Piracy is "more popular than ever" suggests report

[cheesemp]

Personally I've moved away from dodgy sources over the years for film/tv as Amazon and Netflix gives me enough to keep me happy at a sensible cost. Amazon prime music fulfils the Music streaming for me too. My biggest issue currently is the lack of a decent service for ebooks/audiobooks. I've started using overdrive with my library which helps but its not perfect (They often don't have a book I want). Audible just feels like a rip off compared to the value of the other services - £7.99 for one book! I can stream unlimited films/tv from Netflix for that! They really need to keep improving access to more devices and keeping prices keen if they want to beat piracy.

[spacein_vader]

All content needs to be readily available on ALL platforms, There is half your problem solved!
Licensing deals are BS, No one wants to have to subscribe to half a dozen different companies just to watch their favorite shows.
If you are already paying $120 a month for cable tv you kind of expect to get every damn channel and tv show/movie, Shouldn't have to also subscribe to Netflix,Amazon,Stan and others just because there is that one show not on the other platform.
Before you know it you are spending hundreds a month just so you can watch what should be on any one of them.
About to ditch $120 a month Foxtel platinum here in Australia, Has become complete BS.
Nothing but adverts and repeats, new release rental movies on there have gone up as well, They dumped a few of everyone's favorite channels such as World movies, Now its just a select few movies off it.
One of the reasons I got off free to air and went for pay(cable) tv over 15 years ago was to get rid of the damn ads. Now it's no different than free to air, 5 minutes of show then 5 minutes of ads.
Better off just upgrading your home theater set up, Wait a few years until the shows are over and no one cares, Then buy them on sale on blu ray.
Get past the impatience of needing to have something or watch something now then you can have your shows for nearly nothing anyway!

So if Amazon spend the money to create a show, risking that if they make a turkey they won't make money on it, they should be obliged to let say Netflix (who haven't risked any cash,) show it too?

[gordon861]

How many of these people are using the 'pirate sites' as a replacement for a VCR?

I know people who pay for all the normal TV channels on SKY or Virgin and yet still download the shows from various sites in order to have a recording. These are shows that they could legally record manually off the TV but to download is easier, even if the quality may be lower and include the onscreen ads that US TV seems to love using.

[afiretruck]

Not to mention the many, many TV shows from Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, etc that just aren't available to us over here in any *reasonable* paid-for manner, but are available on these 'pirate' websites. I know Crunchyroll have some of these shows, but they won't have all of them.

[philehidiot]

Personally I've moved away from dodgy sources over the years for film/tv as Amazon and Netflix gives me enough to keep me happy at a sensible cost. Amazon prime music fulfils the Music streaming for me too. My biggest issue currently is the lack of a decent service for ebooks/audiobooks. I've started using overdrive with my library which helps but its not perfect (They often don't have a book I want). Audible just feels like a rip off compared to the value of the other services - £7.99 for one book! I can stream unlimited films/tv from Netflix for that! They really need to keep improving access to more devices and keeping prices keen if they want to beat piracy.

Totally agree. For me with my average income (and no kids) there isn't any real motivation for the pirate sites as then you have to deal with dodgy adverts and viruses and so on. I was put off legal downloading by Apple and iTunes but since Amazon has come along with streaming to practically any device (and internet connection speeds have evolved to suit) I have but that's because I've bought into the Amazon ecosystem. I have two fire TVs (because they were reasonably priced and I already had Prime), an Amazon HDx tablet (was very cheap with an amazing screen) and the Amazon software on my phone means I can even watch and listen on that as well as my computers. I didn't have a TV licence for a long time as I didn't own a TV (now moved in with a normal human being who likes a TV) so I just put the money towards Prime instead. Audible does need to address its pricing as they're just silly.

[Ttaskmaster]

It's a shame that whenever this sort of story comes out (or piracy in general I guess) so many people blame the content creators for charging too much or for geo-fencing content,

Creators, no.
Retailers, yes.
It currently costs over £100 a month to watch Sky TV (because it needs internet now) and most of the decent channels are extra. Plus they don't get most of the stuff worth watching anyway, so you need to sub to Netflix and Amazon and blah blah blah... and that's it, I have no money left for the rest of the month.
I'm sure it's peanuts for anyone on an "average salary", but for the rest of us it's actually a LOT of money.

rather than themselves for breaking the law and depriving the content creators of their income

Content creators get paid by the distributors who buy the stuff off them. If the distributors charge too much money, no-one will buy it.

No one blames a shop for setting their prices too high when someone steals a physical item from that shop

Err... Yeah we do. We do all the time. That's THE primary reason for stealing!!

Granted it's not technically theft as you are only depriving the content creator of money for the potential purchase, rather than a physical item.

Of course it's theft!

Piracy does hurt real people too and directly takes money away from developers who often rely on their game sales (for example) to live.

Devs already get paid by the studio, generally.
It's only the smaller independent devs who don't, and I note that it's more the bigger games that get cracked and hacked - You know, £75 for the latest dull-plotted Assassins Creed bug-fest, plus another £90 for all the DLC...

With so many cheap ways to consume digital content now there isn't *any* excuse for piracy.

OK, how would I get to legally watch something that was only screened once on American TV in 1992 and does not have a DVD release, or if it does is region-locked?
The ONLY option is a pirated copy.

[aidanjt]

So if Amazon spend the money to create a show, risking that if they make a turkey they won't make money on it, they should be obliged to let say Netflix (who haven't risked any cash,) show it too?

Well, that's ostensibly why Netflix would be paying them for a license to distribute their content? I mean you're talking as if Netflix are the legal pirates or something.

[Spud1]

Creators, no.
Retailers, yes.
It currently costs over £100 a month to watch Sky TV (because it needs internet now)

Not really - costs me £52 a month for Sky Q with movies (everything apart from sports), which if I really pushed for a discount would be even cheaper, or I could have just kept Sky+ or Sky HD and reduce the price even further. Don't need sky broadband (or any internet) although they do push it. It is still a lot though, no argument

Err... Yeah we do. We do all the time. That's THE primary reason for stealing!!
Of course it's theft!

When was the last time you walked into a shop and stole something? Most people don't and would be shocked at the suggestion but they will happily download a TV show, that was my point. Legally online piracy isn't theft (although I personally think it should be)

Devs already get paid by the studio, generally.
It's only the smaller independent devs who don't, and I note that it's more the bigger games that get cracked and hacked - You know, £75 for the latest dull-plotted Assassins Creed bug-fest, plus another £90 for all the DLC...

It doesn't matter if talking about creators, or distributors, or retailers - the effect bubbles up the chain and effects everone, big or small. It's completely untrue to suggest that ony the bigger games/movies etc are pirated to any large degree. Easy example from a quick google but there are many more - https://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/...irated-copies/. Pretty much every game out there is cracked and pirated no matter how small.

OK, how would I get to legally watch something that was only screened once on American TV in 1992 and does not have a DVD release, or if it does is region-locked?
The ONLY option is a pirated copy.

You can't, but that doesn't justify stealing it. If something isn't available in your regiion then you can't have it..tough. I can't think of a single justification for stealing content.

[spacein_vader]

Of course it's theft!

Legally, it isn't. Content owners use terms like theft and stealing to describe it but legally theft is to permanently deprive someone of an asset.

If I take a DVD of Star Wars from a shop, that is theft as they now have 1 less than they had before. If I download an MP4 of Star Wars it isn't theft as they can still sell/rent as many copies as they previously could.

It's the difference between me nicking your car and me copying it and making a new one.

To paraphrase the advert, you wouldn't download a car.

[LSG501]

Most people don't and would be shocked at the suggestion but they will happily download a TV show, that was my point. Legally online piracy isn't theft (although I personally think it should be)

And to be fair the same can be said about piracy, not everyone does it.

While Muso might say it recorded 300billion visits to illegal sites it doesn't mean 300billion people are actually using the site illegally. I could go look at an illegal site, realise it's not legal and leave yet muso would still register that in their 300billion hits (they might also be registering all the spiders that crawl the web too), you also have people who are going to the same site multiple times which will skew the results too. The only accurate (sort of) way to measure is via unique IP visits which I'm sure would be considerably lower than 300billion but that I believe would breach privacy laws.

It's also worth noting that while the headline figure of 300billion is there to shock, piracy itself only grew about 1.6% according to other sites which isn't exactly fast but it does show there is still a problem that the media companies need to fix.

[Ttaskmaster]

Don't need sky broadband (or any internet) although they do push it. It is still a lot though, no argument

It's not available in our area without internet.

When was the last time you walked into a shop and stole something?

I do not have to say anything (though, it may harm my defence if I do not mention when questioned something which I later rely on in court. Anything I do say may be given in evidence)...

I honestly cannot remember.

Most people don't and would be shocked at the suggestion but they will happily download a TV show, that was my point.

Many people think nothing of doing things that I am quite outraged over, partly because they just have no manners, but also because they know it's illegal and will be the first to whine if they get busted for it. Drivers are prime lawbreakers in this regard!

It's completely untrue to suggest that ony the bigger games/movies etc are pirated to any large degree.

Not only, but more.
The smaller games tend to be quite cheap and you don't 'save much money' from pirating a £2 game, compared to a £60 AAA title with all the associated designed-in DLC.
Movies - The bigger and more popular, the more it will be pirated, as evidenced by the number of people still hosting/seeding the LotR films, compared to... oh, I dunno... "The Viking Adventures Of Healfdene" or summat.

You can't, but that doesn't justify stealing it. If something isn't available in your regiion then you can't have it..tough. I can't think of a single justification for stealing content.

If it were cheap digital means, we'd not have to pirate anything. It's the regional locking used to control the price difference between regions that has generally been part of the problem.
But as people keep telling me, it's not theft anyway...!!

[elites2012]

in america, i doubt trump is worried about this. he is more focused on the wall and women's **snip by Admin - behave please **

[nobodyspecial]

<admin removed>

Piracy actually helps companies like Adobe etc, as people learn the app free, then get a job in USA etc, which ends in a sale then for them but not for the competition. They couldn't afford anything before learning a pirated app and going some place that uses that app and the company buys an actual lic. Same with MSFT and windows in under-developed nations; you learn it, then work somewhere who paid for it. As far as they are concerned, one less linux users out there then...LOL. Some companies get it to some extent.

<digression removed> I digress.

[peterb]

I have edited one post for going off on an irrelevant/inflammatory rant.

It is also timely to remind all posters that while while the merits or otherwise of content piracy (or content revenue theft) is permissible, methods of circumventing copyright holders rights are not.

[mikerr]

The convenience and reasonable price of netflix & nowtv has mostly stopped me pirating.

Actually my nowtv sub made me cancel my sky-dish sub - it's far cheaper !

[Moonister]

"For example, here in the UK we have access to reasonably priced streaming for TV and movies from the likes of Amazon, NowTV and Netflix" -

state of programmes these days is so poor that more often than not even £20/months is a waste of money. Even freeview (which isn't free as you have to pay over £147 tv licence which is probably a biggest rip-off after a council tax) I just buy/download whenever my gut feeling tells me something is worth my time.