Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

U.S. senators introduce new pirate site blocking bill, "Block BEARD"

torrentfreak.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 268 posts

Re: U.S. senators introduce new pirate site blocking bill, "Block BEARD"

#91

Post by dragonwriter »

gddgb wrote: post #75
blackjack_ wrote: post #30

I've been trying to watch old 80s-90s movies recently. I'm happy to pay $5 or whatever, and they just aren't available anywhere. Rental stores are dead, so I can't go rent them from blockbuster or whatever, and streaming sites have splintered to the point I'm not even sure what is a scam and what is a legitimate business anymore. Trying to even find availability of what films exist on which streaming sites has been a…

[dead]

> No one can argue that you’re stealing a product that’s not being distributed, the law specifically says you need to put in a reasonable amount of effort to commercialize something to claim it damages you for someone to steal it

The law literally does not say that, either for things that are literally subject to be stolen, or, more to the point here, for copyright protection where “steal” is merely a very loose metaphorical term sometimes used to refer to infringement.

Re: U.S. senators introduce new pirate site blocking bill, "Block BEARD"

#92

Post by gddgb »

otterley wrote: post #86
alistairSH wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citation for that? I've never heard such an interpretation before.

That's because it's bullshit. (IP-trained attorney here, not legal advice.) IP law is like real property law in the sense that it provides the owner the power to exclude others from using it. As with real property, there is no requirement that the owner be using the subject property in an economically viable way.

[dead]

Re: U.S. senators introduce new pirate site blocking bill, "Block BEARD"

#93

Post by anonymars »

blackjack_ wrote: post #30

I've been trying to watch old 80s-90s movies recently. I'm happy to pay $5 or whatever, and they just aren't available anywhere. Rental stores are dead, so I can't go rent them from blockbuster or whatever, and streaming sites have splintered to the point I'm not even sure what is a scam and what is a legitimate business anymore. Trying to even find availability of what films exist on which streaming sites has been a…

I find justwatch.com useful

Re: U.S. senators introduce new pirate site blocking bill, "Block BEARD"

#94

Post by tarnith »

blackjack_ wrote: post #30

I've been trying to watch old 80s-90s movies recently. I'm happy to pay $5 or whatever, and they just aren't available anywhere. Rental stores are dead, so I can't go rent them from blockbuster or whatever, and streaming sites have splintered to the point I'm not even sure what is a scam and what is a legitimate business anymore. Trying to even find availability of what films exist on which streaming sites has been a…

Video games too. Try to buy Need For Speed Most Wanted (2005). You can't.

Re: U.S. senators introduce new pirate site blocking bill, "Block BEARD"

#95

Post by bombcar »

HanClinto wrote: post #44
LeonardoTolstoy wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How's your local library system?

I live in a small country town. It's decent for its size, but it's very small. In contrast, Archive.org is an absolutely fantastic library, and we're happy to support them. Way better than my public library -- especially for hard-to-find media.

Ask about interlibrary loans; our rural library can get almost anything, given time.

Re: U.S. senators introduce new pirate site blocking bill, "Block BEARD"

#96

Post by tarnith »

pwthornton wrote: post #55
blackjack_ wrote: post #30

I've been trying to watch old 80s-90s movies recently. I'm happy to pay $5 or whatever, and they just aren't available anywhere. Rental stores are dead, so I can't go rent them from blockbuster or whatever, and streaming sites have splintered to the point I'm not even sure what is a scam and what is a legitimate business anymore. Trying to even find availability of what films exist on which streaming sites has been a…

You can’t find them to rent on iTunes and similar platforms?

Who wants to rent? I have money, give me a file for money.

DRM is laughable anyway, if you give me the data I have the file if I really want it.

Let me, the consumer, legally purchase a high res copy of media I can own. Why is this so hard?

Re: U.S. senators introduce new pirate site blocking bill, "Block BEARD"

#97

Post by haunter »

anonymars wrote: post #93
blackjack_ wrote: post #30

I've been trying to watch old 80s-90s movies recently. I'm happy to pay $5 or whatever, and they just aren't available anywhere. Rental stores are dead, so I can't go rent them from blockbuster or whatever, and streaming sites have splintered to the point I'm not even sure what is a scam and what is a legitimate business anymore. Trying to even find availability of what films exist on which streaming sites has been a…

I find justwatch.com useful

Useful but +95% of the films I watch are not available in my country :shrug:

Re: U.S. senators introduce new pirate site blocking bill, "Block BEARD"

#98

Post by bombcar »

benreesman wrote: post #17

I've recently switched to privacy respecting computing options, so of course lost access to everything I've bought from Apple and Amazon for the last 20 years. If I never paid for content again they'd still be in my debt. You wouldn't steal a car would you? No, but I'd repossess one from some delinquent son of a bitch in a suit.

I see no strong moral argument against ripping DVDs (from the library or similar) of content you paid for on Apple or Amazon.

Re: U.S. senators introduce new pirate site blocking bill, "Block BEARD"

#99

Post by namrog84 »

dsissitka wrote: post #56
ryandrake wrote: post #29

Isn't torrenting way down from its heyday? Streaming companies are not perfect, but I always thought they were at least moderately successful such that in 2025, average, casual, non-techies no longer bother to jump through the VPN and private tracker hoops just to download a movie.

In my circles the modern alternative seems to be using Yandex to search for "$show stream". I don't know about BitTorrent but Usenet is way up: https://www.newsdemon.com/usenet-newsgroup-feed-size

Daily volume could just be more bluray high quality downloads with people with better internet. And not neccesarily larger number of people right?

Re: U.S. senators introduce new pirate site blocking bill, "Block BEARD"

#100

Post by bombcar »

seanw444 wrote: post #51
shkkmo wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a while, streaming was better than any alternative. However over the last several year prices have a spike while the collections available for streaming have shrunk and splintered. Then a bunch of the streaming sites started adding ads for their paying customers. At this point streaming servcies have been enshitified enough to make piracy again the better experience.

Can confirm. The only streaming service I use anymore is Disney+, and I only have it because I like to watch the new Star Wars stuff when it releases at good quality. Everything else I care to watch, which isn't much besides older stuff, I'll just torrent now. Greedy companies really need to heed Gabe Newell's words.

Even Disney+ is crappier than Netflix in the streaming heyday - there are Disney Junior shows that Disney+ didn’t have (maybe still doesn’t).

Buying DVDs and ripping to Jellyfin is much easier.

Post reply on HN