this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2023
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Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ
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Ah so if I go rent a Lamborghini for a day that means I own it and don’t have to give it back?
If you buy a Lamborghini and they have the ability to later decide you don't actually own it and take it away, that's the equivalent. I don't know why you brought up renting. Renting was never mentioned.
If you knew anything about digital purchasing you’d understand why u brought it up.
When you “buy” a digital tv show or movie you’re not actually buying it, you’re purchasing a license to use it, a license that can be revoked, for content that can be removed.
I swear most people have no idea how digital ownership works. I expected more from people on here at least.
We know how it, by your definition, "works." That's the problem.
The equivalent would be that you pay a million for a Lambo which is just an indefinite license they can revoke at any time. Renting isn't comparable at all.
We all know how it works. The problem is that's the only way it works. With a car you can choose to rent. With modern things you "purchase" it, and it only works as long as they want. You do have some alternatives for some media, but for games that's it. Even if you purchase a disk, the game only functions as long as they allow it.
I'm guessing you are extremely young as that is not how digital purchases have historically worked. The concept of "you bought a license to use it" hasn't been around long. Before that, you would be given an access code to go to a publisher's website like Disney and download a copy of the content you purchased. It wasn't tied to any licensing server or authentication system past that point, you just had a digital copy of your purchase.
I think legally, rights holders have always been asshats. I remember something called a V-C-R and when media was on magnetic tapes... even back then, there were warnings at the beginning of films. That was back before there were stream content and you had to physical drive or walk to buildings that contained the videos and pay for a rental... and a lot of poeple would make their own copies.
I think the big things that have changed is:
That said, I hate big companies and even if it is morally untenable, I will still continue to pirate, bc fuck em. If I could download a car or a barrel of whiskey, I'd pirate those too. maybe someday we'll get star trek-style replicators and i can finally download a car.
Yeah, I remember the days of renting VCR players and acting like we didn't already own one so we could play on one and record off the other. I think a lot of this is due to the rise in Internet infrastructure. 15 years ago streaming services wouldn't have been doable. There was no licensing, just files to download. You'd even get Digital Download codes in your DVD case when buying a movie, so you had multiple copies. Really sad how things are consolidating.
I think some kind of licensing was tehcnicall there, it was just easy to ignore back then bc they weren't pushing it in our faces every second (like i remember warnings on beginning of movies even before 2000s). I kinda remember one of my friends getting music off amzaon a long time ago but for stuff like that i assume it was just a EULA that they could click once and be done with (no clue how it works present day). Maybe it depends on exactly what we're talking about, but just saying I'm confident that greedy bastards would have some kind of legal something tied to it, even in 2000s before you could download. I just don't care - don't let em know you real info and fuck em 😀
I'm not "extremely young", in fact I'm likely older than you. That is always how digital purchases have worked.
Depends, did you literally get the title and agree that you were purchasing it from the last owner before he decided a day later that you were renting it and took it all back?
You don’t get that from buying a license for a digital movie/tv show.
No no, the service has to have the license. It's like you buy a lambo from "steve's lambos," but he then 2y later loses the rights to sell lambos, lambo pulls their license. So lambo comes and takes your car out of the garage because the guy who sold it to you no longer has the right to sell it, even though he did have that right at the time of the transaction.
It's more like upfront paying a rented Lambo and the car dealer can order it back anytime without notice and reason. You know it's rented although you paid a huge sum (often as high as a new Lambo) but it might have been the only way to get that specific model. You just hope they are a nice company and let you drive as long as possible. Also, you can't resell it either ofc.
Ferrari literally do this btw.
Doesn't make it any better of a practice. If anything it just highlights what kind of trashcan company Ferrari avtually is
Oh, so if I do something that isn't buying something do I still have a valid point to make?
With digital shows and movies -and games - you’re essentially buying a limited license that can be revoked at any time. This shouldn’t be news to anyone. You’re not actually buying ownership of the show/movie.
Even physical media you’re just buying a license. That license has restrictions.
If you only make a copy, then you're good 😜
depends, when you're done "stealing" it does the original owner still have it? you're making the same mistake that this phrase was meant to address: that infinitely replicable goods aren't the same as physical, exclusive goods.