this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2023
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Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ
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I pirate because I don't get paid the full value of my labor. Pay me more and I'll buy more goods and services. It's also more convenient to have everything in one place.
The other annoying thing is that "owning" something is getting to be non-existent anymore. Sure, I can "buy" all the seasons of Supernatural from iTunes. But I only "own" the show for was long as I have my iTunes subscription, and iTunes has the rights to show it, and I have internet service with enough bandwidth to stream it, and I'm not under a bandwidth cap or some other restriction.
Or I can grab a copy and it'll happily live on my hard drive forever, no need to worry about subscriptions or streaming rights or bandwidth limitations.
Tell me: in which of those scenarios do I actually "own" the series?
That's what's messed up about data, is technically the answer to your question is neither! What happens to your ownership of those downloads when your hard drive with no backup does? In that sense, a license tied to should be the safest method, but it's far from it thanks to our current practices.
But I agree with you of course, our control of our files on our hard drives indicate that we have more ownership over them.
Personally, the one thing the U.S. somewhat has right so far is we are somewhat legally allowed to format shift (within reason, stupidly but alas). Currently I can purchase any Nintendo game, decide I do not want to play it on any Nintendo console and it's within my rights to do everything short of redistribution to play that software on my PC.
Someone the other day asked if it's "pirating" to acquire a licensed title they purchased on Vudu. In my opinion, no because it's just format shifting - now, the T.O.S. may say otherwise but T.O.S. also isn't law so then it's a different issue. Vudu can say that you are only allowed to play your purchases through their website that harvests your data, which you signed when you created your account.
Still, fuck that noise. If I am purchasing something that means I expect to be able to use it no matter the surrounding circumstances. That means if my Internet is offline I can still view my content. That means if Vudu kicks the bucket I am unaffected.
Until services start giving me this option, I will continue to format shift my content. I store things for posterity and then watch on the service to support them. I want more super hero stories, so I will watch on HBO and D+. I want more IASIP, so I will watch on Hulu. But you damn better be sure I have them backed up for myself because I'm not paying $x/month to watch these forever.
Whether or not its within my rights to format shift this way I don't really care, I am only format shifting because history has shown we cannot trust media to stay online and unedited.
Example: currently made bluray/DVDs of IASIP also remove episodes. Not for me.
AND offer good stuff! AND make it actually convenient and worth the money. A single streaming service at $15 a month, no more, that has all the "exclusives", be it Stranger Things, The Mandalorian, or Rings of Power (okay, maybe not that last piece of garbage). Then I would consider paying, and only if it is truly more convenient and offers better quality with less buffering than pirate streaming. Until then, it's a pirate's life for me.
The streaming sites already sell my data anytime I click a button on their website, you don't get my money too.
Exactly. I've only ever pirated things I couldn't afford, and even then I kept a running list of the good ones in the hopes that one day I could pay them legitimately. When I can afford to buy them fairly, I don't pirate.
I was a thief when I was starving and I'm a damn thief now.