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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

#341

Post by floatingatoll »

Imagine how all these comments glorifying "let's steal paid content and share it for free because content should be free" must read to a YCombinator founder who is misled into thinking that it's okay to sell content for money.

What is even the point of starting a startup that offers content of any kind if people are going to do everything in their power to rip you off, share your value everyone they know for free, and claim that they have the moral high ground while doing so?

Do those glorifying torrents here also use ad-blockers, to ensure that absolutely no revenue whatsoever reaches a content creator, no matter how much you enjoy that content? Is the goal of revenue starvation here to simply bring an end to content creation altogether?

It's hard to see what other possible outcome exists given the overlap amongst HN readers between "I torrent" and "I adblock". I've never hoped more strongly that y'all are not representative of reality than I have reading these comments today.

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

#342

Post by LeoNatan25 »

tstrimple wrote: post #336
wolco wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I remember it increases the value of the most popular work. The content viewer creates a viral effect and shares feeling/opinions about the content. I remember one video game ceo saying. We don't want you to pirate oir game but if you do choose to pirate we hope you choose our game over the other guy. Makes sense if everyone is playing WoW and talking about it you are more likely to buy said game.

Seems like that might be the case. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/09/eu-study-finds-piracy...

Of course, this is so logical. Well, to everyone but the suits. With video games, there is also the risk that you might buy a game, and it's a buggy and/or unopimized mess. They used to release demos where you could try the game and see how it runs. Today, they push preorder nonsense and ship broken garbage. I would never buy a game without testing it first, which usually means I pirate first, then buy if all is well.

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

#343

Post by remotecool »

wolco wrote: post #332
remotecool wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's worse than theft. When you steal a car, only that car is lost. When you infringe copyright on a massive scale, it dilutes the value of the original work and reduces the value of all future copies. This can be seen with music today. Rampant sharing made it so you can't really sell albums anymore. If you want to make a living, you almost have to go with a big label. It's also why most software companies have now h…

If I remember it increases the value of the most popular work. The content viewer creates a viral effect and shares feeling/opinions about the content. I remember one video game ceo saying. We don't want you to pirate oir game but if you do choose to pirate we hope you choose our game over the other guy. Makes sense if everyone is playing WoW and talking about it you are more likely to buy said game.

Yes, a viral effect. If the effect is to download it for free, people will be unwilling to pay for it in the future and the value has started creeping toward $0.

If you are going to infringe on someone's copyright, at least be honest about its effects.

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

#344

Post by __david__ »

perennate wrote: post #132
joshstrange wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can tell you I know a number of people who pay for Netflix/Amazon Prime/Apple TV+/Hulu/HBO/etc and then turn around and pirate the same content because watching it though Plex/other is simply a better experience. And frankly, I 100% understand where they are coming from: 1. What platform was I watching show X on? 2. Oh Platform X removed show Y? Well it's also on Platform Z but now I can't remember where I was in t…

Another issue: they all want you to have proprietary non-free DRM software in your web browser that is a big pain to install. None of these services "just work" like you'd expect, and users have to spend a lot of time configuring their browser for services like Amazon Prime Video and Netflix. And in the end all that configuration work just ends up making your browser much less secure with code from untrusted sources…

It's not just the browser—my Apple TV will sometimes refuse to play a Neflix video because it claims I'm not connected to an HDCP TV. Of course I am, but some negotiation on the HDMI port failed and I have to switch away from the Apple TV and then back to it to force a renegotiation.

Surprise, surprise—I never have that problem with the Plex app.

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

#345

Post by LeoNatan25 »

tstrimple wrote: post #339
LeoNatan25 wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usenet is still around, and there is content, but for archival purposes, torrents are still a lot more convenient. Years back, publishers started issuing take downs to Usenet provides on specific binary posts. So, as all cat&mouse games go, there were private NZB forums/sites which posted encrypted content and provided the key to members.

I'm actually much happier with my usenet setup than I ever was with torrents. I use tools like Sonarr and Radarr to subscribe to and automatically download content from usenet. Since it's automatic, it's easier to pick up content before DMCA take down notices. Especially because usenet will allow me to use my full bandwidth instead of relying on a trickle from peers.

It depends on the torrent tracker. I've settled down on several private ones, which normally max my 200mbps connection right away. The reason I prefer torrents is the back catalog. With Usenet, it was very difficult to find older content. Also, the content that is uploaded there is scene stuff, which for 15 years now, isn't the most quality stuff (technically). With torrents, the library is always there, and plenty of versions to choose from.

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

#346

Post by nordsieck »

floatingatoll wrote: post #341

Imagine how all these comments glorifying "let's steal paid content and share it for free because content should be free" must read to a YCombinator founder who is misled into thinking that it's okay to sell content for money. What is even the point of starting a startup that offers content of any kind if people are going to do everything in their power to rip you off, share your value everyone they know for free, an…

> Is the goal of revenue starvation here to simply bring an end to content creation altogether?

Most people don't think of the future, only the present.

Most people only think of themselves, not others.

People aren't trying to hurt creators or prevent new film from being made, they're just trying to watch the awesome stuff their friends are talking about for free.

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

#347

Post by LeoNatan25 »

kelnos wrote: post #338
sjy wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a big assumption that you wouldn’t have purchased the product anyway. Sure, it’s often true, but there are clearly many people who dislike DRM and subscription fees who would nonetheless accept them if the alternative was to forego copyrighted entertainment altogether. The loss of the opportunity to sell to ‘you’ is not negligible.

Not sure why you're being downvoted. It's certainly true that while there are many people who would not pay for the content at any price, there are also many people who would stop pirating and instead pay, if they got the right price, format, terms, etc.

But that's not what the parent is saying. They are saying that if piracy stopped dead cold, almost all pirates would just go and buy the content they were pirating. That's categorically not true, or at least not 100% true. People would probably buy stuff, but at a rate so low, the industry would be hard-pressed to notice the difference.

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

#348

Post by LeoNatan25 »

PretzelFisch wrote: post #337
Fakira wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They might be shooting themselves in foot here. Part of the reason why Microsoft is so big and why there is a PC n every home is because many of us could pirate Windows and Office in early days. That reduced barrier to entry and enabled poor folks in India and elsewhere use computers and be familiar with all other MS technologies.

But then there is apple and ios where you can't really pirate the software effectively.

Eh. Most software can be pirated on iOS. Obtain an IPA (easy), resign it with Cydia Impactor and most apps will work no problem. There is now a "hack store" software that uses your Apple credentials to resign all the IPAs you give it and push them to your (non-jailbroken) phone.

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

#349

Post by filmgirlcw »

Lol. Good luck.

I’m the weirdo millennial who pays for cable and Netflix and Hulu and Criterion Channel and Amazon and Disney+ and Apple TV+ (well, that’s free for the first year) and basically every video service offered, but I still share passwords with people.

Like, my cable provider (who gives me access to HBO, Showtime, Starz, cable and networks on-demand and live stuff) offers me 6 or 7 user accounts. I have one. My husband has one. And then I create logins for my friends.

Like, I firmly believe in paying for content (as evidenced by the fact that I pay hundreds of dollars a month for it), but I’m also not blind to the reality of the current world, which is that people like me are what prop the business up. Plus, I pay Netflix like $18 a month or whatever for 4K and however many simultaneous steams. Netflix shouldn’t care what cities those streams are taking place in — especially since for half the year I’m out of town in a foreign country for half the month.

But what these companies risk, whether they know it or not, is risking making paying for content such a pain in the ass that the few of us keeping this industry afloat will just bail and torrent or use newsgroups or whatever.

I pay because it’s generally easier and is convenient and b/c I want to support creative work. But if it’s hard to use what I pay for and less convenient, I have no problem putting those several hundred dollars a month into seedboxes, adding redundancy to my NAS, and in spinning up VPS’ located around the globe.

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

#350

Post by blondin »

criley2 wrote: post #12
magashna wrote: 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…

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…

> Especially on this board.

you are probably talking about paywalls. my 2 cents is that all that pay-to-read content is somehow going against what the internet stood for: a network where information could be freely shared. this will always find some resistance.

what about having a separate network where they can take all their pay-to-read blogging platforms, newspapers & magazines, etc?

the other thing is that it's impossible to pay for all these digital services. and more and more are being created. something is wrong with that model and it won't last long.

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