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PlayStation Is Deleting 551 Movies from Customers' Accounts

kotaku.com

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Re: PlayStation Is Deleting 551 Movies from Customers' Accounts

#51

Post by encrypted_bird »

rachel-ftw wrote: post #29

This is making me mad enough that I’m going to spend my weekend figuring out a media server and pirating movies. If buying isn’t owning, pirating isn’t stealing. Fuck those guys. It’s been 20 years since I’ve pirated shit, but here we are again…

If you're not experienced in media servers, I'd recommend a QNAP NAS and then install either Jellyfin or Emby. (Plex has really gone downhill in the last 10 years imho.) QNAP is terrible for experienced users, but as Baby's First NAS it's absolutely sublime.

Re: PlayStation Is Deleting 551 Movies from Customers' Accounts

#52

Post by xboxnolifes »

dc3k wrote: post #2

it should not be legal for the product page to say “purchase” or “buy” when in reality you’re only renting it with a to be determined end date

That's a big can of worms, since it applies to approximately 100% of all software. You only ever buy a license that allows you to use software, almost never actually buy software.

Re: PlayStation Is Deleting 551 Movies from Customers' Accounts

#53

Post by kelvinjps10 »

vitally3643 wrote: post #36
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #28

How is it that Steam manages to avoid yanking games from people's libraries even after the games are delisted for licensing issues, etc? I have multiple games that you can't "buy" anymore, but Steam doesn't stop me from reinstalling them as often as I like. Are they negotiating that as part of the deal with their vendors? Or is it as simple as "We're not dicks." ?

That's just how Valve's license agreement works. You publish with Steam and you grant Valve the right to publish the work in perpetuity. The licensing deal made by movie studios does not work like that because the studios are intentionally predatory. The distribution agreements are temporary and can involve periodic payments. Literally Netflix rents movies from the studios and rents them back to you. The studios rese…

When a movie or show gets removed from Netflix sucks but no as much since it's a subscription and you can cancel if they don't have what you like but what you do with something you bought

Re: PlayStation Is Deleting 551 Movies from Customers' Accounts

#54

Post by munk-a »

b112 wrote: post #5
dc3k wrote: post #2

it should not be legal for the product page to say “purchase” or “buy” when in reality you’re only renting it with a to be determined end date

Yes, 100%, and that end date should be very clearly listed too.

Oftentimes that end date is not clearly knowable and can't be communicated explicitly, but consumers should still be aware of the fact that their rights are limited. While the Gaben lives valve will store many people's games - when the Gaben dies... well, it's going to suck - but it'll probably take a while to completely suck, we'll probably go through drawn out enshittification first. This outcome seems inevitable[1] but it is likely a fair distance off.

1. Unless you write a damned clear company charter, Gabe, get on that.

Re: PlayStation Is Deleting 551 Movies from Customers' Accounts

#56

Post by pezezin »

mannanj wrote: post #24

How soon until the digital distributions are owned by just a few cartels, and later when it’s suitable for them, they also modify digital movies to suit a political agenda without letting you know?

Movies have been pushing political agendas pretty much since the beginning of cinema.

Re: PlayStation Is Deleting 551 Movies from Customers' Accounts

#57

Post by Retr0id »

munk-a wrote: post #48
Retr0id wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are only able to do this because the DRM was cracked long ago.

DRM is like a vibe, man - if you have the ability to output a video stream to an arbitrary display device you can always bypass DRM and it's never been illegal[1] to do so (though publishing approaches to defeat it often is). 1. To my knowledge, I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice.

"bypassing DRM" is explicitly illegal according to DMCA. Don't conflate "unenforce{d,able}" and "legal".

Re: PlayStation Is Deleting 551 Movies from Customers' Accounts

#58

Post by bix6 »

What’s wild is there is no legal way to actually buy and truly own movies anymore. Any major service is a license and if you can even get a DVD the legality of ripping it is questionable since you have to break DRM. I have purchased a few movies (surf films) from people who actually give you the digital file and it is so wonderful.

Re: PlayStation Is Deleting 551 Movies from Customers' Accounts

#59

Post by smelendez »

patmcc wrote: post #18

They should absolutely be forced to provide either a refund or a downloadable copy, this is absurd. It sounds like they didn't actually have the license necessary to be able to sell these movies in any reasonable way.

Exactly — they should have just offered a lease until the end of the licensing agreement: “Pay $X today and watch this movie as many times as you want through June 2026!”

Re: PlayStation Is Deleting 551 Movies from Customers' Accounts

#60

Post by CamperBob2 »

smelendez wrote: post #59
patmcc wrote: post #18

They should absolutely be forced to provide either a refund or a downloadable copy, this is absurd. It sounds like they didn't actually have the license necessary to be able to sell these movies in any reasonable way.

Exactly — they should have just offered a lease until the end of the licensing agreement: “Pay $X today and watch this movie as many times as you want through June 2026!”

When this was originally tried under the OG "DIVX" brand name, everybody (including me) threw a fit.

Some warned that everything would work that way eventually anyway, and everybody (including me) blew them off.

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