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After Netflix crackdown on border-hopping, Canadians ready to return to piracy

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Re: After Netflix crackdown on border-hopping, Canadians ready to return to piracy

#141

Post by Grishnakh »

guiomie wrote: post #102
Grishnakh wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, she doesn't understand why. Maybe you can enlighten us. She used to pay hard cash for access to Netflix (the US version), and watched US content legally. Now she's being prevented from that. If the content creator doesn't want to sell access to the content for you, then you have every right to access it through other means. They never had to cut off access to these non-US customers: they were paying good money fo…

"She used to pay hard cash for access to Netflix (the US version), and watched US content legally" ... she didn't, she paid "hard cash" for the the Canadian version of Netflix, and found a not legal workaround to watch US content. She can most certainly watch CSI from an authorized distributor in Canada if she pays the right content owners in Canada. "If the content creator doesn't want to sell access to the content…

>She can most certainly watch CSI from an authorized distributor in Canada if she pays the right content owners in Canada.

She can buy the US version instead. Why should she be limited to what someone in Canada wants to sell it for? The internet doesn't follow national borders. I can access a webpage in Germany just as easily as a website in the US, and with online content, it's nothing more than bits being streamed. So why should she pay more? To prop up a dinosaur of a business model? Screw that.

>As a consumer, if you don't have an option to buy something, doesn't mean you should acquire it thru illegal means.

Sure it does. They've had their chance to offer things by legal means, they've been shown that it works, but it's not good enough for them. Fuck 'em.

>NAFTA was created to eliminate tariffs and protect intellectual property. Someone buys the right to distribute a show in Canada, this right should be protected.

Why should that be protected? That's not free trade, it's blatantly against the whole stated reason for the treaty.

Again, fuck 'em. Piracy is the answer. When legal means don't work, and only serve moneyed interests and are put in place by corrupt politicians, it's time to ignore the laws.

Re: After Netflix crackdown on border-hopping, Canadians ready to return to piracy

#142

Post by [deleted] »

sheraz wrote: post #110
pmalynin wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How I solved this problem. Bought a $5 DO instance, which gets me a personal ip that is located in the states combined with OpenVPN I can watch Netflix and do many other things that are US only.

Does this still work? I have a pptp server up on one of these for Netflix, and I'm getting negged. Should I just rotate the server onto a new IP?

[deleted]

Re: After Netflix crackdown on border-hopping, Canadians ready to return to piracy

#143

Post by talmand »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #114
pessimizer wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The copyright owners aren't losing anything. They're trying to maximize profits, not sales.

That couldn't be farther from the truth, unfortunately. If they were trying to maximize profits, they would focus on providing reasonable ways for everyone on the planet to give them money. Instead, what production companies try to optimize is the funding used to create the content in the first place. They sell the rights as many times as they can, in as many different markets as they can, in order to finance the pro…

Yeah, these people who are in the business of making money in their field know nothing of what they are doing and should take the advice of random anonymous person on the Internet. Based on the shenanigans of some of the people in the entertainment industry, mainly movies, that are aimed directly at keeping as much money as possible from those they should dole it out to; I'm willing to bet they know what they're doing.

One day it'll be more profitable to do a more reasonable distribution method and that day they'll switch pretending they wanted to do it the entire time. The whole HBO streaming thing is likely a good example of this.

Re: After Netflix crackdown on border-hopping, Canadians ready to return to piracy

#144

Post by kinofcain »

But violating the license terms by border hopping is piracy.

Not saying I agree with geo restrictions, or any of the other silliness (I don't, and thankfully we're rapidly moving away from that sort of thing), but using VPNs or foreign credit cards to subscribe to a service that isn't available to you because the company selling it doesn't have a license to do so is still, technically, piracy.

Re: After Netflix crackdown on border-hopping, Canadians ready to return to piracy

#145

Post by Grishnakh »

sbarre wrote: post #137
Grishnakh wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Nobody deserves to have their hard work stolen First off, it's not theft, it's copyright infringement. No one's stealing their content, because the copyright holders still have it. Stealing is wrong because it deprives the owner of the use of that thing: if I steal your car, then you can't drive to work any more. If I sneakily scan your car with a tricorder and 3D-print a clone of it, you still have your car. Semant…

> People in other regions where this stuff isn't available have every right to copy it without paying. I think you've got this wrong. The people in other regions don't have "every right to copy it", they have "every right to not consume it". Don't like the rules? Don't play. It's their content, so they set the rules. That's kind of all there is to it. I absolutely agree that you can be pissed off about this and not l…

>The people in other regions don't have "every right to copy it", they have "every right to not consume it". Don't like the rules? Don't play. It's their content, so they set the rules.

>But nothing gives you the "right" to force your way into someone else's party just because you weren't invited, or didn't like the ticket price.

Completely wrong on both counts.

If I'm not invited to someone else's party, but I want to observe it without interfering with the partygoers, I have every right to invent a device which allows me to create an artificial wormhole which then allows me to remotely observe this party (see the Arthur C. Clarke book "Light of Other Days"). The partygoers will have no idea I'm observing them and since they wouldn't sell me a ticket anyway, they won't see a difference in their revenues.

Similarly, if content holders don't bother to offer their wares to me and then make it too difficult for me to acquire them with a workaround (subscription + VPN), then I have every right to download a copy. As above, they have no idea that I'm watching their content, and since they didn't offer it to me for sale anyway, they won't see a difference in their revenues.

>if you're then going to condone what is essentially an unethical response yourself.

I'm not condoning an unethical response, I'm condoning an ethical one. Ethics are in the eye of the beholder; for some people, it's completely ethical to hack someone's head off if they don't follow the correct religion. I choose to reject your system of ethics which grants all power to large, moneyed interests.

Re: After Netflix crackdown on border-hopping, Canadians ready to return to piracy

#146

Post by [deleted] »

Grishnakh wrote: post #91
zamalek wrote: post #15

The same effect is occurring in South Africa. People I know are switching back to piracy because our Netflix catalog is probably in the region of 10% of America (for the same reasons, as well as others). After years of not being able to legally access some copyrighted content, with no discussion and no change, I honestly don't see the copyright holders backing down - strange considering that they are the only ones ac…

>Nobody deserves to have their hard work stolen First off, it's not theft, it's copyright infringement. No one's stealing their content, because the copyright holders still have it. Stealing is wrong because it deprives the owner of the use of that thing: if I steal your car, then you can't drive to work any more. If I sneakily scan your car with a tricorder and 3D-print a clone of it, you still have your car. Semant…

[deleted]

Re: After Netflix crackdown on border-hopping, Canadians ready to return to piracy

#148

Post by roosterjm2k2 »

planetjones wrote: post #35

I am an English person living in Switzerland. Netflix Switzerland is useless to me (no House of Cards, not enough focus on UK and USA content, etc.). Therefore I had a Netflix USA account, which I accessed via unblock-us. The clampdown by Netflix has been "successful" and I now can't access Netflix USA using unblock-us. This happened halfway through watching House of Cards. So my choice was either stop watching or do…

I think the reply would be... why do you feel entitled to consume content that you didn't create, in the first place?

You had the choice to stop watching... and thats the only legal choice. To pretend that doing something illegal because you feel entitled to it is right, thats a little bit... childish?

Re: After Netflix crackdown on border-hopping, Canadians ready to return to piracy

#149

Post by Grishnakh »

rchaud wrote: post #116
CosmicShadow wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sure is how it feels. Facebook trending: look at this awesome SNL clip the world is laughing and talking about! Click on it, oh sorry, you can't watch this in Canada, but hey, the rest of the world that matters can(read: the US), so yeah, good bye. Any content provider that blocks you out based on your location makes you feel discriminated against and it sucks! I like how Netflix says that we are very vocal, but m…

I don't agree that that's the case. To me, region-restrictions for US content (the most popular worldwide) present a massive opportunity for content creators not based in the US to make something that is in fact truly globally available. While it's true that US TV and movies have been globally popular since the time of their invention, the rise of YouTube, Vine, Instagram etc. show that global audiences can be develo…

That's a pretty good point there about non-US studios taking this golden opportunity to expand their worldwide sales since the US studios are happily shooting themselves in the foot.

Re: After Netflix crackdown on border-hopping, Canadians ready to return to piracy

#150

Post by geodel »

MAGZine wrote: post #126
guiomie wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, you are justifying an illegal action of yours because it is easier than the legal route? Since when doing the right thing is and should always be easier... So, do you also not pay income tax because it is much easier to not do so? There are countless examples where being illegal is easier over legal, but as a society some of us understand that if the majority respect the law and order, we are much better off. I…

Regardless of whatever moral card you want to play here, the fact of the matter boils down to Gabe Newell's famous insight on the matter: Piracy is almost always a service problem[0]. People value their time. Make the experience easy for them, and people will pay. Make the experience shitty for them, and people will find the path of least resistance. People pay taxes because they have to. When it comes to entertainme…

It might be true of first world. I do not think that in poor countries like India where 100s of millions live on less that ~2 dollar a day any service could be cheaper than piracy. And I have seen people in India jump through hoops to pirate content rather than paying even a little for convenience.

Gabe Newell's observation seems to me a very limited view of the world by a spectacularly successful first world entrepreneur.

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