Live data from Hacker News

Nearly every person in Iraq is an illegal streaming pirate, sources say

torrentfreak.com

11–20 of 58 posts

Re: Nearly every person in Iraq is an illegal streaming pirate, sources say

#11

The same is true for Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, and probably other countries in the region. Most people there find it stupid and a "sign of weakness" to pay for digital content. Not only media, but software as well.

Their government reflects their citizens behaviors.

They should be glad the stupid westerners are paying. Content creators need to be paid to have an incentive to make new content, take that away and there is nothing for these leeches to steal.

Re: Nearly every person in Iraq is an illegal streaming pirate, sources say

#12
“Illegal streaming” assumes that upholding the rights of foreign copyright holding megacorps is anywhere in the top 10,000 priorities for the Iraqi government. US law is not world law. This is like China saying that US websites are engaging in “illegal criticism of China”.

Re: Nearly every person in Iraq is an illegal streaming pirate, sources say

#14

The same is true for Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, and probably other countries in the region. Most people there find it stupid and a "sign of weakness" to pay for digital content. Not only media, but software as well.

Their government reflects their citizens behaviors. They should be glad the stupid westerners are paying. Content creators need to be paid to have an incentive to make new content, take that away and there is nothing for these leeches to steal.

You can pay all you want, but they can take your show down at any time.

https://www.npr.org/2023/03/06/1161382179/hbo-max-disappeari...

Re: Nearly every person in Iraq is an illegal streaming pirate, sources say

#15
post #9

People who pay for legal streaming of music and video are subsidizing the subversion of free speech and privacy on the Internet. The providers use part of their income to lobby politicians for more invasive monitoring of everyone's activities online (so it's easier to catch "pirates") and also fight against any means of preserving one's privacy online. All politicians who suggest to ban encryption online (to protect…

> People who pay for legal streaming of music and video are subsidizing the subversion of free speech and privacy on the Internet.

So paying for a service that has cost the provider labor, effort and money is a disservice to society, versus stealing it? The verbal gymnastics are fantastic

Re: Nearly every person in Iraq is an illegal streaming pirate, sources say

#17
post #8

The US government should be subsidizing it, best propaganda there is.

'Merica bad blah blah -- I don't have the heart to tell you about the state of propaganda in the Arab world.

Perhaps propaganda is too provocative a word, but the cultural hegemony of the US is real and should be, from the US government perspective, preserved. The US has lost a lot of soft power over the past few decades (Iraq/trump as the primary drivers), exporting culture through movies and television is an easy win.

All that to say I don't think the other commenter meant the US is bad necessarily, just that this is valuable to the US and her interests.

Re: Nearly every person in Iraq is an illegal streaming pirate, sources say

#18
post #9

People who pay for legal streaming of music and video are subsidizing the subversion of free speech and privacy on the Internet. The providers use part of their income to lobby politicians for more invasive monitoring of everyone's activities online (so it's easier to catch "pirates") and also fight against any means of preserving one's privacy online. All politicians who suggest to ban encryption online (to protect…

> People who pay for legal streaming of music and video are subsidizing the subversion of free speech and privacy on the Internet. So paying for a service that has cost the provider labor, effort and money is a disservice to society, versus stealing it? The verbal gymnastics are fantastic

> So paying for a service that has cost the provider labor, effort and money is a disservice to society, versus stealing it?

Well, the GP comment might be worded a bit too direct, but that is actually the truth for the time being. It didn't have to be this way, but that's a separate discussion.

Re: Nearly every person in Iraq is an illegal streaming pirate, sources say

#19

“Illegal streaming” assumes that upholding the rights of foreign copyright holding megacorps is anywhere in the top 10,000 priorities for the Iraqi government. US law is not world law. This is like China saying that US websites are engaging in “illegal criticism of China”.

Well congress approved 500 million for negative coverage of China. So yes, US websites are even paid for shaming and criticizing China (often based on false information) and our asian enemies (like Japan in the 80s with all the Japan bashing)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/08/01/l...

Re: Nearly every person in Iraq is an illegal streaming pirate, sources say

#20
post #17
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'Merica bad blah blah -- I don't have the heart to tell you about the state of propaganda in the Arab world.

Perhaps propaganda is too provocative a word, but the cultural hegemony of the US is real and should be, from the US government perspective, preserved. The US has lost a lot of soft power over the past few decades (Iraq/trump as the primary drivers), exporting culture through movies and television is an easy win. All that to say I don't think the other commenter meant the US is bad necessarily, just that this is valu…

The links between the CIA/DoD and Hollywood are well documented:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_influence_on_public_opinio...

They help with movies like Iron Man and Transformers by lending equipment and so forth. It isn't a bad thing.

Sadly, Hollywood is in decline and is more likely to show the US in a bad light than good at the moment. The loss of soft power is.. disconcerting.

Post reply on HN