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Sony Deletes 551 Movies PlayStation Owners Paid For

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Re: Sony Deletes 551 Movies PlayStation Owners Paid For

#161

Post by crote »

dylan604 wrote: post #85
etempleton wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They often have two tiers, a rental tier and a purchase tier. If you purchase the assumption is it will be available forever.

Seems like a bad assumption at this point even if it goes against expectations. We've seen on multiple occasions now from different companies where a digital purchase wasn't forever. This is no way an endorsement of the behavior, but if that's your assumption then the quip "you know what happens when you assume" wins again.

So the default assumption should be that big companies are actively trying to defraud you?

The difference between "rent" and "purchase" has always been very clear: with the former you have to give it back, with the latter you own it forever. It is only very recently that this kind of steal-back has even become possible at all, as it can only be done with digital content delivery to an entirely-closed platform.

"You should assume that words have the opposite meaning and that big companies can steal from you with impunity" is a world I don't think I want to live in.

Re: Sony Deletes 551 Movies PlayStation Owners Paid For

#163

Post by mskonline »

bloomingeek wrote: post #46

Wait, people trusted a corporation and got screwed?!? Why, that's...unheard of!(My wife, bless her, has "purchased" dozens of movies on amazon. I warned her that when the amazon wind changes, she may regret those purchases. I got the look.)

Or when the account gets compromised. I recently lost my amazon account and with it, all of my kindle purchases. Fortunately, I was able to turn on the airplane mode on my kindle just in time and preserve the books which were already downloaded. Guess I have to jail break it some day.

Re: Sony Deletes 551 Movies PlayStation Owners Paid For

#164

Post by crote »

throwaway87543 wrote: post #83
eska wrote: post #6

It should be illegal to have others purchase what you as a company only licensed and therefore aren’t legally allowed to sell.

Studio Canal directly got paid for each individual purchase. It isn't all on Sony, Studio Canal sold a product then took it away.

> Studio Canal sold a product then took it away

If that's the case, why isn't Sony suing Studio Canal? The proper license for Sony to get is one which doesn't allow Studio Canal to take it away after sale in any way. So did Studio Canal somehow hack into Sony HQ to violate that license, or did Sony simply screw over its customers by not getting the proper license in the first place?

Re: Sony Deletes 551 Movies PlayStation Owners Paid For

#166

Post by crote »

matwood wrote: post #135
Terr_ wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Both to blame IANAL but I think the US law approach is to rely on chaining, so the #1 blame is on Sony until Sony proves it isn't. 1. Consumers who were damaged sue Sony for damages. 2. If Sony loses, Sony sues Studio Canal for damages. 3. If Studio Canal loses... ?

Correct. In theory, Sony should have warranted that they have the rights to sell the thing the way they sold it. If they didn't have the rights to sell a movie perpetually, then that's on them.

They don't need the rights to sell a movie perpetually, just the rights to sell perpetual movies.

Re: Sony Deletes 551 Movies PlayStation Owners Paid For

#167

Post by infinite_spin »

bcjdjsndon wrote: post #144
infinite_spin wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they don't host or distribute movies, they distribute torrents/magnets.. the speakeasy might be illegal, but telling people where to find one is not.

Let me just say, I fuckin love piracy, but it's more like a speakeasy that piped booze in from everyone's house into the bar instead of just keeping the bottles above the bar. Booze all the same though

I dislike the term "pirate" when used to describe unauthorized reproductions of a work. I prefer neutral terms like "archivist". Calling someone a pirate reduces the conversation to pejorative labeling, i.e. a dysphemism. When we turn a blind eye to that, or worse we embrace it, we lose the opportunity to have a balanced/adult discussion about what is and should be legal.

Re: Sony Deletes 551 Movies PlayStation Owners Paid For

#168

Post by nradov »

nullsmack wrote: post #45

We need some kind of modern equivalent to the old proposed Digital Media Consumer's Rights Act but which protects people's rights to digital media they buy. These should never be sold and then taken away with no compensation like this. We need a law that forces companies to treat digital files the same as a physical purchase. They can't take it away and have to allow people to resell and loan out as well. And in case…

We need consumer boycotts, not legislation. I find it hilarious that people would continue to buy (or license) content from a trash company like Sony after they were caught literally installing rootkits on customer computers. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

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

Re: Sony Deletes 551 Movies PlayStation Owners Paid For

#169

Post by crote »

bsammon wrote: post #136
anigbrowl wrote: post #111

2 days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48718967 4 days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48691346 4 years ago ( so it's not the first time studioCanal has done this): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32010317

It's interesting that (in one regard) Sony is getting a PR win with the "StudioCanal has done this" narrative. Another perspective: In accordance with the licensing system that Sony and their lobbyists helped establish, Sony's licensing agreement with StudioCanal came up for renewal. Sony decided that they didn't want to pay StudioCanal's perfectly reasonable( ) asking price. this is StudioCanal's perspective.

I think it is quite tricky to argue that StudioCanal did anything wrong.

Sony isn't a naive child, they've got whole armies of lawyers analyzing the deals they sign. If Sony knowingly signs a horrible deal (such as a Netflix-like "you can show this bunch of content to users and let them download it for X years") which due to their desire to sell movies leads to them inevitably getting screwed over on their (now-mandatory) contract renewal, that's on them.

Either Sony should've insisted on a contract which included a right to sell perpetual sublicenses, or they shouldn't have "sold" those inherently-temporary movies to end users. It really is that simple.

Re: Sony Deletes 551 Movies PlayStation Owners Paid For

#170

Post by [deleted] »

Natfan wrote: post #80
AndroTux wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Neither does Sony (anymore), apparently. They still sold them.

and redefined the terms of "sold" in their contract to mean "rent, with a one-time fee" it is more immoral to sell something you can't legally "sell" (permanently and irrevocably transfer ownership of a product), than to pirate that content (which has no level of expected payment)

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