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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

#441

Post by s1artibartfast »

scarface74 wrote: post #429
fma wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The terms of service someone posted above says you "may not share with individuals beyond your household". Your neighbor is not within your household.

Interesting. My mother in law is on our family account with T-mobile. She doesn't live with us. T-mobile offers a Netflix Family Plan as part of our package. Does that mean my MIL shouldn't have access to our Netflix account?

If your mother in law is on the account and everyone on your account gets the family plan, it would make sense that each household has access.

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

#442

Post by washadjeffmad »

manigandham wrote: post #434
ripdog wrote: post #413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not even remotely close to stealing. Stealing causes an actual loss to the victim - they owned an item which is worth money, and now they don't. Copyright infringement, OTOH, causes a potential loss to the 'victim'. The copyright industry's propaganda about 'piracy = theft' is based on the frankly absurd concept that anyone who pirates media would have paid for it had piracy not been an option. This claim doesn't hol…

It's not stealing but it is illegal copying. You're gaining the same experience as someone who did pay for it.

It's unauthorized distribution.

You don't get in trouble for copying a licensed work, you get in trouble for making it available to others without permission from the current rights holder (or more likely, their hired thugs or your ISP).

How would Fair Use and libraries work if copying alone were illegal?

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

#443

Post by aptwebapps »

catalogia wrote: post #281
lukifer wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's just the "rules" for a Chinese audience (though that doesn't help); I think it's the economics of making movies primarily for a global audience, rather than a particular language, culture, or even sub-culture. This was an "aha" moment in realizing why so many movies over the last decade contain seemingly lazy, blunt dialogue, lacking subtlety or subtext: the meaning needs to come across clearly in…

It's quite simple: mass market content is made for the lowest common denominator. See also, Jack of all trades, master of none. It's not a phenomena unique to movies, or the modern international economy, it's a pattern that pops up all over the place. Look at multi-tool pocket knives: capable of doing many things, but mediocre at everything.

And as you expand to a global audience, the lowest common denominator gets lower.

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

#444

Post by wilg »

sjy wrote: post #287
wilg wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's fine to want those things, but I think the "entitlement" idea comes from people who believe it is okay to have those things without paying for them. It is analogous (or maybe identical) to stealing something you don't need because you think the price is too high. The appropriate response is not to steal it and also not to buy it.

The entitlement idea comes from the fact that bundling undermines market mechanisms and is sometimes illegal. Consumers are not entitled to free products, but nor are vendors entitled to unlimited discretion in the way they sell their products. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tying_(commerce)

I'd be happy to hear a legal argument about this type of bundling, but the issue I was talking about was what to do when you're faced with a bundle you don't want. I don't think you should steal (or "steal" if you prefer) unless it's a crucial need, like food or shelter.

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

#445

Post by manigandham »

washadjeffmad wrote: post #442
manigandham wrote: post #434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not stealing but it is illegal copying. You're gaining the same experience as someone who did pay for it.

It's unauthorized distribution. You don't get in trouble for copying a licensed work, you get in trouble for making it available to others without permission from the current rights holder (or more likely, their hired thugs or your ISP). How would Fair Use and libraries work if copying alone were illegal?

Well Fair Use is specifically about copying limited parts. Public libraries? How are they copying things?

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

#446

Post by archi42 »

LeoNatan25 wrote: post #222
my_usernam3 wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"You wouldn't download a car"

Would if I could. Still not theft. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

What a glorious world that would be... I'd absolutely upload you a car, if you upload me a good drink. Or maybe we can put a FOSS car on GitHub?

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

#447

Post by bitwize »

sp332 wrote: post #433
LanceH wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or, you could just not watch what you haven't paid for.

That's one option among several. For example, don't take money for content the user hasn't experienced yet.

It's also the only legal option for the audience to take. The companies who own the copyright make the content available under certain terms. Don't like the terms? DON'T WATCH THE FUCKING CONTENT. If you do somehow contrive to watch the content despite not accepting the terms, then you are stealing and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Capisce?

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

#448

Post by buzzerbetrayed »

friedman23 wrote: post #328
LeoNatan25 wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sort your legal definitions. Copyright infringement is not theft.

Why do you think this matters?

Why does using the proper definition of words matter? I think that should be fairly obvious.

"Downloading copyrighted music is murder."

Ok, then downloading copyrighted music should be punished like murder.

Oh, it isn't Murder?

Well, it also isn't theft. So it shouldn't be punished like it is theft or treated like it is theft in conversation. It should be punished like and treated as copyright infringement, which it is.

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

#449

Post by thephyber »

scarface74 wrote: post #423
thephyber wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, iTunes and Amazon do/did offer DRM-free for some music selections. I think blaming the distributors is misplacing the blame. The problem is that the distributors don't have the legal right to do that without contractual buy-in from content owners who fear that their golden goose will dry up if content is offered without DRM or if digital content can be kept and used in perpetuity by consumers.

Amazon has never sold DRM'd digital music and Apple has sold all of its music DRM free for over a decade.

Thanks for the correction. Even as I was typing it, I doubted my own memory.

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

#450

Post by kerng »

kempbellt wrote: post #176
LeoNatan25 wrote: post #131

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.

I may (or may not) have built my own Netflix competitor. It had more content than all of the major providers combined. Legal buffer: I will not say what the content was. It may have all been non-copyrighted cat videos ;) The service was available cross region. Stored videos in multiple resolutions for streamability in low-bandwidth situations. No DRM bs. It cost me under $400/month to run the whole service, and I cou…

Sounds like you ran a plex server - amazing tech, always makes me wonder what companies like Netflix, HBO, and now Disney spend all their money on...

Users would probably be better of, if these systems would be distributed rather then centralized. Like a plex server per household or something, where family owns all the stuff they bought and can freely watch it.

What I'm looking for is a future proof stack. DRM has failed many times to deliver that.

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