Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

Here's an article that was discussed extensively on HackerNews about how Apple has the rights to remove items you've paid for from your digital library:

https://theoutline.com/post/6167/apple-can-delete-the-movies-you-purchased-without-telling-you

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17970197

Here's an example where Amazon removed books from people's Kindles, although to be fair to Amazon they did attempt to change how they handled situations like this. However, the licensing issue should have been handled before customers could buy it, yet in this instance customers were initially punished for something they had no control over (how are they supposed to know Amazon is offering ebooks without proper licensing?).

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html

On Friday, it was “1984” and another Orwell book, “Animal Farm,” that were dropped down the memory hole by Amazon.com.

In a move that angered customers and generated waves of online pique, Amazon remotely deleted some digital editions of the books from the Kindle devices of readers who had bought them.

Here are two separate examples of Warner Bros. canceling finished movies wholesale because it's a "wise business decision." These are completed films that will not be released.

https://variety.com/2023/film/news/batgirl-movie-shelved-dc-studios-head-peter-safran-1235506921/

https://www.theringer.com/movies/2024/2/12/24070471/coyote-vs-acme-movie-canceled-new-yorker-article-news-warner-wbd-zaslav

Lots of shows/films are being licensed to streaming services and then disappearing altogether, since there was never a "physical" copy available to begin with. Here's a short list of some that you can't find anywhere anymore.

https://www.looper.com/1333407/best-streaming-shows-you-cant-watch-anywhere/

Finally, every company has a right to not do business with you. If Microsoft, Apple, Google, or any other content providers decide to ban your account (a very effective way to choose not to do business with a person), all your digital purchases are gone with it. That alone should be proof enough that you don't and never "owned" any of it. In the "olden times" Blockbuster couldn't come into your home and take back all the movies you ever bought from them (I know they mostly did rental, but they did sales, too) and smash your VHS so you couldn't watch anything anymore.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/xbox/forum/all/do-you-really-lose-offline-access-to-all-digital/297c0f39-51ff-45f3-b0ff-7edf2a57b195

Also, I'm pretty well aware that most average people don't understand this subject at all.

Two examples I'm aware of for that last part, I believe, are the TV shows House M. D. and Quantum Leap. For House, the intro music in most places you can find it has been replaced by the music in the end credits, and with Quantum Leap, i think a number of songs on the show have been swapped out due to rights and licensing

I'm not 100% sure on either of those if my memory is correct or the reasoning matches, but I do know there are other examples

I understand the concern and I'm sure it does happen, but I have literally never heard this complaint from a single person that I actually know. What movies/services has this actually happened to?

Pretty much every digital platform at some point or another.

Relevant xkcd