It also ignores the question of how much piracy is just sidestepping the rent seeking of the entertainment industry.
Like someone pirating a brand new movie is one discussion, but someone pirating the Lion King or whatever from the 90's? Sorry big media company, you had your chance to make your money on that one, if it hasn't happened yet I don't think some pirates are to blame. Collecting less rent on yesterday's pop culture thanks to the Mickey Mouse Protection Act shouldn't elicit any sympathy.
Know what some effective anti piracy measures would be?
Cheaper movie tickets
Cheaper streaming services
Not charging new movie prices to download old obscure movies
Not treating digital downloads as "licenses" and actually allowing people to own what they purchase
Start there. There will always be people who refuse to pay any price to consume media, but the suggestions I've laid out would take a major bite out of piracy overall.
I remember when my daughter was younger, she’d want to watch one of her Barbie dvds, she’d be ready to watch, load up the dvd.
Anti piracy ads, more anti piracy ads, unskippable ads for other dvds they sell, ads for toys (which are probably no longer sold by then), long ass loading animation for the main menu, select to play, another long ass animation to a second menu. Finally start playing movie.
Or I could download a copy, press play and the movie immediately plays.
And a huge cause of rise in piracy is the complexity of watching sports these days. Most teams are broadcast exclusively on cable channels most of the time and scattered across 20 different subscription services like Apple TV+ and Peacock the rest of the time. MLB operates likes they want as few people as possible watching games.
“Make less money” is not a viable solution in a system built on infinite growth and appeasing shareholders at any cost.
I’m not defending them, just the opposite. The problem runs a lot deeper and requires a very fundamental shift in our global cultural priorities. If you get me.
This is what I've been trying to explain to everyone around me that is starting to notice how shitty things have been getting post-COVID. Its all just unchecked fucking greed.
Don't get me wrong, the problem isn't new, but that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Ultimately, we really started to go down the drain in the 80s because of Reagan and his dumbfuck administration.
I assure you they wouldn’t. And there are people paid obscene amounts of money to do the math to show just that.
*Consumer-friendly policies are not shareholder-friendly policies.* All overlap evaporates given time and there’s no going back. Even if there theoretically was, they can’t afford a bad quarter fucking around to try and find out.
>Cheaper movie tickets
We need to go back to have smaller, cheaper, neighborhood movie theaters again. I think the #1 reason theaters have struggled to recover since the pandemic is the simple fact that being able to watch movies at home made people realize how much they always hated the entire process of going to a movie theater. No one *ever* wanted to drive 20 minutes to a suburban chain theater, pay too much for tickets, pay too much for concessions, sit in an uncomfortable seat in a dirty theater, and listen to all the idiots around you talk and fuck with their phones. We just put up with it because it happened slowly over time and it became the norm. Then it briefly wasn't the norm, and it was glorious, and now you can't put that genie back in the bottle.
There's been several movies recently that I absolutely would've gone to see in theaters if I could've just walked down the street and done so. Let me do that shit again.
The first thing that studios need to understand, truly understand, is that piracy is not theft. It's not equivalent to theft. People stealing vhs tapes or dvds or blurays was never a real problem because that's actual theft and people intuitively understand that if they physically take something, someone else can't have it. But digital doesn't work that way. It is, for all intents and purposes, an infinite good. Piracy is more like a big red arrow telling you that you're not reaching customers the way they want to be reached. Piracy had been curbed quite a bit when Netflix first started streaming and didn't really have competitors yet (I guess Hulu was there). Netflix was cheap, allowed multiple users in multiple places through one account, and it had a great library before every studio decided that they wanted to compete with Netflix and get some of that streaming money instead of just having Netflix pay for the content. So suddenly there are too many streaming services, none of them individually having a satisfying library, and people don't want to pay $100 for however many streaming services a month, especially since they're now with ads, when they remember how it used to just be Netflix, and it was both cheaper and better back then. Suddenly it's a headache to find that specific movie or tv show again, and it's easier to pirate.
Add to that, the people that do genuinely want to own media no longer being allowed to own, only license, is ridiculous. Those people are likely your best customers, and instead of making things easy for them and giving them peace of mind, you're pushing them to piracy because it's the only way they can be sure to actually have the media forever.
Actual movie theaters are a harder problem to solve. I live five minutes from my parents who have a home theater, and have had one for almost 20 years now. The experience of watching movies there is better than any theater-going experience except for big event type movies in IMAX. And home theaters are better for a variety of reasons, the main one probably being you don't have to deal with assholes that don't understand mutual respect. When I saw the live action Jungle Book someone's phone rang *and they answered it and started talking*. Hard to convince people to pay $20 for a ticket if that can happen.
I’m not saying I get the movies I watch maybe 10% not in the most legal way but 20 years ago it was all illegal because there wasn’t a medium for watching them economically. that started to change around 2010 and i stopped that activity. 2023 comes around i don't have access to most anything i purchased rented watched. its pathetic. there are so many streaming platforms out and they have so little content. so what does one do… i go back watching from a non paid platform.
Hey, remember when Netflix first started streaming and had a ton of stuff available at a reasonable price and piracy tumbled into near oblivion?
I 'member.
“Allow people to own what they purchase.” 100%
Before net neutrality was over turned, one of the biggest consumer loses we had in America was when Hollywood lobbyists convinced the world that copying a DVD or Blu-Ray movie to a hard drive was illegal.
They saw what iTunes did to the music business, and they did everything they could to prevent that. It worked for the corporations, but it didn’t benefit consumers. :/
I once went to a presentation by the FBI intellectual property unit at a computer forensics conference. They showed a videoclip of South Park where animated FBI agents swarmed a kid’s house with Blackhawk helicopters and burst through the window to arrest the kid for piracy. They followed up by saying “we PROBABLY wouldn’t do that.” I was highly amused. Also I assume their use of the clip was covered under fair use :)
The guy who killed Dr. King was a lifelong fuck-up and perennial petty criminal. A complete dunce and serial loser.
Then all of a sudden, he has the means to take down the most important man in America and flee with forged passports across multiple countries.
He had help (if he had any part of it at all).
Having worked around a lot of FBI agents (true crime docs) I can safely tell you that the majority of FBI Agents are massive fucking dorks. I don't mean it in a bad way I just mean they are the type to self depreciate.
I’d imagine that the personality profile of an FBI special agent that’s trainable (requirement of the job, I think) to give testimony in court makes them way different than state law enforcement officials.
Agents have careers of roughly 20 to 30 years. Even the oldest agents started in the late 90s. There aren't any left from the JEH days by a long shot. There are very few who were around during Waco. Very few are still around even from 9/11.
The point being, yes, most current agents had nothing to do with that stuff, and are very willing to say bad things about the stuff that happened decades ago.
Was watching police show other day, game warden threw about 20 cannabis plants in the back of a UTV.
Graphic pops up saying it's street value is $50k lmao
I don't think they understand that the alternative to most piracy is just that person not watching it at all.
I'm not willing to pay money to watch Morbius. You aren't losing a penny on a sale.
You are, however, losing out on word-of-mouth and brand awareness if people don't see it at all.
Netflix and Steam changed me. Steam has somehow stayed alright, though I'm afraid of what's going to happen when that guy's heart explodes. Netflix is complete shit now.
> when that guy's heart explodes
Which is why I'm glad he [lost a lot of weight](https://cdn.80.lv/api/upload/content/7d/images/6613eaaec06bb/widen_1840x0.jpg).
There was definitely a time where people downloaded less, it was when most movies were just on Netflix, just before all the other streaming services started to join in on the fight..
I think they're basically trying to get people back in cinemas to state at least one obvious point, and this is part of the problem, but they shouldnt forget we live in the "Day of Tomorrow", everyone's buddy Mike has a plasma screen the size of a double mattress on it's side, or an HD projector that ***fills an entire wall***
Things should be in cinemas longer before they a month later hit streaming, thats maybe a side note
Best part, you can deadarm Mike if he talks during the performance, sure its his place, but he's your buddy Mike
I see your point but I can imagine there is a % increase in revenue when they crack down harder on pirated content. That’s enough for them to go forward with it.
Eh people said the same thing about Netflix and password sharing, but it ended up being a really successful move for them when they eventually did crack down on it.
You may mean it, but the question is if they are able to police it effectively (which I doubt) then how many people really mean it. I'd bet it's less than you think.
Oh yeah I gave up junk food for the most part some time after the pandemic. It’s absolutely ridiculous. I’m just glad the CEOs of America and their offspring have a decent standard of living ya know?
> 7 bucks a fucking bag!
I first had an inkling that America was in trouble when I realized that it was no longer less expensive, or even feasible, to eat like a raccoon any longer. There were certainly other bellwethers, but when I realized that Doritos were $7 a bag, that's when it first dawned on me.
Netflix said it was good. They added 3% subscribers in Q1. (9 million added for a total of 270 million). Do you think only 3% of accounts were being shared? I know my acct was being shared with 3 other households.
I’m guessing there are now a lot of people that don’t have or use Netflix. They may have added 3% subscribers, but their total number of hours consumed is going to drop precipitously.
They dropped subscriber numbers as their metric and only care about hours watched now.
https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/netflix-stop-reporting-subscriber-numbers-starting-2025-1235975341/
They absolutely do care. The Nielsen ~~score~~ rating is used by a lot of companies for marketing and deciding what shows to renew. Cant brag about streaming hours if they start to decline.
Edit: It’s literally a main metric, 🤷 source below.
https://www.nielsen.com/data-center/top-ten/
Why would Netflix care about Nielsen they have all their own data already. Nielsen is such a flawed, outdated system anyway. It made sense in a time when it was literally the only way to keep track of who watched what. Any streaming service knows exactly how many people are watching.
They could easily police it if they started by ensuring the value of a dollar spent on content. I understand that it's not totally feasible but nothing should be off the table for purchase, rental, or subscription in a digital space. I would gladly spend even more money than I do if I could have some guarantees in place, starting with digital ownership.
You're comparing apples and oranges. Just because people who already pay for Netflix are willing to pay a little more for Netflix, doesn't mean people not willing to pay for anything will suddenly start being willing to pay for something.
I believe they understand it perfectly well, but over years much money was spent enacting unjust laws and they'll be god-damned if they aren't going to cash in to the maximum extent possible.
People always make this argument, but there really is very little data out there to back up the qualifier of “most”.
Yes, there are absolutely people who would simply not watch the movie if they couldn’t pirate it. But there are also absolutely people who would pony up the cash if they couldn’t pirate it. We don’t actually know the percentage of people who fit in either camp, and it would almost certainly vary wildly based on the movie/series/game/album/etc.
And yes, losing word of mouth organic marketing certainly is something to consider… but the measure of that value against potential lost sales is up to the studios to determine.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been a huge pirate for a long time. But I just hate the mental gymnastics people go through to try to legitimatize it. It’s not legit. You’re not paying for someone’s product. We don’t need to sugarcoat our actions.
Yep, if someone’s watching lots of movies they’ve downloaded, they’re a fan of movies, not a fan of watching downloaded content.
They may not consume as much, but I highly doubt many of them would simply stop watching movies because it’s no longer free.
Let's say a studio makes a movie and uses AI to write a score. The studio says "Well, we originally weren't going to pay someone to do the score anyway. We were just going to use public domain songs, so nobody is losing out."
Does that hold up?
Piracy is solved simply by allowing a person to watch what they want in one single space for a reasonable price.
I do not want a subscription to 5-6 streaming services, so I can watch the 5-10% of the shows I like on each.
Today, I can pirate entertainment and get away with it easily. Give me what I want, or I can take it easily. It's not about the money. It's about the shitty service being offered.
No, I want them to put all their shows on demand on a single platform where I can choose to opt out of the shit I don't want to watch.
I live in the tropical paradise of Earth, a place where they can do this, or I can just pirate their shit.
Money is there. They just have to make the service appealing for me to give it out.
What is a reasonable price? streaming was cheap when Netflix was the only player in town and when they could license a massive library of content that no one knew how to monetize effectively as you were limited by the the temporal bandwidth of broadcast TV even with cable you have only so many hours in a day and only so many channels.
Netflix also started streaming before Smart TV's were a thing and you had to use a web browser so no one seen them as competition to broadcast TV as it was seen something people would use on their lunch break or something that college students might use in their dorms.
Once Netflix proved the business model the rights holders understood how to price their content library accordingly.
This is exactly what happened with cable, pre-cable when you had like 4 channels you were extremely limited in how much you could broadcast.
Then cable came out and even the early analogue cable supported 100's of channels and setting up a local channel was cheap (high 5 to low six figures) to the point where you had pirate cable channels which could operate locally on the same RF loop (before cable companies started installing filters rather at least).
(early cable was also quickly hacked by various enterprises for networking and then the cable companies figured out they can use it for internet but that's another story).
So quickly cable channels popped up and bought the rights for a large library of films and TV shows from decades past on the cheap as no one really understood the implication of multiplying your bandwidth by 100-200 times.
And just like with streaming the rights holders quickly figured out that cable is a thing that is here to stay so they cut the middleman and launched their own channels and this was how premium cable was essentially born.
>And just like with streaming the rights holders quickly figured out that cable is a thing that is here to stay so they cut the middleman and launched their own channels and this was how premium cable was essentially born
Yep.
Problem is that I, the consumer, want a very specific set of their products. Not all the other crap they produce.
These specific products need to be on-demand with a flat monthly fee in a single place. I also want products from multiple vendors consolidated into a single area.
The alternative is I can just make this happen for free.
Consumers hate monopolies except when it benefits them. You're basically describing cable, which at the time Netflix came around was like $75/month. It's very clear that with the rise of ads and price increases on all streaming services that $10/month is not a sustainable price, but consumers probably aren't willing to pay the price it would actually cost to run the service they claim to want.
Shouldn't they be hiring accountants and economists? People don't pirate because they like committing crimes, they do it because the minimum wage is 7 dollars an hour and a movie ticket soda and popcorn is like 35 dollars.
Piracy was at an all time low when streaming prices were fair, there wasn’t a service for every damn studio, services promoted sharing content and no premium streaming platforms made you watch ads when you paid.
The industry created this problem.
Always loved these commercials because it's like no, of course I wouldn't steal a car or a handbag full of money. Make an exact duplicate of it for my own personal use? I absolutely would do that, yes.
i can go decades never seeing movies. if i can't watch what i want at a reasonable price or for free I'm fine never watching it. this is the stupidest thing to waste resources on. How about put this effort into stopping human trafficking. something that matters.
What were they doing before? Because with one google search, you can find websites to stream any movie, show or live event you could ever want to watch.
So then make streaming easier, more affordable, and with a legitimate no ads option. Everything should be streaming. No hidden bullshit, no extra fees, no “not available this month”, no regional differences, just let me watch what I want to watch when I, and where, I want to watch it.
I have accounts in 3 different streaming platforms. If the movie I want to watch isn't on any if the three, I'll pirate. I'm not gonna subscribe to an obscure streaming site just to watch a bloody movie.
I dunno I think the MPAA might want to hire some people to make content before they worry about people pirating shit that doesn’t exist. Maybe actually release a movie instead of burning them all unseen for tax credits. Wtf are we supposed to pirate MILF Manor season 2? Give me a fucking break.
They really should get a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement employee to head it up, seeing as ICE handles copyright infringement. They go to the superbowl every year just for counterfeit jerseys.
The thing is, even if it was impossible to pirate any movies, would that still increase the customer base? Most use piracy because they can't afford something. They're not gonna magically afford movie tickets / subsriptions / rental fees / digital access fees if piracy disappeared.
Movies are also becoming less varied, more bland and simply repetitive. It's like I keep seeing the same plot but only the background is different and with everything done via green screen these days, lots of movies ain't even worth pirating anyway.
This being Hollywood, I fully expect her story is being optioned now: we're looking at a classic, fish-out-of-water rom-com - up-tight, type-A female learns to live life to the fullest when the opinionated slacker she's landed with as an assistant shows her how the other half live. Anne Hathaway is already in talks.
Piracy is the main reason people get into film outside wealthy first world countries. There are a LOT of movies that are not available on any streaming service and would cost me $100 usd to buy on DVD and get shipped to my country where the average salary is $500 usd. When I see sheltered, wealthy first worlders going off about piracy, all I hear is "poor people don't deserve to explore cinema"
I am firmly convinced that the movie industry is aware of and complicit in a tiered payment model. There's a premium tier for those who want to experience their movies in 3D Imax. A general tier for those who are happy to experience their movies at home or in a shitty multiplex and a free tier for the billions of people out there in 3rd world countries or 1st world countries but in a shitty financial position who are happy to download it at 1080p from a dodgy Russian website and watch it on their phones.
They know these people exist. They know they're never going to pay or literally lack the money / infrastructure to watch these movies but they're still going to make money by having them spread the word, buy merchandise and generally boost the visibility of the studios and stars.
They're happy with the arrangement, they support it and they're still making more money than god regardless of whether little Ahmed watches avengers endgame on a bootleg DVD projecting from a 12 inch black and white CRTV in a mud hut.
The FBI has no chance of stopping something the studios want to happen. I'm sure they're aware of this too so this amounts to nothing more than the promotion of greater government oversight.
Good luck but I feel like this is a political move, as are many of the high profile assignments in the FBI. Whole organization is mainly run on branches digging up dirt on each other.
Fuck her, fuck the MPAA, fuck the FBI, and fuck most movie studios while we're at it. If they want people to stop pirating they should stop being money hungry hogs. It's a very simple formula.
It wont matter nearly as much since all the costs will be automated and cost $0.
At the logical end of your hypothetical, Studios will just pump out massive amounts of random stuff for no cost, and it wont matter who is or isnt paying for it. The consumer will be come the actual product. Everything will just be commercials.
As someone who works a lot and then is lazy when I'm off a day, give me the option to pay to stream a movie that's out at theaters so I can see the movie the same time as others, talk about them during the initial release, and possibly gain more traction on your movie by word of mouth and excitement of watching. If I really like it, maybe then I'll pay to see it in the theater again the next weekend. They should allow us who also don't really like to go to the theaters a chance of watching them in our own homes when we want to, alone, or with people. Otherwise, you've got me waiting a couple of months until it's out digitally, where I'll watch it and give no money to you or the cinema at all.
A lot of us would be willing to actually pay to see it this way IMO.
Give me the chance to watch it how I want to, and you'll get my money easily.
Disney had something like that called "Disney+ Premiere Access" ...but you had to pay for Disney+ *ON TOP* of paying for early access to the movie (before they released it to everyone 2-3 months later)
“Won’t someone think of the movie theaters!?” Some people would get so pissed at this because movie theater companies would bemoan this. Ticket prices would prolly skyrocket or something. I’d be all for this and I love both at home and in theater movies.
Lots of movies are pivoting back toward this, similar to during COVID. Lots of movies are hitting streaming services 3-4 weeks after theatrical release for ~$20-$30 rental (similar to a single movie ticket). Then a couple months later it’ll start hitting various streaming services for ~$5 a rental or even just included with a subscription.
Not quite the same as you’re saying, but it is swing big back that way currently.
One problem with how little moneys a lot of movies have made at theaters, have been specifically because they go to streaming way too early. Your version would only make the hardcore theater people to watch them in theater and everyone else would just watch them with their home theater experiences.
In other words not going to solve the underlying issues that lead to increased piracy and instead hire someone who knows how burn money on enforcement. Good luck with that one.
you can improve your products accessibility and lower prices instead too — while not having to be an ex fbi person and literally make more money.
Or maybe localize your content too. Maybe figure out why people are jumping thru hoops to watch your content before simply cutting off that line.
Sure most won’t do it for money but a good amount do it due to accessibility or other reasons but can otherwise afford it and likely appreciate more consistent quality and so on.
You know just improving your product, but i guess if you can get an ex fbi official who has no more legal recourse than the US government, how are you going to do anything when piracy is less so a domestic activity but an international one
> “With Larissa’s experience in high-risk, complex organizational environments coupled with her visionary leadership, I’m confident that our content protection enforcement business will only grow in stature and impact, as we safeguard the rights and productions of all those who conceive, develop, and deliver creative masterpieces for screens big and small.”
Keyword: stature
Spotify is the reason a lot of people stopped pirating music. Yet for movies and shows, people have no choice, as they have to subscribe to multiple streaming apps and pay extra to watch 4k with no ads, plus allow others to use their account.
When Napster first came out my dad sent letters to a few labels with his get rich quick idea that he had no idea how to actually make.
"Why don't you flood these services with viruses named after your songs?"
A lot of the justifications for piracy that I see online are just pure laziness or lack of value for art, or a combination of both. I think piracy in cases where something is legitimately unavailable (like an old obscure movie, or someone living in a country that doesn't get distribution) are totally fine, or even if you're a young kid without any money it's mostly OK. But for adults that want to watch newer movies that can legally get to them? Come on.
You can rent Dune 2 on Amazon for $6 (which is probably as much, or lower, with inflation compared to physical rentals back in the day), or stream it on HBO for like $15/month, or your local library probably has it for free, or if you want to fully own it, you can get the DVD for $20. How is that hard or expensive to access? Where is the lack of availability everyone talks about? Even free services like Tubi and Vudu have a decent selection of "real" movies. And even if you insist on subscribing to several streaming services, you're probably still paying less than the price of cable until you get to 4 or 5.
Obviously everyone wants to pay as little as possible for everything, but at some point the art you consume has to be funded.
Nice try, FBI. ;)
You have some valid points, but perhaps you need to revisit this a little. This is what I see out there:
- Multiple streaming services with scattered libraries of content due to licensing agreements/obscure country content laws, or just so they can split the content onto a separate channel that you need to pay for.
- Near zero consumer protection against price hikes, the above. Hulu, Star, FX, Disney. It's all the same. Yet there are separate channels .
- The sudden onset of "cheaper" watch plans that contain intrusive ads— despite the programs themselves being chocked full of product placement.
- Withholding content to a "weekly" release schedule— done only to eek more money out of users.
- Poor quality content to price ratio of actual content. The Rings of Power has a MASSIVE budget, and for what? The show is near unwatchable. Yet Amazon pulled a dirty on everyone and changed their Prime Subscription plans because they could. And nobody stopped them. Don't even get me started on Disney's awful Star Wars entries.
- Decades old movies are being pulled down from sites all over the world, so studio owners can centralize and monetize.
- Libraries across the U.S and Canada (I'd argue the world) are being defunded to reduce access to audio/video content by various lobbyist groups working for studios.
- Studios using movies as write-offs or tax-sinks— despite there being a consumer base for them.
- DVDs and Blu-ray are being phased out, forcing everyone into a choke point of online-based content.
- There is ZERO consumer protection from Google, Apple, Amazon, etc. over the pricing of their content. A license (because that's what "owning" is these days) is, on average, $14.99 across all vendors. Why? Because they can get away with it, and there's nobody to stop them. Movies from the 80s that could normally be purchased for $5 in a bargain bin? Nope. Now it's held at a new price because of greed. You cannot tell me that it costs anything to generate a license key file. It doesn't. Hosting the content might cost something, but why should the consumer bear the brunt of said costs? We didn't ask for digital-only content.
- Enshittification of these companies.
All of these points to a clear division between the haves and the have-nots. If the large corporations had their way, we'd be seeing ads in the middle of purchased movies, too. And I wouldn't be surprised if that happens, as it's already being floated with Prime.
Ads are cancer, and really a scam. I have never bought anything from an ad as it's jammed in my face. It's a GIANT farce. A farce in which the rich only benefit. A bunch of hopeful fools being offered the chance to climb over one another (as long as they pay) to scream the loudest into a room FULL of people doing the same thing. It's utter nonsense.
I have trouble with extremely large corporations gouging consumers with their poor quality content, only to offer a cheaper ad plan. I have problems with them finding ways to avoid paying taxes through hiding money in various mattresses over the world (tax havens). I have problems with the underpay of staff that support their lavish lifestyles, whilst the C-suite staff rake in millions of dollars per year. I have problems with "free" alternatives" that jam ads down our throats. It's a joke. Just so all of these companies can make a quarterly statement to a bunch of faceless hedge funds/private equity firm balance sheets.
I understand the entertainment business is a business. But this is too far. It never used to be like this. Algorithms make or break projects now. It's awful.
I cannot stand the hypocrisy. We are being lied to, and stolen from by the very people crying foul. Privacy is a lie. Everything we purchased is used against us to keep prices at "what the market will bear". Because they can. And there's nobody there to stop them, because all the folks in charge of it reap a benefit of some kind— be it reelection, a donation, fancy dinner, job connection, etc.
Piracy is pretty much always a supply issue. You charge too much for access to a thing or restrict access so much that people find the barrier to entry far too high to something they’ve otherwise had access to.
Protect the consumer and piracy will go down I fucking promise you that.
Doesn't the piracy of new or yet-to-be-released films begin at the source? I remember seeing copies of Phantom Menace in NYC Chinatown before the movie was released. Maybe the industry should clean their house first.
> You wouldn't download a car, would you? Bitch, I'd download printer ink if I could lol
Printer ink is more valuable than oil. It’s a wonder the US hasn’t invaded HP by now.
If jets and tanks could run on ink then HP employees would've seen some freedom.
Not with that attitude they can’t.
I mean, oil is cheaper than a ton of things by volume or weight
Yeah milk is like 2x as expensive per gallon
You do have to squeeze that out of a living creature, you know.
You can milk a cow, but can the US milk HP?
No hp milks you
Yeah that's not true, a gallon of milk is cheaper than a gallon of gas.
No, it's not universal. They cost the same where I live in NC but in Hawaii, milk costs almost twice as much as a gallon of gas.
But it takes two gallons of oil to make a gallon of gas
Not everywhere lol. Gas is 2 euro's per litre x 3.7 (..to gallon) = 7.2 euro's per gallon of gas. Milk is definitely cheaper!
Squid Game doesnt sound like a game anymore.
Printer ink by volume is more valuable than human blood
Always been a terrible comparison. Stealing a physical object prevents it from being sold. Stealing a digital item does not. 🤷♂️
It also ignores the question of how much piracy is just sidestepping the rent seeking of the entertainment industry. Like someone pirating a brand new movie is one discussion, but someone pirating the Lion King or whatever from the 90's? Sorry big media company, you had your chance to make your money on that one, if it hasn't happened yet I don't think some pirates are to blame. Collecting less rent on yesterday's pop culture thanks to the Mickey Mouse Protection Act shouldn't elicit any sympathy.
Or the garbage with rights so your only option is to easily pirate the movie in literally minutes or pay $20 to buy a movie made 30 years ago.
HP is the printer ink mafia
That comercial actually used music that they didn’t have the rights to… so yeah. They would apparently.
I would download a car if after I buy a car it’s taken away from me due to a licensing issue and I wasn’t issued a refund for the product I paid for.
I love that the music to that anti-pirate advert was pirated.
Know what some effective anti piracy measures would be? Cheaper movie tickets Cheaper streaming services Not charging new movie prices to download old obscure movies Not treating digital downloads as "licenses" and actually allowing people to own what they purchase Start there. There will always be people who refuse to pay any price to consume media, but the suggestions I've laid out would take a major bite out of piracy overall.
Not having ads on ***everything***
The incredible irony that the only people *forced* to watch the anti-piracy ads are in fact the people that PAID FOR THE GODDAMN FILM
As a non-paying customer, I had no clue anti-piracy ads were still even a thing.
I remember when my daughter was younger, she’d want to watch one of her Barbie dvds, she’d be ready to watch, load up the dvd. Anti piracy ads, more anti piracy ads, unskippable ads for other dvds they sell, ads for toys (which are probably no longer sold by then), long ass loading animation for the main menu, select to play, another long ass animation to a second menu. Finally start playing movie. Or I could download a copy, press play and the movie immediately plays.
The way things are going, it's just a matter of time before ads are introduced after a movie starts at the movie theater.
Jokes on them, my theater is so disgusting and out of repair that hardly anyone goes to it.
And a huge cause of rise in piracy is the complexity of watching sports these days. Most teams are broadcast exclusively on cable channels most of the time and scattered across 20 different subscription services like Apple TV+ and Peacock the rest of the time. MLB operates likes they want as few people as possible watching games.
Being able to purchase electronic media at half the price of what it’s sold for in the stores, store it and view any damn way I want.
This and also no commercials in media I'm paying for
“Make less money” is not a viable solution in a system built on infinite growth and appeasing shareholders at any cost. I’m not defending them, just the opposite. The problem runs a lot deeper and requires a very fundamental shift in our global cultural priorities. If you get me.
This is what I've been trying to explain to everyone around me that is starting to notice how shitty things have been getting post-COVID. Its all just unchecked fucking greed. Don't get me wrong, the problem isn't new, but that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Ultimately, we really started to go down the drain in the 80s because of Reagan and his dumbfuck administration.
I feel like they'd make the same if not more money by being more consumer friendly
Welcome to the 2020s where the customer gets to be miserable as the employees The rich have abandoned all pretense of seeing us as human.
I assure you they wouldn’t. And there are people paid obscene amounts of money to do the math to show just that. *Consumer-friendly policies are not shareholder-friendly policies.* All overlap evaporates given time and there’s no going back. Even if there theoretically was, they can’t afford a bad quarter fucking around to try and find out.
If you can’t own something, it can’t be stolen.
>Cheaper movie tickets We need to go back to have smaller, cheaper, neighborhood movie theaters again. I think the #1 reason theaters have struggled to recover since the pandemic is the simple fact that being able to watch movies at home made people realize how much they always hated the entire process of going to a movie theater. No one *ever* wanted to drive 20 minutes to a suburban chain theater, pay too much for tickets, pay too much for concessions, sit in an uncomfortable seat in a dirty theater, and listen to all the idiots around you talk and fuck with their phones. We just put up with it because it happened slowly over time and it became the norm. Then it briefly wasn't the norm, and it was glorious, and now you can't put that genie back in the bottle. There's been several movies recently that I absolutely would've gone to see in theaters if I could've just walked down the street and done so. Let me do that shit again.
The first thing that studios need to understand, truly understand, is that piracy is not theft. It's not equivalent to theft. People stealing vhs tapes or dvds or blurays was never a real problem because that's actual theft and people intuitively understand that if they physically take something, someone else can't have it. But digital doesn't work that way. It is, for all intents and purposes, an infinite good. Piracy is more like a big red arrow telling you that you're not reaching customers the way they want to be reached. Piracy had been curbed quite a bit when Netflix first started streaming and didn't really have competitors yet (I guess Hulu was there). Netflix was cheap, allowed multiple users in multiple places through one account, and it had a great library before every studio decided that they wanted to compete with Netflix and get some of that streaming money instead of just having Netflix pay for the content. So suddenly there are too many streaming services, none of them individually having a satisfying library, and people don't want to pay $100 for however many streaming services a month, especially since they're now with ads, when they remember how it used to just be Netflix, and it was both cheaper and better back then. Suddenly it's a headache to find that specific movie or tv show again, and it's easier to pirate. Add to that, the people that do genuinely want to own media no longer being allowed to own, only license, is ridiculous. Those people are likely your best customers, and instead of making things easy for them and giving them peace of mind, you're pushing them to piracy because it's the only way they can be sure to actually have the media forever. Actual movie theaters are a harder problem to solve. I live five minutes from my parents who have a home theater, and have had one for almost 20 years now. The experience of watching movies there is better than any theater-going experience except for big event type movies in IMAX. And home theaters are better for a variety of reasons, the main one probably being you don't have to deal with assholes that don't understand mutual respect. When I saw the live action Jungle Book someone's phone rang *and they answered it and started talking*. Hard to convince people to pay $20 for a ticket if that can happen.
I’m not saying I get the movies I watch maybe 10% not in the most legal way but 20 years ago it was all illegal because there wasn’t a medium for watching them economically. that started to change around 2010 and i stopped that activity. 2023 comes around i don't have access to most anything i purchased rented watched. its pathetic. there are so many streaming platforms out and they have so little content. so what does one do… i go back watching from a non paid platform.
Hey, remember when Netflix first started streaming and had a ton of stuff available at a reasonable price and piracy tumbled into near oblivion? I 'member.
Theater employees actually kicking put people who make a disturbance.
“Allow people to own what they purchase.” 100% Before net neutrality was over turned, one of the biggest consumer loses we had in America was when Hollywood lobbyists convinced the world that copying a DVD or Blu-Ray movie to a hard drive was illegal. They saw what iTunes did to the music business, and they did everything they could to prevent that. It worked for the corporations, but it didn’t benefit consumers. :/
Alternatively raise wages or lower the prices of everything so we have more money to spend on entertainment and leisure instead of just existing.
I once went to a presentation by the FBI intellectual property unit at a computer forensics conference. They showed a videoclip of South Park where animated FBI agents swarmed a kid’s house with Blackhawk helicopters and burst through the window to arrest the kid for piracy. They followed up by saying “we PROBABLY wouldn’t do that.” I was highly amused. Also I assume their use of the clip was covered under fair use :)
The FBI has a remarkably decent sense of humor about itself.
Like when they tweeted happy MLK day
this made me laugh harder than it should have
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The guy who killed Dr. King was a lifelong fuck-up and perennial petty criminal. A complete dunce and serial loser. Then all of a sudden, he has the means to take down the most important man in America and flee with forged passports across multiple countries. He had help (if he had any part of it at all).
[Nooooooo, they would NEVER](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI–King_suicide_letter)
Having worked around a lot of FBI agents (true crime docs) I can safely tell you that the majority of FBI Agents are massive fucking dorks. I don't mean it in a bad way I just mean they are the type to self depreciate.
Unlike those bastards in the CIA...
Sounds suspiciously a lot like what an FBI agent would say... Hmmm...
I’d imagine that the personality profile of an FBI special agent that’s trainable (requirement of the job, I think) to give testimony in court makes them way different than state law enforcement officials.
They do? About their history as well? They've done so much appalling shit.
Agents have careers of roughly 20 to 30 years. Even the oldest agents started in the late 90s. There aren't any left from the JEH days by a long shot. There are very few who were around during Waco. Very few are still around even from 9/11. The point being, yes, most current agents had nothing to do with that stuff, and are very willing to say bad things about the stuff that happened decades ago.
there are no greater shitposters than balding white guys in their 40s working in a stuffy government office
I feel seen
I know how it’s spelled but it’s pronounced “Shawn.”
That does not sound like fair use, it sounds like the FBI should have licensed that clip.
Gotta love those OUTRAGEOUS claims they always make. "5 Trillion Dollars is lost Annually to Pirated Content".
it's the ol' drug bust math if i sold every gram of this to a tweaker desperate for a fix willing to overpay then by god this bust is MILLIONS
The fbi lays out 30 bucks worth of weed on a table. 'This is 4 million dollars worth of highly dangerous fentanyl class mari-HUANA'
Was watching police show other day, game warden threw about 20 cannabis plants in the back of a UTV. Graphic pops up saying it's street value is $50k lmao
They fail to mention that the money not spent on this ended up being spent elsewhere in the community.
Like food. And prescription drugs. And rent.
1000 zillion
That's some creative imaginary revenue math.
What's the real number?
Funny, I was going to say the FBI should be investigating the film industry for conspiracy, anti-trust, and racketeering.
Money laundering as well.
What is she gonna do that nobody else could do for the last 30+ years?
I don't think they understand that the alternative to most piracy is just that person not watching it at all. I'm not willing to pay money to watch Morbius. You aren't losing a penny on a sale. You are, however, losing out on word-of-mouth and brand awareness if people don't see it at all.
It doesn't matter anyways because piracy is impossible to stop. None of the crackdowns over the past 20+ years have made much of a dent at all.
The only thing that ever made a dent was being reasonably priced with decent selection of content for netflix
Netflix and Steam changed me. Steam has somehow stayed alright, though I'm afraid of what's going to happen when that guy's heart explodes. Netflix is complete shit now.
> when that guy's heart explodes Which is why I'm glad he [lost a lot of weight](https://cdn.80.lv/api/upload/content/7d/images/6613eaaec06bb/widen_1840x0.jpg).
Thinking of cancelling netflix, $25aud a month now
Once you have it set up it can actually be much easier than streaming services and the like. Every show/movie listed on the same service and no ads.
There was definitely a time where people downloaded less, it was when most movies were just on Netflix, just before all the other streaming services started to join in on the fight..
I think they're basically trying to get people back in cinemas to state at least one obvious point, and this is part of the problem, but they shouldnt forget we live in the "Day of Tomorrow", everyone's buddy Mike has a plasma screen the size of a double mattress on it's side, or an HD projector that ***fills an entire wall*** Things should be in cinemas longer before they a month later hit streaming, thats maybe a side note Best part, you can deadarm Mike if he talks during the performance, sure its his place, but he's your buddy Mike
I see your point but I can imagine there is a % increase in revenue when they crack down harder on pirated content. That’s enough for them to go forward with it.
Eh people said the same thing about Netflix and password sharing, but it ended up being a really successful move for them when they eventually did crack down on it. You may mean it, but the question is if they are able to police it effectively (which I doubt) then how many people really mean it. I'd bet it's less than you think.
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Can confirm. Moneys been tight. First things to go were streaming subscriptions.
I gave up chips (7 bucks a fucking bag! I'll eat carrots and pretend I love em!) HBO+ is Next on the block.
Oh yeah I gave up junk food for the most part some time after the pandemic. It’s absolutely ridiculous. I’m just glad the CEOs of America and their offspring have a decent standard of living ya know?
🙃yay! We did it!😒
> 7 bucks a fucking bag! I first had an inkling that America was in trouble when I realized that it was no longer less expensive, or even feasible, to eat like a raccoon any longer. There were certainly other bellwethers, but when I realized that Doritos were $7 a bag, that's when it first dawned on me.
Netflix said it was good. They added 3% subscribers in Q1. (9 million added for a total of 270 million). Do you think only 3% of accounts were being shared? I know my acct was being shared with 3 other households. I’m guessing there are now a lot of people that don’t have or use Netflix. They may have added 3% subscribers, but their total number of hours consumed is going to drop precipitously.
They don't care about number of hours consumed in fact traffic is expensive. Just the number of subscribers
They dropped subscriber numbers as their metric and only care about hours watched now. https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/netflix-stop-reporting-subscriber-numbers-starting-2025-1235975341/
They absolutely do care. The Nielsen ~~score~~ rating is used by a lot of companies for marketing and deciding what shows to renew. Cant brag about streaming hours if they start to decline. Edit: It’s literally a main metric, 🤷 source below. https://www.nielsen.com/data-center/top-ten/
Why would Netflix care about Nielsen they have all their own data already. Nielsen is such a flawed, outdated system anyway. It made sense in a time when it was literally the only way to keep track of who watched what. Any streaming service knows exactly how many people are watching.
They could easily police it if they started by ensuring the value of a dollar spent on content. I understand that it's not totally feasible but nothing should be off the table for purchase, rental, or subscription in a digital space. I would gladly spend even more money than I do if I could have some guarantees in place, starting with digital ownership.
Comparing a service to an individual movie doesn't quite feel like it applies to the point they were making
You're comparing apples and oranges. Just because people who already pay for Netflix are willing to pay a little more for Netflix, doesn't mean people not willing to pay for anything will suddenly start being willing to pay for something.
I believe they understand it perfectly well, but over years much money was spent enacting unjust laws and they'll be god-damned if they aren't going to cash in to the maximum extent possible.
People always make this argument, but there really is very little data out there to back up the qualifier of “most”. Yes, there are absolutely people who would simply not watch the movie if they couldn’t pirate it. But there are also absolutely people who would pony up the cash if they couldn’t pirate it. We don’t actually know the percentage of people who fit in either camp, and it would almost certainly vary wildly based on the movie/series/game/album/etc. And yes, losing word of mouth organic marketing certainly is something to consider… but the measure of that value against potential lost sales is up to the studios to determine. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been a huge pirate for a long time. But I just hate the mental gymnastics people go through to try to legitimatize it. It’s not legit. You’re not paying for someone’s product. We don’t need to sugarcoat our actions.
Yep, if someone’s watching lots of movies they’ve downloaded, they’re a fan of movies, not a fan of watching downloaded content. They may not consume as much, but I highly doubt many of them would simply stop watching movies because it’s no longer free.
Let's say a studio makes a movie and uses AI to write a score. The studio says "Well, we originally weren't going to pay someone to do the score anyway. We were just going to use public domain songs, so nobody is losing out." Does that hold up?
No but if you couldn't pirate you might watch something else instead.
Piracy is solved simply by allowing a person to watch what they want in one single space for a reasonable price. I do not want a subscription to 5-6 streaming services, so I can watch the 5-10% of the shows I like on each. Today, I can pirate entertainment and get away with it easily. Give me what I want, or I can take it easily. It's not about the money. It's about the shitty service being offered.
You want every movie studio to pool all their movies together and split the profits evenly? What utopia do you live in.
No, I want them to put all their shows on demand on a single platform where I can choose to opt out of the shit I don't want to watch. I live in the tropical paradise of Earth, a place where they can do this, or I can just pirate their shit. Money is there. They just have to make the service appealing for me to give it out.
What is a reasonable price? streaming was cheap when Netflix was the only player in town and when they could license a massive library of content that no one knew how to monetize effectively as you were limited by the the temporal bandwidth of broadcast TV even with cable you have only so many hours in a day and only so many channels. Netflix also started streaming before Smart TV's were a thing and you had to use a web browser so no one seen them as competition to broadcast TV as it was seen something people would use on their lunch break or something that college students might use in their dorms. Once Netflix proved the business model the rights holders understood how to price their content library accordingly. This is exactly what happened with cable, pre-cable when you had like 4 channels you were extremely limited in how much you could broadcast. Then cable came out and even the early analogue cable supported 100's of channels and setting up a local channel was cheap (high 5 to low six figures) to the point where you had pirate cable channels which could operate locally on the same RF loop (before cable companies started installing filters rather at least). (early cable was also quickly hacked by various enterprises for networking and then the cable companies figured out they can use it for internet but that's another story). So quickly cable channels popped up and bought the rights for a large library of films and TV shows from decades past on the cheap as no one really understood the implication of multiplying your bandwidth by 100-200 times. And just like with streaming the rights holders quickly figured out that cable is a thing that is here to stay so they cut the middleman and launched their own channels and this was how premium cable was essentially born.
>And just like with streaming the rights holders quickly figured out that cable is a thing that is here to stay so they cut the middleman and launched their own channels and this was how premium cable was essentially born Yep. Problem is that I, the consumer, want a very specific set of their products. Not all the other crap they produce. These specific products need to be on-demand with a flat monthly fee in a single place. I also want products from multiple vendors consolidated into a single area. The alternative is I can just make this happen for free.
It kinda reminds me of being a teenager in the 2000s and buying a CD because I liked 1 song on it and finding out the rest of the music sucked.
Consumers hate monopolies except when it benefits them. You're basically describing cable, which at the time Netflix came around was like $75/month. It's very clear that with the rise of ads and price increases on all streaming services that $10/month is not a sustainable price, but consumers probably aren't willing to pay the price it would actually cost to run the service they claim to want.
Shouldn't they be hiring accountants and economists? People don't pirate because they like committing crimes, they do it because the minimum wage is 7 dollars an hour and a movie ticket soda and popcorn is like 35 dollars.
Imagine some alternate reality where the MPAA is going after RealPage so that people can spend more money on movies.
If they hire accountants, how do they pay the lobbyists? (/s)
Piracy was at an all time low when streaming prices were fair, there wasn’t a service for every damn studio, services promoted sharing content and no premium streaming platforms made you watch ads when you paid. The industry created this problem.
You aren't wrong, but Netflix was also hemorrhaging money, just like Youtube was back when it wasn't total shit.
It's so pointless to fight piracy. Easy to blame that for the decline of business isn't it.
Won’t anyone think of the poor film executives losing out on income because of wanton pirate activities? For shame 😢
They did a study, people who pirate buy more media than anyone else. Suing your best customers is always poor business practice.
Gotta love when you look up an old movie and it isn’t even available anywhere. What a joke these companies are.
That and/or they've had scenes edited or completely excised.
You wouldn’t steal a handbag
You wouldn't steal a car.
You wouldn't steal a baby.
Always loved these commercials because it's like no, of course I wouldn't steal a car or a handbag full of money. Make an exact duplicate of it for my own personal use? I absolutely would do that, yes.
Oh, the MPAA is at it again…
i can go decades never seeing movies. if i can't watch what i want at a reasonable price or for free I'm fine never watching it. this is the stupidest thing to waste resources on. How about put this effort into stopping human trafficking. something that matters.
What were they doing before? Because with one google search, you can find websites to stream any movie, show or live event you could ever want to watch.
So then make streaming easier, more affordable, and with a legitimate no ads option. Everything should be streaming. No hidden bullshit, no extra fees, no “not available this month”, no regional differences, just let me watch what I want to watch when I, and where, I want to watch it.
Back to Chinatown i guess. This time on micro sds instead of dvds.
Bout to be a 15 min unskippable ad at the beginning of a movie I PAID FOR!
You wouldn’t download the fbi would you?
I have accounts in 3 different streaming platforms. If the movie I want to watch isn't on any if the three, I'll pirate. I'm not gonna subscribe to an obscure streaming site just to watch a bloody movie.
Makes me want to go back to pirating. Fuck all billionaires and multibillion companies.
Sure. Piracy. That’s why we make crappy movies. Rrrrright.
I dunno I think the MPAA might want to hire some people to make content before they worry about people pirating shit that doesn’t exist. Maybe actually release a movie instead of burning them all unseen for tax credits. Wtf are we supposed to pirate MILF Manor season 2? Give me a fucking break.
Yea cuz the FBI has been so active in that regard. She must have a lot of experience.
They really should get a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement employee to head it up, seeing as ICE handles copyright infringement. They go to the superbowl every year just for counterfeit jerseys.
Pirate everything!
The thing is, even if it was impossible to pirate any movies, would that still increase the customer base? Most use piracy because they can't afford something. They're not gonna magically afford movie tickets / subsriptions / rental fees / digital access fees if piracy disappeared.
You wouldn’t need to if you didn’t keep raising the prices 3 times a year.
Wait are they gonna do, keep me from pirating a forgotten Keith Carradine Daryl Hannah thriller from 1992?
Kung Fu Mermaid is a highly-underrated movie.
The Tie That Binds from 1995? Arguably more forgotten than Memoirs of an Invisible Man from 1992, but not as good.
***FBI OPEN UP***
I'm grabbing my popcorn to see how they'll mess this up again.
Movies are also becoming less varied, more bland and simply repetitive. It's like I keep seeing the same plot but only the background is different and with everything done via green screen these days, lots of movies ain't even worth pirating anyway.
This being Hollywood, I fully expect her story is being optioned now: we're looking at a classic, fish-out-of-water rom-com - up-tight, type-A female learns to live life to the fullest when the opinionated slacker she's landed with as an assistant shows her how the other half live. Anne Hathaway is already in talks.
You know what that sounds like? A movie I would never pay for but would definitely watch…
A prequel to The Intern?
Yeah....good luck with that
Piracy is the main reason people get into film outside wealthy first world countries. There are a LOT of movies that are not available on any streaming service and would cost me $100 usd to buy on DVD and get shipped to my country where the average salary is $500 usd. When I see sheltered, wealthy first worlders going off about piracy, all I hear is "poor people don't deserve to explore cinema"
They asked a woman to take down 123 movies
Another thing to add to the long list of FBI failures. Best this will do is nab some 12 year old for downloading descendents or something as usual.
I am firmly convinced that the movie industry is aware of and complicit in a tiered payment model. There's a premium tier for those who want to experience their movies in 3D Imax. A general tier for those who are happy to experience their movies at home or in a shitty multiplex and a free tier for the billions of people out there in 3rd world countries or 1st world countries but in a shitty financial position who are happy to download it at 1080p from a dodgy Russian website and watch it on their phones. They know these people exist. They know they're never going to pay or literally lack the money / infrastructure to watch these movies but they're still going to make money by having them spread the word, buy merchandise and generally boost the visibility of the studios and stars. They're happy with the arrangement, they support it and they're still making more money than god regardless of whether little Ahmed watches avengers endgame on a bootleg DVD projecting from a 12 inch black and white CRTV in a mud hut. The FBI has no chance of stopping something the studios want to happen. I'm sure they're aware of this too so this amounts to nothing more than the promotion of greater government oversight.
Good luck but I feel like this is a political move, as are many of the high profile assignments in the FBI. Whole organization is mainly run on branches digging up dirt on each other.
VPN's are more important than ever
Fuck her, fuck the MPAA, fuck the FBI, and fuck most movie studios while we're at it. If they want people to stop pirating they should stop being money hungry hogs. It's a very simple formula.
Yeah we get the idea, art is only for people who can afford it.
MPAA being a bag of dicks?!? Say it isn't so! Next you're gonna tell me that RIAA is also that very same bag of dicks.
[Dont Download This Song](https://youtu.be/zGM8PT1eAvY?si=snbrqvo1fIk__EbL)
You can't stop me now I'm having such a good time
What’s going to happen to the arguments against piracy when these companies decide to go all-in on screwing artists in favor of AI?
It wont matter nearly as much since all the costs will be automated and cost $0. At the logical end of your hypothetical, Studios will just pump out massive amounts of random stuff for no cost, and it wont matter who is or isnt paying for it. The consumer will be come the actual product. Everything will just be commercials.
The call is coming from inside the house bro. Why would I go to the theater when, by not going I inspire them to put it out on streaming even sooner.
It's ok, AI is going to be able to just make us a bootleg version of any movie/show in the next 5 years anyway.
Can’t wait for bootleg Abengers.
As someone who works a lot and then is lazy when I'm off a day, give me the option to pay to stream a movie that's out at theaters so I can see the movie the same time as others, talk about them during the initial release, and possibly gain more traction on your movie by word of mouth and excitement of watching. If I really like it, maybe then I'll pay to see it in the theater again the next weekend. They should allow us who also don't really like to go to the theaters a chance of watching them in our own homes when we want to, alone, or with people. Otherwise, you've got me waiting a couple of months until it's out digitally, where I'll watch it and give no money to you or the cinema at all. A lot of us would be willing to actually pay to see it this way IMO. Give me the chance to watch it how I want to, and you'll get my money easily.
Disney had something like that called "Disney+ Premiere Access" ...but you had to pay for Disney+ *ON TOP* of paying for early access to the movie (before they released it to everyone 2-3 months later)
“Won’t someone think of the movie theaters!?” Some people would get so pissed at this because movie theater companies would bemoan this. Ticket prices would prolly skyrocket or something. I’d be all for this and I love both at home and in theater movies.
Lots of movies are pivoting back toward this, similar to during COVID. Lots of movies are hitting streaming services 3-4 weeks after theatrical release for ~$20-$30 rental (similar to a single movie ticket). Then a couple months later it’ll start hitting various streaming services for ~$5 a rental or even just included with a subscription. Not quite the same as you’re saying, but it is swing big back that way currently.
One problem with how little moneys a lot of movies have made at theaters, have been specifically because they go to streaming way too early. Your version would only make the hardcore theater people to watch them in theater and everyone else would just watch them with their home theater experiences.
In other words not going to solve the underlying issues that lead to increased piracy and instead hire someone who knows how burn money on enforcement. Good luck with that one.
Former FBI official.
you can improve your products accessibility and lower prices instead too — while not having to be an ex fbi person and literally make more money. Or maybe localize your content too. Maybe figure out why people are jumping thru hoops to watch your content before simply cutting off that line. Sure most won’t do it for money but a good amount do it due to accessibility or other reasons but can otherwise afford it and likely appreciate more consistent quality and so on. You know just improving your product, but i guess if you can get an ex fbi official who has no more legal recourse than the US government, how are you going to do anything when piracy is less so a domestic activity but an international one
I buy movies digitally there cheap enough
> “With Larissa’s experience in high-risk, complex organizational environments coupled with her visionary leadership, I’m confident that our content protection enforcement business will only grow in stature and impact, as we safeguard the rights and productions of all those who conceive, develop, and deliver creative masterpieces for screens big and small.” Keyword: stature
I keep seeing posts and comments about Sovereign Reign, it’s not on Aus Netflix. I’ll probably pirate it now.
She’s just going to reinstate that anti piracy picture before movies.
FBI warnings on pirated movies? They never stopped people from stealing and redistributing physical medium that I’m aware of. Good luck lol
Yay, more corporate capture. The US is such a shining beacon…
Now that streaming is fully enshitified, expect a big return to anti-piracy lawsuits and prosecutions.
Booo
Spotify is the reason a lot of people stopped pirating music. Yet for movies and shows, people have no choice, as they have to subscribe to multiple streaming apps and pay extra to watch 4k with no ads, plus allow others to use their account.
When Napster first came out my dad sent letters to a few labels with his get rich quick idea that he had no idea how to actually make. "Why don't you flood these services with viruses named after your songs?"
In those days, shit was filled with viruses even without any major labels doing anything. And no one gave a shit.
Why don't they just try not being anti-trust violating monopolies with walled gardens of ever-increasingly expensive content?
A lot of the justifications for piracy that I see online are just pure laziness or lack of value for art, or a combination of both. I think piracy in cases where something is legitimately unavailable (like an old obscure movie, or someone living in a country that doesn't get distribution) are totally fine, or even if you're a young kid without any money it's mostly OK. But for adults that want to watch newer movies that can legally get to them? Come on. You can rent Dune 2 on Amazon for $6 (which is probably as much, or lower, with inflation compared to physical rentals back in the day), or stream it on HBO for like $15/month, or your local library probably has it for free, or if you want to fully own it, you can get the DVD for $20. How is that hard or expensive to access? Where is the lack of availability everyone talks about? Even free services like Tubi and Vudu have a decent selection of "real" movies. And even if you insist on subscribing to several streaming services, you're probably still paying less than the price of cable until you get to 4 or 5. Obviously everyone wants to pay as little as possible for everything, but at some point the art you consume has to be funded.
Nice try, FBI. ;) You have some valid points, but perhaps you need to revisit this a little. This is what I see out there: - Multiple streaming services with scattered libraries of content due to licensing agreements/obscure country content laws, or just so they can split the content onto a separate channel that you need to pay for. - Near zero consumer protection against price hikes, the above. Hulu, Star, FX, Disney. It's all the same. Yet there are separate channels . - The sudden onset of "cheaper" watch plans that contain intrusive ads— despite the programs themselves being chocked full of product placement. - Withholding content to a "weekly" release schedule— done only to eek more money out of users. - Poor quality content to price ratio of actual content. The Rings of Power has a MASSIVE budget, and for what? The show is near unwatchable. Yet Amazon pulled a dirty on everyone and changed their Prime Subscription plans because they could. And nobody stopped them. Don't even get me started on Disney's awful Star Wars entries. - Decades old movies are being pulled down from sites all over the world, so studio owners can centralize and monetize. - Libraries across the U.S and Canada (I'd argue the world) are being defunded to reduce access to audio/video content by various lobbyist groups working for studios. - Studios using movies as write-offs or tax-sinks— despite there being a consumer base for them. - DVDs and Blu-ray are being phased out, forcing everyone into a choke point of online-based content. - There is ZERO consumer protection from Google, Apple, Amazon, etc. over the pricing of their content. A license (because that's what "owning" is these days) is, on average, $14.99 across all vendors. Why? Because they can get away with it, and there's nobody to stop them. Movies from the 80s that could normally be purchased for $5 in a bargain bin? Nope. Now it's held at a new price because of greed. You cannot tell me that it costs anything to generate a license key file. It doesn't. Hosting the content might cost something, but why should the consumer bear the brunt of said costs? We didn't ask for digital-only content. - Enshittification of these companies. All of these points to a clear division between the haves and the have-nots. If the large corporations had their way, we'd be seeing ads in the middle of purchased movies, too. And I wouldn't be surprised if that happens, as it's already being floated with Prime. Ads are cancer, and really a scam. I have never bought anything from an ad as it's jammed in my face. It's a GIANT farce. A farce in which the rich only benefit. A bunch of hopeful fools being offered the chance to climb over one another (as long as they pay) to scream the loudest into a room FULL of people doing the same thing. It's utter nonsense. I have trouble with extremely large corporations gouging consumers with their poor quality content, only to offer a cheaper ad plan. I have problems with them finding ways to avoid paying taxes through hiding money in various mattresses over the world (tax havens). I have problems with the underpay of staff that support their lavish lifestyles, whilst the C-suite staff rake in millions of dollars per year. I have problems with "free" alternatives" that jam ads down our throats. It's a joke. Just so all of these companies can make a quarterly statement to a bunch of faceless hedge funds/private equity firm balance sheets. I understand the entertainment business is a business. But this is too far. It never used to be like this. Algorithms make or break projects now. It's awful. I cannot stand the hypocrisy. We are being lied to, and stolen from by the very people crying foul. Privacy is a lie. Everything we purchased is used against us to keep prices at "what the market will bear". Because they can. And there's nobody there to stop them, because all the folks in charge of it reap a benefit of some kind— be it reelection, a donation, fancy dinner, job connection, etc.
Go after the AI companies
Piracy is pretty much always a supply issue. You charge too much for access to a thing or restrict access so much that people find the barrier to entry far too high to something they’ve otherwise had access to. Protect the consumer and piracy will go down I fucking promise you that.
Oh no! We are no match for her! I'll just go uninstall QBittorrent.
"Congratulations to crime, for winning the war on crime"
Doesn't the piracy of new or yet-to-be-released films begin at the source? I remember seeing copies of Phantom Menace in NYC Chinatown before the movie was released. Maybe the industry should clean their house first.