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Netflix, HBO and Cable Giants Are Coming for Password Sharers

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Re: Netflix, HBO and Cable Giants Are Coming for Password Sharers

#241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am curious to know about the infra / tech stack, if you're comfortable with sharing any information.

He's (possibly) overselling his accomplishment here a little bit. You can achieve what he's describing using a combination of Plex, Sonarr, Jackett, and a private torrent site. You also need a torrent client that can work with Sonarr (Synology's torrent client works great in "watch this directory" mode). It's a truly self-running system. Other than the upgrades, you're able to select whatever shows you want to follow…

Anyone want a docker compose file?

Would take about 30 minutes to actually get everything up if you have most of an idea of what to do and a sloppily written guide.

Re: Netflix, HBO and Cable Giants Are Coming for Password Sharers

#242
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they all follow Disney's pricing model, that would work, but everyone wants too big a slice of the pie.

Disney has admitted that they will lose money at their current price level. Which implies strongly that they'll be increasing prices substantially in the future.

How do you lose money on content you already own? This is just Hollywood accounting in effect.

Re: Netflix, HBO and Cable Giants Are Coming for Password Sharers

#243
post #22
post #9

> “I feel like I’m beating my head against the wall,” Tom Rutledge, the chief executive officer of Charter Communications Inc., said during an earnings call last month. “It’s just too easy to get the product without paying for it.” Boo hoo. All these companies thinking they can split all their content up and get people to pay for every single service are in for a (totally expected) surprise. I'll share my plex server…

Why do you feel entitled to get the product of other peoples work for free?

It's not a product, it's a service. A table is a product, a chair is a product, an actor doing his job is a service and has been a service ever since people were filling up the Epidaurus theater ~2,300 years ago.

Re: Netflix, HBO and Cable Giants Are Coming for Password Sharers

#244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://torrentfreak.com/images/piracy-is-not-theft.png

You should post the full image: https://i.imgur.com/FPoJnH3.png ;-) Arr matey BTW—I never thought that I would still find use of these things from early 2000s. Going into the 2010s, it looked so promising. But they couldn't have a good thing going.

>it looked so promising. But they couldn't have a good thing going.

The shareholders demand constant growth.

Re: Netflix, HBO and Cable Giants Are Coming for Password Sharers

#245
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The entitlement people feel to steal is always surprising. Especially on this board. I understand a lot of reddit is younger and irresponsible so piracy-as-the-norm is a popular trope, but among the engineers whose livelihoods depend on subscription models, we still promote service theft without so much as a hint of shame? If the economics of a service don't make sense to you, then do not subscribe. But to turn aroun…

> The entitlement people feel to steal is always surprising. It's not stealing when you already paid in full . Sharing my Netflix password with my wife and/or child is not stealing , I paid in full for that account, and have now for many many years. My Plex server is full of DVDs and BluRays I paid full retail price for (that's $20 to $30 USD each), it's not stealing to use it, and it's not stealing to let some frien…

If you're in the US, those DVD rips aren't actually legal. You can only format shift audio recordings. You also had to use a circumvention device to make those rips so they're DMCA violations.

Re: Netflix, HBO and Cable Giants Are Coming for Password Sharers

#246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should post the full image: https://i.imgur.com/FPoJnH3.png ;-) Arr matey BTW—I never thought that I would still find use of these things from early 2000s. Going into the 2010s, it looked so promising. But they couldn't have a good thing going.

Copyright infringement doesn't change whether you charge for the copies or not. No authorization === infringement. Fair use privileges never let you reproduce and distribute an entire work for casual consumption.

The only difference is there are stricter rules for gross copyright infringement.

Re: Netflix, HBO and Cable Giants Are Coming for Password Sharers

#247
> But taking more aggressive measures poses risks. The people using services for free — especially younger consumers — may never agree to sign up for a subscription, no matter how many hassles they endure. That means companies would mostly just be alienating paying customers, who could get frustrated and stop using an app or cancel their service. In other words, there’s plenty of downside and possibly little upside.

Yeah, they never learn, do they?

Re: Netflix, HBO and Cable Giants Are Coming for Password Sharers

#248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I may (or may not) have built my own Netflix competitor. It had more content than all of the major providers combined. Legal buffer: I will not say what the content was. It may have all been non-copyrighted cat videos ;) The service was available cross region. Stored videos in multiple resolutions for streamability in low-bandwidth situations. No DRM bs. It cost me under $400/month to run the whole service, and I cou…

It's not even a copyright violation it's at best a violation of tos.

Are ToS violations still considered a CFAA violation?

Re: Netflix, HBO and Cable Giants Are Coming for Password Sharers

#249

> If none of those tactics work, pay-TV subscribers could someday be required to sign into their accounts using their thumbprints. This feels like an idea from some idiot corporate suit who said "Well there are fingerprint readers on phones, let's use that to lock down accounts" without understanding that your app just gets as "Yes" or a "No" when you ask the phone to scan a fingerprint. The apps themselves don't get…

Follow up on your analogy:

The cost to read this comment is $1 million. If you do not pay me, I am losing out on $1 million. AKA: $1 million in lost revenue (lolling to myself right now...)

Did you read this comment and not pay me? Who do I go after to get the money owed to me??! HackerNews, for not enforcing my price? You, for reading it? Your ISP, for allowing you to read it? Or myself, for being a moron?

Re: Netflix, HBO and Cable Giants Are Coming for Password Sharers

#250
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think comparing it to looting and vandalism is a bit hyperbole. It’s closer to copying a book at the library and taking the copy home. No one is deprived of an object or the content when duplicated, they only miss out on whatever revenue they were attempting to capture.

I dislike the book analogy because it puts on the cloak of “sharing learning.” The kinda of things people are pirating are consumer goods—created solely for the purpose of being sold for entertainment. It’s stealing candy, not stealing bread.

It's a bit of a convoluted analogy, but if you want to extend it to cars, it's like stealing a car off the end of the assembly line, and leaving behind a briefcase full of cash to cover the marginal cost of production.
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