestly. Somebody with both technical knowledge and familiarity with a particular subculture can get access to entertainment videos with some work
by wpietri 13d ago
Pretty well, honestly. Somebody with both technical knowledge and familiarity with a particular subculture can get access to entertainment videos with some work. But they've managed to keep piracy economically negligible. Basically everybody uses streaming services, 90% of US households pay for at least 1, and the average household pays for 4. [1]
Brand was wrong. Information doesn't want to be free, just cheap.
[1] https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/how-much-us-households-spend-streaming-video-deloitte-study-1236694151/ https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/how-much-us-households-spen...
- Marha01 13d agoThis is only the case because streaming services today are so cheap and convenient. Jack up the price, or decrease the convenience, and see people sail the high seas en masse again..
- LogicFailsMe 13d agoIndeed, the origin stories of these streaming services are deeply intertwined with combating piracy if you go back 20+ years. And I agree, if they outlaw open weight models, then only outlaws will have open weight models. But good luck finding and prosecuting the outlaws beyond a few whales.
- 998244353 13d agoYou can watch a lot of TV series online on some random pirate sites by simply googling "show x free online". It doesn't even require the relatively simple technical knowledge of using a BitTorrent client.