4 ms·

Arms race? The entertainment industry has cantered out onto the jousting pitch with their horse and lance. Meanwhile illegal distribution is calibrating the las

by avn2109 12y ago

Arms race? The entertainment industry has cantered out onto the jousting pitch with their horse and lance. Meanwhile illegal distribution is calibrating the laser cannons in their orbital battle station and dispatching their aircraft carrier battle groups.

untog 12y ago
I don't think "arms race" really applies when the two sides are building entirely different weapons. The entertainment industry is interested in pursuing the source of leaks - as the other comments here have mentioned, they've gotten pretty good at it.
onion2k 12y ago
I think you're wrong about the two sides. The guys with the orbital battle stations are the distribution channel. Watermarking isn't there to deter them, so their lasers don't matter. Watermarking is a deterrent to the people who upload the content in the first place. The ones who're careless about who they'll share things with. A unique watermark (steganographic or visible) is about finding the source of the leak. In that arms-race the entertainment industry is facing people who can remove a watermark - but we have no idea whether or not they're winning. The fact that torrents exist with watermarks intact makes me think that perhaps they are.
anigbrowl 12y ago
The entertainment industry operates some 40 actual satellites that were put up into space using actual rockets, engages in petabyte-scale asset management as a matter of course, and constantly reworks its content acquisition pipelines as new digital and analog technologies come to market. We're a little bit more technologically sophisticated than you seem to imagine.
- Phlarp 12y ago
  >reworks its content acquisition pipelines as new digital and analog technologies come to market. I would have gladly paid them to watch a stream at 8pm last night, yet somehow that still isn't an option in 2015. Instead I ended up with 4 episodes from a torrent at 8:15. Tell me more about embracing new technology as it comes to market.
  - nitrogen 12y ago
    I thought HBO Now (I'm not a subscriber) allowed one to stream 5 minutes after air?
    - Phlarp 12y ago
      I remember hearing lots of noise about them offering a stand alone streaming service, I was even excited to try it out and see how it handled the traffic of a season premiere (HBOgo has been notably terribly on this front) I googled around for about 15 minutes and was only able to find news articles announcing it. I'd be happy to pay them for what i've already watched if anyone could direct me to a sign-up for this elusive streaming service.
      - nitrogen 12y ago
        Here's the site: https://order.hbonow.com/ https://order.hbonow.com/ I don't have an iOS device or their specific supported ISP, so I haven't signed up.
  - dazmax 12y ago
    In this case there's someone else who paid for you not to be able to stream it: Apple. HBO Now is Apple TV exclusive for 3 months.
    - jfb 12y ago
      No, you can get it on Sling TV, too.
oaktowner 12y ago
I kind of assumed the laser cannons were on flying ostriches.

by avn2109 12y ago

untog 12y ago

I don't think "arms race" really applies when the two sides are building entirely different weapons. The entertainment industry is interested in pursuing the source of leaks - as the other comments here have mentioned, they've gotten pretty good at it.

onion2k 12y ago

I think you're wrong about the two sides. The guys with the orbital battle stations are the distribution channel. Watermarking isn't there to deter them, so their lasers don't matter. Watermarking is a deterrent to the people who upload the content in the first place. The ones who're careless about who they'll share things with. A unique watermark (steganographic or visible) is about finding the source of the leak. In that arms-race the entertainment industry is facing people who can remove a watermark - but we have no idea whether or not they're winning. The fact that torrents exist with watermarks intact makes me think that perhaps they are.

anigbrowl 12y ago

The entertainment industry operates some 40 actual satellites that were put up into space using actual rockets, engages in petabyte-scale asset management as a matter of course, and constantly reworks its content acquisition pipelines as new digital and analog technologies come to market. We're a little bit more technologically sophisticated than you seem to imagine.

Phlarp 12y ago
>reworks its content acquisition pipelines as new digital and analog technologies come to market. I would have gladly paid them to watch a stream at 8pm last night, yet somehow that still isn't an option in 2015. Instead I ended up with 4 episodes from a torrent at 8:15. Tell me more about embracing new technology as it comes to market.
- nitrogen 12y ago
  I thought HBO Now (I'm not a subscriber) allowed one to stream 5 minutes after air?
  - Phlarp 12y ago
    I remember hearing lots of noise about them offering a stand alone streaming service, I was even excited to try it out and see how it handled the traffic of a season premiere (HBOgo has been notably terribly on this front) I googled around for about 15 minutes and was only able to find news articles announcing it. I'd be happy to pay them for what i've already watched if anyone could direct me to a sign-up for this elusive streaming service.
    - nitrogen 12y ago
      Here's the site: https://order.hbonow.com/ https://order.hbonow.com/ I don't have an iOS device or their specific supported ISP, so I haven't signed up.
- dazmax 12y ago
  In this case there's someone else who paid for you not to be able to stream it: Apple. HBO Now is Apple TV exclusive for 3 months.
  - jfb 12y ago
    No, you can get it on Sling TV, too.

oaktowner 12y ago

I kind of assumed the laser cannons were on flying ostriches.