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The History and Future of Digital Ownership (www.theverge.com)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I'd like to get the community's feedback on this. I find it very disturbing that digital content purchased on a platform does not rightfully belong to the purchaser and that the content can be completely removed by the platform owners. Based on my understanding, when we purchase a show or movie or game digitally, what we're really doing is purchasing a "license" to access the media on the platform. This is different from owning a physical copy of the same media. Years before the move to digital media, we would buy DVDs and Blu-Rays the shows and movies we want to watch, and no one seemed to question the ownership of those physical media.

Why is it that digital media purchasing and ownership isn't the same as purchasing and owning the physical media? How did it become like this, and is there anything that can be done to convince these platforms that purchasing a digital copy of a media should be equivalent to purchasing a physical DVD or Blu-Ray disc?

P.S. I know there's pirating and all, but that's not the focus of my question.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (13 children)

Digital media means that there is an ongoing service behind it. The servers use energy. The parts age and break. It requires a continuing feed of labor and resources to keep going.

Imagine a streaming service that is all based on buying media, instead of subscription or renting. Then suppose all the customers somehow decide that the media they own are enough for now (maybe because money is tight, because inflation). With no more cash coming in, the service goes bankrupt.

In principle, you could have a type of license that allows you to get a new copy in any way you can (torrent, etc.). That would be hard to police, though.

FWIW, owning a physical copy isn't all that, either. There are various ways built-in to make life harder for customers, like geo-blocking. Bypassing these tends to be a criminal offense.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Digital media means that there is an ongoing service behind it.

I could download my file and be done with it. If I throw away or damage my super fragile bluray I'm not entitled to a new copy. I don't even need to be able to redownload (although it's a nice service). It means there is an ongoing service behind it because they decide it and because they are afraid I will share with my friends - which is about as difficult as finding the media elsewhere online.

With no more cash coming in, the service goes bankrupt.

Same issue with physical media. Suddenly your expensive factory is idle, your employees don't produce anything. We still get to buy movies and not rent them perpetually.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

I could download my file and be done with it.

That's true, but that's kinda delivering a physical copy via the net, and you pay the storage medium. I understood OP as talking specifically about online "property".

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