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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

#301

No worries, I'll just use the torrent sharers. I bet those will give me a constant 4K quality on all my devices, no ridiculous DRM, get to keep them once I terminate my "subscription", etc. Oh and it's free, not 10-15$ USD for each service.

Ah yes, this comment. Whenever a story pops up here about a media company having the temerity to try and get people to pay for their product, I count the seconds until someone's inb4 with some pithy response invoking BitTorrent, the immorality of paywalls and DRM, and the supposed right that we all enjoy to freely consume content that costs billions of dollars to create. Love it. Came here expecting to find it, was n…

As are the comments from the people claiming "entitlement". ;-)

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

#302
A slightly different perspective:

I have zero interest in copyright infringement for video content. I am okay with streaming and have no desire to archive what I watch. I am okay with the 10 to 15 USD per month subscription model as long as it is easy to subscribe and unsubscribe.

If my claims make it sound like video content is unimportant to me, it is true. Part of the reason why it it not significant in my life is that it is difficult to access. If I have something in particular in mind and have to figure out where it is available, they have probably lost me. If I know where something is available and have to subscribe to a service to access that singular title, they have lost me. Whenever I look for something and discover that it is not available in my region, I have even less incentive to put in the effort in the future. Whenever I look for something that I have already viewed and discover that it is no longer available, the frustration simply grows. Simply put, so much effort has been put into placing barriers to access that have lost interest in even making an attempt to use these services. Given that some people place a higher priority on video content, I can understand why they share passwords or find other means.

What is the solution? In this highly biased to the point of near disinterest opinion: make it easier to legally access content. Exclusive and time limited contracts with service providers may offer short term gains, but they encourage piracy among consumers or even turn off consumers completely.

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

#303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You couldn't be more wrong. You do not have an entitlement to intellectual property, our entire society is built on top of that concept. It's more like you're saying you get to use any logos you want because you can download the images for them on their website. The only reason you can listen to a concert outside of the venue is because there's no way to stop you that's also in any way proportionate to the crime. Edi…

Eh, we're in legalese grey area here. "Entitlement" is a loaded word. Personally, I believe that if I am walking down the street and someone is playing The Avengers on a screen, I'm very much entitled to stick around and watch the movie. The internet, to me, is the same thing as walking down that street - public space. Feel free to disagree though - the CCP does. Not to get into politics, but it's fundamentally simil…

The internet is a free space, but so is reality; there's nothing actually physically preventing you from walking into a store, grabbing whatever you want, and walking out. You're not violating the laws of physics if you do that, in other words. However, laws apply, and on top of reality we've created a set of rules that are enforced, ultimately, by big burly people with guns.

Nothing, to me, makes the Internet any different from that. There are a set of immutable properties of the Internet, akin to its "laws of physics" (ultimately they still are the laws of physics but I digress), and in that sense yes, the Internet is a truly free space, just like physical reality is. However, just like reality, we've also laid on top of those rules a second set of rules that are enforced, ultimately, by big burly people with guns.

Not to say that laws are a perfect mirror of morality, but why would a rule (moral or legal) that exists in physical reality not also exist on the internet? If you believe in intellectual property in physical space, why wouldn't that belief hold over onto the Internet?

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

#304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, we're in legalese grey area here. "Entitlement" is a loaded word. Personally, I believe that if I am walking down the street and someone is playing The Avengers on a screen, I'm very much entitled to stick around and watch the movie. The internet, to me, is the same thing as walking down that street - public space. Feel free to disagree though - the CCP does. Not to get into politics, but it's fundamentally simil…

Here’s the logical continuation of your analogy: If the movie is showing in the park for free, you can stick around and stand to watch it, but if there was a better service at a reasonable cost, you could go home and watch it there more comfortably.

That's the rub; it's not showing in the park, because that's only possible if the park got permission. It's being shown in an alley

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

#305
I still pay for netflix+spotify but at this point I'm spending more per month on my piracy setup and associated fees. Because it's more convenient, more centralised, more timely, and more portable.

The USA entertainment industry doesn't want my money.

It's funny to think back on the original MPAA ads about hooded thieves robbing poor creators of their hard-earned cash, in light of how the last decade turned out with the golden age of streaming followed by MPAA gutting it again in their never-ending greed.

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

#306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are coming for them too. Don't think that they have forgotten about them.

They've been coming for torrentors for 15+ years. How's that fight going?

And somehow against all odds, the scene still seems to be hanging on despite tons of FBI arrests in the 2000's and zero profit motive.

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

#307
post #7

> “If you ask any cohort of young people if they will ever pay for Netflix or video services, the answer is unequivocally no,” said Mike McCormack, an analyst at Guggenheim Securities. Good grief what a stupid quote to use as a pretext for tacitly supporting these measures. When I was “young”, whatever that undefined number means, I swore there were lots of things I’d never pay for. Streaming music services, are a ge…

also -- if a demographic says they don't want to pay for your product, why would you think cutting off their free access to it would change their mind? There's a lot of competition in the streaming video space.

Corporate ego. Executives think their media is in-demand and without substitute. Most young people have already replaced traditional media with YouTube & Twitch.

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

#308
The remedies seem foolish.

Require them to enter a text-code. If the person who is sharing wants the other person to have the code they would just forward the text. All one is doing is making it more difficult for everyone in the hopes of making it more difficult for one group of people.

You buy 4 streams you should get 4. Trying to determine who is watching is fruitless.

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

#309

No worries, I'll just use the torrent sharers. I bet those will give me a constant 4K quality on all my devices, no ridiculous DRM, get to keep them once I terminate my "subscription", etc. Oh and it's free, not 10-15$ USD for each service.

Careful with that, in some countries, anti-piracy outfits are monitoring torrent releases and sending out c&d letters in bulk to people who they catch downloading/uploading with a domestic IP. Particularly a problem in Germany, that's why it's best to use a torrent-friendly VPN in countries like that.

What are good provider choices? Or even what countries are open and have enough connectivity?

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

#310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here’s the logical continuation of your analogy: If the movie is showing in the park for free, you can stick around and stand to watch it, but if there was a better service at a reasonable cost, you could go home and watch it there more comfortably.

That's the rub; it's not showing in the park, because that's only possible if the park got permission. It's being shown in an alley

Works even better. You can stand in the dirty alley (with piss smell and dog poo) and watch it, or go home and watch it comfortable, if the price and service is right. Sure, some people will never go home (maybe they don't even have one), but most people will, given the right incentive.
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