Do you actually own anything digital?::From ebooks, to videos and software, the answer is increasingly no

  • Xtremis77@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Well, I have 10 Tb of pirated digital content sitting safely at my own home, so I would say yes, yes I do own a lot of digital stuff.

      • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Those are rookie numbers. Need to start getting entire TV shows in 4k and things you’ve seen previously but may want to watch again in the future quickly and easily.

        • BigDaddySlim@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Personally can’t justify many series in 4k, some of the ones I have only ever got SD releases (DVD at best) but there are a few I can justify 4K for. Mainly very cinematic shows such as The Mandelorian or The Last of Us. As long as they have subtitles in the other shows and are available in their best original release resolution it’s fine for me.

          For example if the original Doctor Who series had a 4K release for it’s entirety it would probably be my entire server lol. 693 episodes in 480p is almost 300GB.

      • foggy@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Y’all are chumps.

        I got 6TB SSD and 16TB HDD.

        But I guess it’s less than half full so… Idk, maybe Im the chump with too much headroom.

          • foggy@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            If I can figure out a way to make my next server upgrade a tax write off, I’ll flex back.

            • Resol van Lemmy@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              It’s probably the entire database of World Cup matches (including qualifier matches), plus the entire database of entries to the Eurovision Song Contest (including those of national finals), in addition to every single thing that happened at the 'Lympic Games. All in glorious 8K quality (yes, everything got upscaled by world class upscaling software).

            • Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca
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              10 months ago

              Just general movies+tv shows.

              It started as a classic Disney film collection and has expanded quite dramatically over the last 7ish years.

              Now a days I’ve got a half a dozen users feeding requests into Ombi along with a bunch of imdb lists being monitored; growing the library entirely automatically.

              /edit: who am I kidding, it’s just hundreds of copies of one man one jar with different filters applied…

    • YⓄ乙 @aussie.zone
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      10 months ago

      How ? Please share so that people like me can learn. I’ve started watching Louis Rossman YouTube videos and that guy actually makes sense about how companies are treating their customers.

      • viking@infosec.pub
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        10 months ago

        Not the OP, but I’m buying DRM free ebooks and software only, and for every album, movie or series I purchase, I’ll download a pirated copy that I add to my offline storage + backup.

        If a book I want is not available without DRM, I’ll buy a hardcover and a pirated copy.

        • JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl
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          9 months ago

          Also you can remove some types of DRM with DeDRM plugin for calibre.

          For music, buy a record on Bandcamp to support the actual artists instead of the record label and they give you free FLAC or high quality MP3 downloads along with all physical media. Otherwise pirate the album for a digital copy and buy the physical in a store.

        • Dexx1s@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Even if you buy it(which I do support more and more), pirate it. We’re at a point where it’s just far easier to use the pirated versions of a lot of digital items and you also don’t have to worry about someone “taking it back” afterwards.

  • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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    10 months ago

    If it’s on my Jellyfin server, I own it as much it’s possible to own anything.

    If they wanted me to pay for it, maybe they shouldn’t have dicked me around, watering down my subscribed services while simultaneously jacking up the price.

    • adrian783@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      you don’t have to pay for it, but you’re also not entitled to it no matter how much they dick around with their service.

      do you really feel like they’ve wronged you in some way and pirating gets you even?

      • Klear@sh.itjust.works
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        9 months ago

        What do you mean by “entitled” here? Could you explain that word in that context to me?

        • owen@lemmy.ca
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          9 months ago

          He’s saying that you shouldn’t feel like you deserve the products you paid for… Not really sure what he’s advocating for though :')

  • jordanlund@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Can it be taken from you, at any time, for any reason or no reason at all?

    If yes, then you don’t own it.

    • Waluigis_Talking_Buttplug@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I mean, that technically applies to everything. The government can seize your land, the police are in the news every few days for straight up taking money out of people’s homes and vehicles and shooting dogs, robbery is still a living profession, etc

      There’s really not a lot that sentence doesn’t apply to, if anything at all.

        • otp@sh.itjust.works
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          10 months ago

          Can they stop your land?

          I think you mean seize. And I guess it depends on where you live in the world.

      • jordanlund@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        When it comes to the US government at least, there are 4th Amendment protections in place, so no, your property can’t be seized “for any reason or no reason at all”.

        Theft is a thing, but it’s random and you have the right to defend yourself in your own home. You also aren’t at risk for losing EVERYTHING. Not in the way you are if your digital library license gets revoked.

        • AlataOrange@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          If a cop can take your property with no consequences and you will be arrested or killed if you defend yourself and your property, then what the law says doesn’t matter as the defacto state of reality isn’t concerned with such petty things as laws.

        • AdmiralShat@lemmy.ml
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          10 months ago

          This comment is so fucking frustratingly ignorant of the realities of living in the US. Is this a troll comment?

        • Uriel238 [all pronouns]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          10 months ago

          The fourth amendment of the Constitution of the United States does give us protection against unreasonable search and seizure, but the unreasonable is its weak link and as such your protections have been gutted by SCOTUS since the 1990s and the War on Drugs.

          If law enforcement seizes everything you own via asset forfeiture, or kills you in cold blood when you are neither armed nor resisting, your estate can sue to get your belongings back or compensation for wrongful death, but a ruling against law enforcement in your favor is the exception in the US, not the rule.

          Avoid engagement with US law enforcement. Ever. And if you must deal with them, do not expect any right to be respected. Under no circumstances should you call law enforcement to respond to a situation.

        • doingthestuff@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          You clearly don’t know about the state of seizure laws in the US over the last years. Having cash is reason enough for them to seize it and they don’t have to suspect you of a crime. They can simply find the cash as suspicious and take it and you have to prove the legality of your cash or property at your own cost/expense to get it back.

  • User79185@discuss.tchncs.de
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    10 months ago

    GOG, buy music in mp3/flac format, not sure about video. I guess you can pay for subscription and just pirate stuff you like to keep real ownership.

    • MashedTech@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I like that on GOG you know you own it because they let you download the installer DRM free so you literally can keep a separate copy of all of your purchases. You will always have access to them regardless of what happens to GOG. Videos, music, games, everything they sell.

  • LainOfTheWired@lemy.lol
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    10 months ago

    It all depends on the licence. Even if you buy something on physical media you may not technically own it. If something has a FOSS licence MIT, BSD, GPL, etc Then yes you do own your copy and no one can change that.

    • Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca
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      10 months ago

      I may only have a license to view the contents of a dvd, but at least I’ll always be able to view it as long as it’s in my possession and I have a dvd player.

      Content you can only access remotely via someone else systems (or requiring remote authorization via there systems) can be taken away at anytime regardless of the terms of your license, even supposedly “indefinite/permanent/lifetime” licences.

      Both of these items use the same term ‘purchase’. This term used to refer to the first situation only, but now it covers both.

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago
      1. FOSS licenses are distribution licenses, not EULAs. You have the right to own and use software you acquire even without agreeing to them; they only “kick in” when you decide to do something that would otherwise violate copyright law.

      I liked the explicit way version 2 of the GPL explained it:

      Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not covered by this License; they are outside its scope. The act of running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the Program is covered only if its contents constitute a work based on the Program (independent of having been made by running the Program).

      Version 3 says the same, but less clearly (note that “affirms” is entirely different from “grants”):

      This License explicitly affirms your unlimited permission to run the unmodified Program.

      1. EULAs presume to “grant” you something you already have due to the First Sale Doctrine (namely, the right to use your property) and are therefore complete bunk as they lack “consideration.” If you believe EULAs are somehow valid just because the copyright cartel’s shysters say so, you need to learn to quit taking advice from the enemy!
  • Brownian Motion@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    The only “digital” I download, is something that I can put on my personal storage. If I can download it to Nintendo Switch and then move it to USB or SD card, then I can clone the sd card and therefore I own it. (immediate usage might be different, and they may chose to delete if it is put back on the Switch. But I still own it, I just need to find an alternative method to use it).

    Same goes with games/movies/whatever. If I can download it and store it on my NAS, I own it.

    If you are paying for “digital” but you cannot acquire a copy of it, then it is NOT “Digital” it is streaming. You are paying for the privilege of using some services’ electronic library, but you do not own anything on it.

    I’ve been watching this argument lately, and its amusing. The whole Sony thing about Discovery (or whatever it was) has nothing to do with ownership. You were paying to access a library that Sony curated. Sony dropped the contract with the other party, and chose to tidy their library. You just have access to it, because they let you. You do not have any ownership whatsoever, you signed a T&C that says Sony curates the library and they can do what they like.

    People seem to have a hard time using words like “content”, “streaming” and “digital” vs “electronic copy”, “local digital copy” and “DLC”; and then confuse "ownership and “content access”.

    • echindod@programming.dev
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      10 months ago

      I am curious why you think that. I download Bandcamp files and place it on a home server, and I have never had any problems. It is conceivable that they have a tracker or some bull shit connected to it, but more than a little unlikely.

      Bandcamp files play fine on non bandcamp-approved playing devices. This is a big win on my book.

    • jabjoe@feddit.uk
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      9 months ago

      Only if the DRM is broken. DRM can make the player stop working sooner. It’s literally about making the media less playable.

  • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    It depends on how you acquired it. Nobody can take the license for your pirated, modded fallout. Literally buy it anywhere but itch.io? You probably don’t.

      • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        How is GOG? I haven’t used it and have heard noth sides. Owning it alone makes it worth looking at.

        • Crit@links.hackliberty.org
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          10 months ago

          It’s quite alright, but the platform hasn’t really grown in a while outside of its available catalogue. Gog galaxy is still in beta I think and it also still has no Linux launcher yet. Still good for the no DRM part tho

          • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            I’m about to blow all windows out of my non-work life. So dunno how good that will mix.

            • Telodzrum@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              Between Lutris and Heroic Launcher I have been able to get every game I play running. Some took some tweaking (Fall Guys and Rocket League the most), but they all run and work with online play now.

              • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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                10 months ago

                Thank you, and since I’m not replying to everyone thank you all. I’ll give that a good look when I begin my linux gaming journey this winter break. Luckily my week knows we’re children and we get this off.

                • Telodzrum@lemmy.world
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                  10 months ago

                  Protondb has a lot of comments on each game as to how to get it running. That’s always my first stop if something doesn’t run immediately in a launcher.

            • Lileath@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              9 months ago

              For Linux you can use Heroic if you want a launcher. Otherwise you can just download the installers on their website.

        • LainOfTheWired@lemy.lol
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          10 months ago

          You can download offline installers that don’t require an internet or licence key to install, so if you back them up I’d say you own them to the same degree you’d own a game on optical media