If you can’t own digital copies since they’re not property, then piracy isn’t theft.
this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2023
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Easy there on the sound logical arguments buddy, you'll have the lawyers shitting their pants.
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They just want us to pirate everything right? Like, that is the only logical response to this.
The content you bought is available to be streamed on Discovery Plus, for a small subscription fee.
Just buy your content again, that’s fair right? You wouldn’t expect a perpetual license for the cash you parted with, that would be crazy!
It's the perfect model. People only buy a DVD once, but this way you can keep them paying forever!
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This seems illegal unless Sony reimburses everyone for the removed content.
It should be. But I would be extremely surprised if everything in the terms of service isn't worded something like "you're buying a license to view this content that can be revoked whenever".
It is, and IIRC you don't even "own" a movie even if you physically have it. You own the physical disc, not the content on it. Granted, it's a lot harder for Sony or Discovery to come kick down your door and take your copy of Ice Road Truckers so you have to rebuy it...
That's not really a big deal with regards to physical items. If you buy a book you don't own the rights to the text either.
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If you don't own it when paying for it then you aren't stealing it when pirating it.
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I stopped piraring when I graduated college and streaming started to be wonderful. It is now a bleak hellscape that is more expensive than ever. Time to buy 20tb of hard drives and install Jellyfin I guess :(
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Amazon does the same thing. You don't own digital content you pay for, you're renting it.
You're paying to use their license, piracy or buying the media physically is the only way to own it.
If the button says"buy", ownership is inferred. That's a lie, of course.
You own it as long as they have a license to host and stream it.
They should be offering refunds for this at least, but you literally cannot own something that permanently lives on someone else’s device.
If you want to truly on something, you need to control physical access to it. If there is an option to download the media when you buy it, and you can store it on your own device, then you own it. If not, then you only have access as long as you’re paying someone else for access to their storage.
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People this doesn't affect are pirates. People who get to enjoy their media without worry are pirates. When pirates are getting the better experience and it's customers who are getting affected what incentive is there to not pirate other than personal morals. Because it sure isn't for a better product.
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"Buying" media with drm is a mistake.
I buy books from audible sometimes, but I immediately rip the drm out. Use Plex to store your movies and TV shows, it does music ok too now.
Give Jellyfin a try too. I switched to that from Plex after I realised they were trying to charge me money to use hardware transcoding on my own hardware.
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This is why I buy the physical copies of shows/movies I like and just pirate the rest
Dont trust these guys to not screw you over
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I’ve pretty much switched to streaming and paying for content. This makes me question that decision. This just makes the pirates look right.
I went back to mp3s and flacs for my music a few years ago. And quickly followed that up with my own Plex server. Two of the best decisions I've ever made. If you're remotely tech savvy it takes no time at all and having every tv show, film, music, video that has ever released on all of my devices at any time within seconds is pretty sweet, for near-free
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Looks like enshittification of the internet is really kicking in. Decentralized platforms, and piracy needs to be the new normal
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This is why we must protect physical media.
Not necessarily. A torrent is more sustainable. Eventually people with physical copies will die or they get lost/broken a torrent can be spread to many more people, making it less likely to die, and new users can get access to it. Just make sure to seed over 1x at leasy so you can spread it.
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Remember, kids: When you pirate a show, you're intentionally abusing the cast and crew by withholding revenue from them! (Even though the majority of them do not make royalties from it and even those that do make peanuts compared to how much money the publisher just pockets.)
But also remember, kids: When the publisher decides to strip you of a show that you paid their explicitly specified "forever price" for, that's 100% their right and they would never do anything without the complete and uncritical backing of the people who made the show. And if you have any negative thoughts about that, you're also intentionally abusing the cast and crew by wanting to watch it when they have clearly spoken through the publisher that they definitely never want you to watch them again, and their only wish is that their media legacy will be randomly erased from people's access at the drop of the corporate hat.
It's all about creators here at our humble multi billion dollar publishing company and digital rights brokerage!
I wonder if the studios understand how much they are going to be shaking confidence in digital purchases by doing this. I know I'm going to think twice before I pay money for another digital copy of a movie or TV show.
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At least when Microsoft was pulling the plug on their music streaming service, they gave everyone the ability to just download all of the songs that you owned.
So pirate the shows. Easy peasy.
This is why I only watch my VHS copy of Space Camp. Do you really own your media if you didn’t get Space Camp out of the 99¢ bin following the Challenger crash when movies about launching kids into space were on sale?
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Sometimes I feel bad for using vpns and stremio and keeping hundreds of my favorite movies and shows on Plex then this happens and I'm happy I'm prepared for enshittification. I don't lose sleep over piracy one bit. I've written guides and shared libraries with family also. Fuck corporations that can just retract contracts when they feel and take back what you already paid for. No thanks.
“Is there a way I can save this content?” asked one panicked PlayStation user on Reddit. “I use PS4...But I have bought many seasons of shows such as Dual Survival that I do not wish to lose. I was actually under the impression since I owned it, I wouldn’t ever lose it…”
Lol
Class action is probably their best bet. Up until now, for the most part, companies have opted to refund digital purchases like this, like when Google ended Stadia and refunded everything. And while it's easy to laugh at people who trusted and believed that they had permanent ownership, I truly hope that there are enough people who stand up and take this to court, because people shouldn't be punished for not being cynical like us. And if a company is going to sell something as a purchase, rather than a rental, they should at least have to continue to provide it to those who did buy it. I have several games on Steam that can no longer be sold due to licensing reasons, but Valve still lets me download and play them, because I purchased a license. Sony and Discovery should either have to refund people, or continue hosting the files for those who purchased these shows.
Another case of Physical > Digital
🏴☠️Ahoy Mateys! Avast and shiver me timbers. Tis a good day upon the high seas
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