this post was submitted on 24 Dec 2023
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Do you actually own anything digital?::From ebooks, to videos and software, the answer is increasingly no

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[–] [email protected] 131 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (4 children)

Well, I have 10 Tb of pirated digital content sitting safely at my own home, so I would say yes, yes I do own a lot of digital stuff.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 10 months ago (8 children)

Right there with you buddy, 13TB and growing. Self hosted media servers are the best.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Those are rookie numbers. Need to start getting entire TV shows in 4k and things you've seen previously but may want to watch again in the future quickly and easily.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago

Personally can't justify many series in 4k, some of the ones I have only ever got SD releases (DVD at best) but there are a few I can justify 4K for. Mainly very cinematic shows such as The Mandelorian or The Last of Us. As long as they have subtitles in the other shows and are available in their best original release resolution it's fine for me.

For example if the original Doctor Who series had a 4K release for it's entirety it would probably be my entire server lol. 693 episodes in 480p is almost 300GB.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

They're my bytes, and I'll put them in whatever order I wish, thank you very much.

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[–] [email protected] 87 points 10 months ago (8 children)

If it's on my Jellyfin server, I own it as much it's possible to own anything.

If they wanted me to pay for it, maybe they shouldn't have dicked me around, watering down my subscribed services while simultaneously jacking up the price.

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[–] [email protected] 62 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Yes, because I go out of my way to make damn sure of it.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago (2 children)

How ? Please share so that people like me can learn. I've started watching Louis Rossman YouTube videos and that guy actually makes sense about how companies are treating their customers.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Not the OP, but I'm buying DRM free ebooks and software only, and for every album, movie or series I purchase, I'll download a pirated copy that I add to my offline storage + backup.

If a book I want is not available without DRM, I'll buy a hardcover and a pirated copy.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Pirate stuff. That's the easiest way to make sure you own it

[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago

Even if you buy it(which I do support more and more), pirate it. We're at a point where it's just far easier to use the pirated versions of a lot of digital items and you also don't have to worry about someone "taking it back" afterwards.

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[–] [email protected] 46 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 41 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Can it be taken from you, at any time, for any reason or no reason at all?

If yes, then you don't own it.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 10 months ago (12 children)

I mean, that technically applies to everything. The government can seize your land, the police are in the news every few days for straight up taking money out of people's homes and vehicles and shooting dogs, robbery is still a living profession, etc

There's really not a lot that sentence doesn't apply to, if anything at all.

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 10 months ago (1 children)

If I can actually download it and it's DRM-free, yes.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 10 months ago (10 children)

The only certain way to own digital products is apparently to pirate it illegally.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Gog provides DRM free installers when buying games at their store

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago (2 children)

And plenty of steam games are DRM-free too.

I really wish steam made it clear though. Should have to come with a tag stating DRM/no DRM. Shit, let us filter games by its DRM status.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 10 months ago (2 children)

GOG, buy music in mp3/flac format, not sure about video. I guess you can pay for subscription and just pirate stuff you like to keep real ownership.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 10 months ago

I like that on GOG you know you own it because they let you download the installer DRM free so you literally can keep a separate copy of all of your purchases. You will always have access to them regardless of what happens to GOG. Videos, music, games, everything they sell.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

Yep, I always check GOG first when I want to buy a game on PC.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 10 months ago (6 children)

I think I own my fingers, so them.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

If you're on Lemmy, you almost certainly understand the problem and know how to acturally own digital stuff.

The problem is all the normies who can't even see the problem. We need everyone to be protected by law and it all to be citizen oriented. As the moment, it's all stacked in favour of exploitive multinational companies. Maybe ever was it so, but we need to fight that.

We treat it as a tech problem, something to work round, but it's a political problem and we need to solve it politically.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago (6 children)

This.

Also, we all here are aware of the problem, to the point where such posts are nothing but circlejerk.

The article might come as eye-opener to some, but certainly not here. Time for solutions. And they are political.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Aye, I be ownin' it all, mateys!

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I’ve got a digital watch

[–] [email protected] 19 points 10 months ago (6 children)

My digital watch, a Pebble, stopped working. The company who maintained it got bought by Garmin. Garmin broke my digital watch 🙃.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Mine is a Casio I’ve had for about 30 years, I’m pretty sure it’s mine by now

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago

Possession is 9/10ths of the law, so I 90% own a whole lot of stuff I pirated while I don't own most things Ive paid money for... Great system guys

[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago
[–] [email protected] 17 points 10 months ago (3 children)

It all depends on the licence. Even if you buy something on physical media you may not technically own it. If something has a FOSS licence MIT, BSD, GPL, etc Then yes you do own your copy and no one can change that.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

If buying is not owning, then piracy is not stealing.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

I may only have a license to view the contents of a dvd, but at least I'll always be able to view it as long as it's in my possession and I have a dvd player.

Content you can only access remotely via someone else systems (or requiring remote authorization via there systems) can be taken away at anytime regardless of the terms of your license, even supposedly "indefinite/permanent/lifetime" licences.

Both of these items use the same term 'purchase'. This term used to refer to the first situation only, but now it covers both.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago (1 children)

We still own all our CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays, so them as long as the players still exist.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

Only if the DRM is broken. DRM can make the player stop working sooner. It's literally about making the media less playable.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago (2 children)

No, and once I became aware of the fact realized that I was kinda screwed when it came to video games.

Every single video game I have purchased is on Steam, and considering its DRM and licence business model, I had multiple conversations with my friends who also had the same worry and wondered what would happen if Steam shut down one day. Valve did state that they'll remove the DRM if the platform shut down, but there's no way of knowing the future as million things can happen and for all we know, they might change their minds or not be in a position to remove the DRM once the time came.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

The only "digital" I download, is something that I can put on my personal storage. If I can download it to Nintendo Switch and then move it to USB or SD card, then I can clone the sd card and therefore I own it. (immediate usage might be different, and they may chose to delete if it is put back on the Switch. But I still own it, I just need to find an alternative method to use it).

Same goes with games/movies/whatever. If I can download it and store it on my NAS, I own it.

If you are paying for "digital" but you cannot acquire a copy of it, then it is NOT "Digital" it is streaming. You are paying for the privilege of using some services' electronic library, but you do not own anything on it.

I've been watching this argument lately, and its amusing. The whole Sony thing about Discovery (or whatever it was) has nothing to do with ownership. You were paying to access a library that Sony curated. Sony dropped the contract with the other party, and chose to tidy their library. You just have access to it, because they let you. You do not have any ownership whatsoever, you signed a T&C that says Sony curates the library and they can do what they like.

People seem to have a hard time using words like "content", "streaming" and "digital" vs "electronic copy", "local digital copy" and "DLC"; and then confuse "ownership and "content access".

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