this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2026
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117
Everyone is stealing TV (www.theverge.com)
submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by return2ozma@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
44 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Paywall removed https://archive.is/CVRiy

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[–] orclev@lemmy.world 78 points 3 days ago (6 children)

As always piracy is a symptom not the problem. People pirate when a) they don't have enough money or b) the experience for paying customers is significantly worse than for pirates, or c) the price of services far exceeds their perceived value. Piracy was down for a while because Netflix and Hulu were relatively cheap (or free), ad free, and the economy was doing OK so most people had a little disposable income.

Now that we're in a recession that's starting to look like it might turn into a depression and Netflix and Hulu (and others) have cranked the prices of their services up and stuffed them full of ads, yeah I'm not in the least surprised to see piracy surging. Every time you turn around there's another email from some service letting you know they're raising prices another couple bucks a month, and a bunch of people cancel their subscriptions and start sailing the high seas.

[–] Sxan@piefed.zip 14 points 2 days ago

I will pay for content. I will not pay to watch ads. It's become my hill.

[–] KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 56 points 3 days ago

I stopped pirating when we got a Netflix sub for reasonably cheap.

I started pirating again when I realized we were subbed to six different platforms, paying over $1k a year for the content, and still couldn’t watch what we wanted sometimes. The fact that I had to jump through hoops to find the thing I wanted to watch was also quite infuriating.

[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 days ago

People pirate when

d) They are a large org like Nvidia or an AI co

[–] acosmichippo@lemmy.world 14 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

and D) I'm not going to give money to institutions like cable TV where a percentage of my money ends up with Fox News, or Paramount whose ownership is in bed with Trump, or Amazon and Bezos for obvious reasons. Go on down the line, fuck em all.

[–] aarRJaay@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago

Or c) the money never makes it to the actual artists so why give the record label money they don't deserve

[–] DancingTable@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago

This is it. I was sick of trying to figure out which streaming platform had the content I wanted. Now it’s all on Emby.

[–] HulkSmashBurgers@reddthat.com 7 points 2 days ago

Oh well that's ironic

After signing him up as a reseller, Jason’s SuperBox contact also recruited him for a unique side gig: Whenever Jason finds a SuperBox advertised for less than the company’s suggested retail price, he buys it and sells it back to the company for a premium. He says that the SuperBox maker then checks the device’s MAC address against a list of past sales and remotely deactivates all boxes it sold to the reseller who openly advertised the unauthorized discount.

Offending sellers are then asked to pay a fine, Jason says. Consumers who happened to buy a box for the wrong price find it locked, with an onscreen warning telling them to contact their service provider. vSeeBox engages in similar practices, Mike says: “They can essentially shut off the boxes.”

[–] Paranoidfactoid@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago

DON'T COPY THAT FLOPPY!

[–] Reygle@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

I feel like outside of a handful of "TV Programs", the younger generation wouldn't even notice if "TV" as we know it disappeared tomorrow. Me personally whenever I visit family, "TV" is on and I'm repulsed by the level of marketing on it. Even if there's a baseball or football game on, they've made damn sure that every single frame of the game includes at least one sponsor logo.
I know I wouldn't care. I might even celebrate.

[–] robocall@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I know someone that uses TVpass.org and thinks that it's not stealing because it's a .org and "they only give those org websites out to good people" It made me smile.

[–] Tiger666@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 days ago (2 children)

What is stealing, let's be honest.

Is charging a crazy amount for forced programming laced with massive amounts of advertising considered stealing? I think so.

As far as Im concerned copying something is not theft.

[–] BrightCandle@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Theft has a very specific definition, critically it requires the taking of something so that someone else is permenantly deprived of the thing. When something is cloned or copied its not theft, its all intellectual law driven so copyright and trademark breaches. No one is deprived of the product, only potentially the payment for a service.

[–] Tiger666@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago

Payment for a service that is way over inflated in terms of cost and overrun with advertising that should be subsidizing said programming.

[–] robocall@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

The real thefts are the cable service providers that rip off their customers and force them to buy channels in bundles that they don't want.

[–] MattBlackAlien@lemmy.world 24 points 3 days ago (4 children)

"You wouldn't steal a handbag. You wouldn't steal a car. You wouldn't steal a baby. You wouldn't shoot a policeman. And then steal his helmet. You wouldn't go to the toilet in his helmet. And then send it to the policeman's grieving widow. And then steal it again! Downloading films is stealing. If you do it, you will face the consequences."

[–] vext01@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 2 days ago

If you did that, I'd have to call 0118 999 881 999 119 725..... 3

[–] ToTheGraveMyLove@sh.itjust.works 13 points 3 days ago

Man, these anti-piracy ads are getting really mean.

[–] Tiger666@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago

Little tid bit about that comercial; they pirated the music to it back in the day. Weird how its ok when corporations do it but not when people do it.

[–] robocall@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

how do you know she'd be grieving?

[–] baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Having not used one of these (and being extremely leery of putting one on my network), does using a pi-hole with a custom blocklist for these things help? I’ve considered getting one and isolating it in its own subnet, but I only know enough to be dangerous.

[–] Novis@lemdro.id 16 points 3 days ago (1 children)

News sites telling on everyone again. Snitches.

[–] thermal_shock@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

It's unstoppable at this point.

[–] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago

What's old is new again. Descramblers are back

[–] MattBlackAlien@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago

Everyone is stealing The Verge.

[–] robocall@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I found a website called yarrlist.net to watch movies and tv shows, and I thought it was great! but someone told me I was putting myself at risk by using it. Basically they said I shouldn't use my bank/credit card while having those tabs open. I'm not very tech savvy so I don't understand the risk.

[–] rocketpoweredredneck@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

If you're using firefox on desktop your tabs are sandboxed and should be isolated from each other. It is possible to break that sandboxing though.

[–] robocall@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

From what I understand, the risk seems low and keeping Firefox up to date on updates is important. I was wondering if using a separate browser like Firefox for everything and a different browser just for yarrlist had any advantages?

[–] rocketpoweredredneck@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago

I honestly wouldn't worry that much about it, the different tabs are working in their own environments that makes it more difficult for info from one to be taken by another, if you use any basic opsec, i.e. closing unnecessary tabs, different user names/passwords, a vpn, even a freepn you should be okay. If you're still worried about it you could use a temporary card (something like privacy.com), you could also use tor for your piracy, if it's not the most secure browser its up there. Just be ready for slower download speeds.

[–] vext01@lemmy.sdf.org 8 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Why is TV so expensive in USA? People just taking on so many subs?

[–] tehn00bi@lemmy.world 12 points 3 days ago

Have to pay 80 bucks a month to watch three channels for 10 hours a week. Feels bad man.

[–] whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 3 days ago

Sports mostly, I don't think you can get most popular sports streams under 50-60 a month

[–] DudeImMacGyver@kbin.earth 1 points 3 days ago

I use free stuff like tubi and roku

[–] kosanovskiy@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Yargggggg the subscription and AI slop trash