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P2P Piracy is Alive and Growing, Research Suggests (torrentfreak.com)

From a report: In recent years Hollywood and other entertainment sources have focused their enforcement efforts on pirate streaming sites and services. According to several reports, streaming sites get more traffic than their P2P counterparts, with the latter being almost exclusively BitTorrent related. While the rise of online streaming sites can't be denied, a new research report from anti-piracy outfit Irdeto shows that P2P remains very relevant. In fact, it's still the dominant piracy tool in many countries. Irdeto researched site traffic data provided by an unnamed web analytics partner. The sample covers web traffic to 962 piracy sites in 19 countries where P2P was most used. This makes it possible to see how P2P site visits compare to those of pirate streaming sites.

104 comments

  1. Anyone shocked? by DMJC · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is this really surprising? There's still tons of software out there that makers no longer support or distribute, tons of TV shows that Netflix doesn't stock. As fragmentation of the online streaming market grows (Disney Online) Expect piracy to grow back in as people's $10/month subscriptions fail to deliver them the content they want and rather than pay $80+ for 8+ different streaming services they just go back to piracy.

    1. Re:Anyone shocked? by 110010001000 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Eventually all software will be rented and media will be streamed to approved devices. Only approved devices will be allowed to connect to the Internet.

    2. Re:Anyone shocked? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Eventually all PROPERTY will be rented with actual ownership concentrated in a handful of companies. This is the new business model.

    3. Re:Anyone shocked? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      My uncle has a streaming device, that no-one knows about
      He says it used to be legal, before the Data Law
      And on Sundays I elude the ‘Eyes’, and hop the Turbine Freight
      To far outside the Wire, where my white-haired uncle waits

    4. Re:Anyone shocked? by sconeu · · Score: 5, Informative
      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    5. Re:Anyone shocked? by SinGunner · · Score: 1

      How? The stakeholder companies will never unite enough to control the market in that fashion. And there are probably a dozen people just in this comments section (eleven other people) who could create a distributed system for media sharing. It's only gotten easier over the last two decades, and we were sharing all over the place back in the day!

    6. Re:Anyone shocked? by SirCowMan · · Score: 3, Informative

      It'll be $80 for 8+ services, + $0.50 every quarter to show growing profits, for declining services.

      Netflix, having shown how to make a viable competitor to casual downloading, has give up that game and seems to want to sit with the old media folks. The VPN/geoblocking restrictions was the biggest move, but now also we see the limited introduction of geoblocking on their "own" programming (i.e., CBS deal for ST), and the nerfed access to higher quality levels for devices without hardware DRM - or, most egregiously in the case of 4K, even when all technical DRM instruments are in place it won't stream 4K without the particular device also being certified by Netflix. It's getting harder to watch something without it being better quality being sourced by other means.

      Throw on top of that the effective removal of the recommendation system, the demotion of anything not Netflix created, and constant wobbling about of the UI (at least on devices). The ability to raise content to the surface, put you in easy touch with something you'll want to watch next - that value-added sort of service was not something easily replicated by your own ripped DVD collection, or "pirate" sources. Now it's half-gutted, and getting worse. There is little compelling reason anymore to use Netflix as an interface to access something, where available elsewhere.

      Netflix, at $8 (or a fraction of that when shared), demonstrated how media could be distributed in such a manner as to make piracy essentially irrelevant. Just needed to keep adding that content.

      Now, looking at $14 or whatever for Netflix's top tier, need to scroll through a half-dozen full-screen auto-playing standup comedy specials which have no relation to viewing history before finding something you'd be looking for.. the value proposition is lost. Just wondering when the ads will start.

      --
      !Equality through palindromes semordnilap hguorht ytilauqE!
    7. Re:Anyone shocked? by Cajun+Hell · · Score: 2

      Only approved devices will be allowed to connect to the Internet.

      I doubt you have any evidence to back that up, but even if you turn out to be right, you know what will happen.

      If I'm not allowed to use "the" Internet then I'll just have to use some other Internet (with blackjack and hookers).

      --
      "Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
    8. Re:Anyone shocked? by Cajun+Hell · · Score: 2

      Jump on the couch as the microwave heats my pizza pie
      Monitor on, as excitement shivers up and down my spine
      On the LAN my uncle preserved for me an old machine
      For fifty-odd years
      To keep the kernel updated has been his dearest dream

      --
      "Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
    9. Re: Anyone shocked? by kurkosdr · · Score: 1

      Blu-ray has proven that the MPAA can unite their studios under one format if they wanted. Too bad most people can't play the damn things. Hollywood risks an entire generation growing up and thinking Netflix, Amazon Prime and piracy are the best ways to get paid content. This is why Netflix and Amazon buy up the best writers. They are the new big studios. Soon the MPAA will be the new Edison Trust without any patents, aka irrelevant.

    10. Re:Anyone shocked? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What you and some other are alluding to is a trend we've been seeing for some time now. Housing either being gobbled up by 'property management' companies and rented/leased, 'Home Owners Associations' imposing such draconic 'rules' that not only can stand in the way of home ownership, but literally take someone's home away from them because of 'penalty fees' imposed by these non-authoritative 'associations'. Barriers put in the way of people obtaining financing to purchase homes (especially for minorities, but also white people -- if you're an 'undesirable' white, that is). Leasing instead of purchasing vehicles. 'Streaming services' being pushed instead of encouraging people to own legal copies. Companies like Microsoft wanting to offer software, even the operating system itself, as a 'monthly service' instead of actually owning a copy yourself. Even employment, if you think about it: companies having the majority of their workforce as 'temps' or 'contract workers' or 'contingent workers', basically them renting you from a parasite 'staffing company', and you can be sent away with a mere phone call and you have NO say in the matter. And more examples than I have time to ennumerate. If you look at the bigger picture, you see the pattern: 'The Rich' wanting to be the sole owners of just about everything, leaving everyone else with barely the clothes on their backs, to pay, pay, pay in perpetuity, never owning anything of value. Words like 'Feudalism' come to mind.

      People in general would do well to wake up, realize what's happening, and fight against it. Believe you me, we do not want to live in a world where the common person owns nothing, and has to pay a fee every month to The Rich 1% just to have a roof over their heads, transportation of your own, and the basics of living.

    11. Re:Anyone shocked? by devslash0 · · Score: 1

      Not at all. Only a minute portion of all the content on platforms such as Netflix or Amazon Prime Video is worth watching at all. The rest is crap which they are trying to stick in your face because their promised content providers "equal exposure" to viewers. Once you've watched the interesting content, you end up hopelessly browsing for half an hour and then turning your TV off just to go through the same process the next day and then another and another...

      Personally, I wrote a piece of code which periodically scrapes films and series available on Amazon Prime Video (I gave up on Netflix completely, it's so bad) and pings me if it finds anything with a good score on IMDB or Rotten Tomatoes.

      Another matter is, that online streaming platforms lack crucial functionality, being an option to PERMANENTLY blacklist specific titles. Their thumbs up/down or "Not Interested" scoring systems simply do not work and you end up seeing content which you would never possibly watch unless someone was holding a gun to your head. That's actually one of the problems which my useful scraper solves. Unless it's The Big Bang Theory, Matrix or LOTR, I never get suggested a title I've already watched. I also blacklist all Bollywood, gay, romance, baking, dancing and such likes. Who the hell watches that??

    12. Re: Anyone shocked? by kurkosdr · · Score: 1

      Any manufacturer doing this will be dead. Such a thing can only be enforced by law. This would need regulation that is not politically feasible.

    13. Re:Anyone shocked? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I also blacklist [an assortment of keywords]. Who the hell watches that??

      Somebody. Not you, but somebody. Different people have different tastes.

      online streaming platforms lack crucial functionality, being an option to PERMANENTLY blacklist specific titles.

      This is only due to their lack of standards. If the service and the client were independent, you would probably see an explosion of media players. Oh wait, you do see an explosion of media players, but they don't work with any of the proprietary streaming services. ;-)

      But go ask a pirate if they're lacking any crucial functionality. Nope. They might lack something you care about, but only because they don't. (See above where it was revealed that different people have different tastes.) When you have standards, people get what they want. Right now, only pirates have standards, so only pirates can have nice things.

      If it gets to be too much of a problem, then either the whole world needs to switch to piracy, or else DRM will need to be outlawed.

    14. Re:Anyone shocked? by irving47 · · Score: 1

      This should be tattoo'd backwards across the foreheads of people like Les Moonves for CBS All-Access, and Bob Iger for Disney's pending streaming service. And I'm sure a few more. I could forgive Netflix and Amazon Prime video.

      --
      I had a sucky sig.
    15. Re:Anyone shocked? by AHuxley · · Score: 2

      Nations keep logs of all networked computer use from every ISP for some time.
      Photo ID to get an approved cell phone that will work?
      The tracking is in place.

      VPN use can be tracked by the security services. Bullrun (decryption program) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
      Police and security services do not want to ban what was onion routing and have a great ability to find users when needed.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    16. Re:Anyone shocked? by LesFerg · · Score: 1

      In New Zealand we get even less content of value on Netflix. On top of that the Android app I use on my media player has no decent filtering ability and the Netflix listing seems to be at least 50% non-English language, with no indications of this until you have loaded and started playing a video.
      When you just want to sit down and get some quick entertainment this is a real downer. Some times I'm just not in the mood to read subtitles while trying to watch the action.

      On top of that I have the nasty feeling that there is a decline in quality control with all these "made by Netflix" shows that are slowly filling their catalog. Stuff is getting a but dubious and there is a worrying lean towards reality shows, as if there weren't enough of them already.

      If we don't start getting improvements in content in NZ soon I will be looking seriously at dropping Netflix. Not sure if I will have any good alternatives, the Amazon service wouldn't play more than a couple of vids on my Android media player, not sure if it didn't like the lack of DRM control or if there was something else wrong.

      --
      If I had a DeLorean... I would probably only drive it from time to time.
    17. Re:Anyone shocked? by KozmoStevnNaut · · Score: 1

      EmuParadise just got nuked, they've removed all ROMs from their site, and will now focus solely on emulators and discussion, no game downloads.

      I guess people will simply move back to torrenting ROMs.

      --
      Eat the rich.
    18. Re: Anyone shocked? by Gonoff · · Score: 1

      ... not politically feasible.

      I would say it is more feasable in the USA than it is for the rest of us. You have a sizeable demographic that feels that to disagree with what the corporations want will cause the death of capitalism or something.

      --
      I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
    19. Re:Anyone shocked? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      A few years ago we used to have a private LAN in our apartment building. It was connected to several other similar LANs in other buildings nearby. The whole thing spanned a city, with optic fiber between the different residential areas. Part of this eventually became the peer "ring" of the several ISPs.

      I can easily see it coming back if the gubbermint presses for too much "intellectual property".

      And there is jackshit the government can do about these dark networks.

    20. Re:Anyone shocked? by Mathinker · · Score: 1

      > And there is jackshit the government can do about these dark networks.

      I'll forgive your ignorance since Slashdot is explicitly US-centric (and maybe you missed the required reading of "1984"), but anyone living in a country currently governed by a totalitarian government or even recently governed by one can tell you: there's a lot that the government can do. Idea #1: pay people money to "turn in" their fellow members.

      Got it?

    21. Re:Anyone shocked? by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      What good is money if you don't live long enough to spend it?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    22. Re:Anyone shocked? by fuzzywig · · Score: 1
      "Nations keep logs of all networked computer use from every ISP for some time"
      And they do that by recording the MAC address, which can be easily spoofed.

      There's no way of restricting access to a network that can't be bypassed, other than by making the network so restricted as to be entirely useless. For an example, look at gaming consoles, where Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony try to limit network access to only approved (un-rooted) devices, that can only run approved software. Have they succeeded? Nope.
      Oh, and before you say that a government would have better luck than a technology company, have a look around at large government IT projects. How many of them actually work?

    23. Re:Anyone shocked? by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      NSA and GCHQ work just find. They collected on everything for decades with no "work" problems.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    24. Re: Anyone shocked? by kurkosdr · · Score: 1

      The reaction against PIPA and SOPA showed that even the US political system is not as easy for people looking to impose draconian rules.

    25. Re:Anyone shocked? by doccus · · Score: 1

      Eventually all software will be rented and media will be streamed to approved devices. Only approved devices will be allowed to connect to the Internet.

      I second that. It's headed there now. Windows as a subscription,, applications as a service.. chromebooks.. yadda yadda .. However, as long as one doesn't connect to the internet and the second hand stores are still allowed to sell used computers (none in my area are allowed to anymore.. instead they're all shredded) then there's still freedom. Sadly, where I live computer shops won't sell anything older than a windows 7box, and that's becoming diffuicult to find as well. Macs? Intel only, unless you get lucky to find a PPC G5. And even then if you find an older intel they're used school junkers that can't even run anything newer than snow leopard. Old intel macs are almost worse than useless. Only the fact that they can run SL makes them useful, with Rosetta.
      Soon they won't be pewermitted to connect to the iinternet anymore. I ran intoo this situation before., My ISP does appear to have a "sniffer" that checks the age of the hardware and the OS on it, and blocks dns services if so. First ran into it when I was running a popular dos browser (don't recall the name anymore.. started with an "A" i believe) maybe 15 years ago. Suddenly one day couldn't connect anymore, unless I entered the actual internet address. Tried everything,never was able to again.
      It'll be like that for anyone without "approved devices", just as the previous poster said.. :sigh:

    26. Re:Anyone shocked? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I dropped Netflix once the cat & mouse game of beating their anti-geo-unblocking features stopped being fun - the NZ catalogue was a wasteland from the start.

  2. Competing with free by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When it's more inconvenient to pay for a legitimate version than to use an unauthorized copy, you lose.

    1. Re: Competing with free by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      This

      I made the mistake of buying a couple ebooks from Amazon. It took me a half hour to figure out how to download them and convert to a format that I could read on my phone. I'm sure it would have been easier and faster to just pirate them.

    2. Re: Competing with free by bobstreo · · Score: 1

      This

      I made the mistake of buying a couple ebooks from Amazon. It took me a half hour to figure out how to download them and convert to a format that I could read on my phone. I'm sure it would have been easier and faster to just pirate them.

      You could always check with your local library.

      Most offer e-book loans for free.
      functionality to read the books is built into free apps like Aldiko

      If you're interested in older books pr magazines, check out Project Gutenberg or the Internet Archive.

      Some libraries offer free movie and television show downloads as well, or DVD and Blu-Ray loans....

    3. Re: Competing with free by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Pirating is so much easier than drm crap, i can never get that shit to work.

    4. Re:Competing with free by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is exactly the problem with content: People care mostly about convenience.

      You know what caused the switch from Piratebay to Netflix? Convenience. Nobody gives a fuck about 10 bucks a month, what they care about is ease of use. Click it and it works. Netflix managed to be more convenient than TPB. That's all.

      That's also the reason that certain content gets copied like crazy. Not even, but especially when prohibitive DRM is in place. You might notice that those always-online games are among those that get copied the most. Why? Convenience. If I buy a game that I then cannot play because the activation server is overloaded, tinker and toy for a few hours until I give up, download it from TPB and just play it.

      Next time I omit the step that is of no use to me.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    5. Re: Competing with free by LinuxIsGarbage · · Score: 1

      You could always check with your local library.

      Most offer e-book loans for free.

      I bought a Kindle e-reader. Not because I was interested in Amazon's collection, but because it seemed to be the best hardware. Our library, like many, use Overdrive for e-books, with uses Adobe Digital Editions DRM locked ebooks. Unfortunatly they are epub, which is compatible with every other ereader except Kindle, and Amazon has no interest in interoperability. Plus Digital Editions is a pretty terrible program.

      So to read library books on my Kindle, I have to download and load the book into Digital Editions, then use DeDRM to load them into Calibre, to convert to mobi to load on the Kindle.

    6. Re: Competing with free by bobstreo · · Score: 1

      You could always check with your local library.

      Most offer e-book loans for free.

      I bought a Kindle e-reader. Not because I was interested in Amazon's collection, but because it seemed to be the best hardware. Our library, like many, use Overdrive for e-books, with uses Adobe Digital Editions DRM locked ebooks. Unfortunatly they are epub, which is compatible with every other ereader except Kindle, and Amazon has no interest in interoperability. Plus Digital Editions is a pretty terrible program.

      So to read library books on my Kindle, I have to download and load the book into Digital Editions, then use DeDRM to load them into Calibre, to convert to mobi to load on the Kindle.

      Install aldiko ebook reader on the kindle. It directly supports overdrive downloads/loans.

      there's (an older) free version in the amazon app store:

      https://www.amazon.com/Aldiko-...

    7. Re: Competing with free by LinuxIsGarbage · · Score: 1

      Install aldiko ebook reader on the kindle. It directly supports overdrive downloads/loans.

      Thanks but I have an e-ink style Kindle, not a rebadged Android Kindle Fire, so I can't install apps.

  3. eDonkey! by Mister+Transistor · · Score: 1

    When I want the download of a single song to take a week, it's eDonkey FTW!

    --
    -- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
    1. Re:eDonkey! by ArchieBunker · · Score: 1

      I gave up on that network when I saw the queue was over 6000 and running at dialup speeds.

      --
      Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
    2. Re: eDonkey! by kurkosdr · · Score: 1

      Should have used Bitnet. eDonkey is not old enough.

  4. Wrong. P2P is NOT (at least usually) "piracy"!!! by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 5, Informative

    I really wish people would get ths straight.

    "Copyright piracy" is a legal term that has been around for about 150 years. Though some copyright owners (I'm looking at you, Disney) certainly want to make people think it means something else. That's why they call everything piracy.

    But actually it refers to people who make unauthorized copies and distribute them, usually for personal gain (like profit).

    In other words, "piracy" basically means people who make copies and sell them.

    Piracy is a crime. But just downloading -- if that's all you're doing -- is NOT piracy, and is not a crime. It is a civil violation, comparable to making a personal copy of a videotape.

    People who upload videos to torrent sites might be pirates -- if they do it for some kind of personal gain -- but not people who just download.

    Having said that: many (but not all) torrent programs force you to upload at the same time you are downloading. Technically, that might be considered piracy in some cases, but usually isn't. It's a pretty damned hard case to make in court.

    Also, there does exist software that does not force you to upload when you download. Though you might have to look hard to find it.

  5. Re:theft by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 4, Informative

    Neither real copyright piracy (which consists of making unauthorized copies and selling them), nor downloading, are "theft".

    Copyright violations are not theft. When you steal something, you deprive the owner of the presence or use of that thing.

    E.g., if you stole my TV, I would no longer have it and not be able to use it.

    When you copy a videotape or CD or DVD, you don't deprive either the copyright holder, or the person who owned the original you copied, of anything. Anything at all.

    Further, multiple studies have shown that copying nearly always occurs in situations in which there would not have been a sale anyway. (I.e., person does not have the money to buy the CD, or a movie ticket.)

    So usually, it isn't even depriving the copyright holder of any theoretical profit.

    Copyright violations are NOT "theft". It's a completely different area of the law.

  6. Re:theft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And obvious troll is obvious.

  7. Streaming services too expensive by Gabest · · Score: 1

    For the majority of the people east to the iron curtain. They could try geolocking and sell it at a reduced price, but the EU won't allow that for the member counties, and the market is too small to bother.

    1. Re:Streaming services too expensive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're right, the EU wouldn't allow it for member states, but there are a lot of countries in that area, that aren't EU members. Unfortunately, if you look at the pricing of streaming services, you'll see an overlap with the map, that content creators agreed on, when installing the 6 DVD region codes

    2. Re:Streaming services too expensive by war4peace · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Actually, nope.
      Here in my country, east of the Iron Courtain, Netflix is 7 bucks a month, cheapest tier. Tidal is 5 bucks a month. Same with Spotify.
      They're not too expensive.
      Geolocking does exist as a matter of fact, and it's one of the main reasons piracy still exists.
      We (my people) have been treated a second class people for far too long , and we won't have it anymore. So when Netflix comes and says "you can't have this content that others do because $bullshit_reason*", we don't like it, and stop using it.
      *$bullshit_reason could be, for example, a certain movie or TV series had their broadcasting rights sold to some asshole local company which sits on them trying to boost prices, or to an actual broadcaster which is only interested in maximizing profit. This results in many, if not most good movies or TV series being unavailable in my country. Anecdotal evidence: 10 of my top 10 preferred moviesw ere unavailable on netflix for my country (or at all!) due to broadcasting rights or movie owner not wanting to sell rights to Netflix. Hulu isn't available in my country, at all. Tidal has a "hip-hop problem", pushing their own music agenda despite the fact that I am a metalhead and for months I have only listened to metal on their platform. Yet, every fucking time I open Tidal, the main page and all their recommendation revolve around "JayZ's Playlist" and "Nicki Minaj" and other crap I simply DO NOT WANT. I perceive that behavior as being disrespectful - so I cancelled my subscription.

      The pirate alternative: Torrent websites (private trackers):
      - have a much wider selection of content
      - have HIGH QUALITY content (Blu-Ray, 4K, etc)
      - Are very fast (5-10 minutes) to download pretty much anything (local peers abound)
      - Don't push their own agenda
      - Have most content available IMMEDIATELY after release (especially music and TV series; for movies you generally need to wait a month or so for highest quality)
      - Have a large variety of good subtitles in a myriad languages, readily attached to movies and series
      - Do carry obscure and "rare" content (which I can't legally buy, stream or rent from anywhere)

      I am all for legal methods of consuming content, and I am ready to pay for it. But when, for example, the FIFA World Cup 2018 took place this summer, I was unable to find an easy way to legally livestream matches. I was ready to pay-per-view or subscribe to bundles, but none were available for my country. The official broadcaster for my country had horrible service, thir website was down or locking up most of the time, it was unusable. And there was no alternative... except watching pirate livestreams which worked perfectly.

      Life finds a way... so does consuming media content in a timely manner.

      --
      ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
    3. Re:Streaming services too expensive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you aren't French or German you ARE second-class people. Get over yourself. France and Germany rule Europe and, soon enough, the world! Vive l'Europe tout-puissante et victorieuese!

    4. Re:Streaming services too expensive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      France and Germany don't rule Europe. Germany is still an occupied country. France is a toothless former great power, which today cannot even maintain peace at home. The West is failing, and the age of Asia is dawning. In 50 years, Europe will be back to where it was in 1900, and then it will get worse. The US will follow closely.

    5. Re:Streaming services too expensive by war4peace · · Score: 1

      I'm well aware that Eastern European countries are well behind Western European countries in terms of development. However, people are people wherever they are. There's a difference between being behind economically and being treated like a half-animal.

      --
      ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
    6. Re: Streaming services too expensive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, you could purchase those 10/10 movies outright. You're the one who decided to shop at Netflix, which is the Thrift Store of film distributors. Now, when you limit your choices to either buying for pennies or stealing, an easy analogy is made to the choice between going shopping at the thrift store and going shop*lifting * elsewhere:

      Shoplifting elsewhere:
      >> Much wider selection of goods
      >> Have HIGH QUALITY goods, not used/faded/stained
      >> Very fast to obtain goods: no standing around in checkout lines
      >> No dealing with cashiers upselling credit cards etc

    7. Re: Streaming services too expensive by war4peace · · Score: 1

      I already own all of them. It was never about that. It was about the ability to watch them from any device without having to set up my own streaming server and infrastructure.
      You don't "shop" at Netflix, you pay a subscription for a library, it's a service, not a store.

      --
      ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
  8. A good thing for the pirate "victims" as a whole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Haven't studies shown that pirates (as a whole) are also big consumers of non-pirated goods? The industry needs to stop whining and start capitalizing.

  9. Re:theft by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means.

    Here is a (hex) number:

    A9C120EDFD186901C9DBD0F660

    It is ALSO a copyrighted program (*) since I just wrote it.

    1. Do you steal a number??? Hint. YOU CAN'T and don't since I STILL have it if you "steal" it.

    2. If you copy that program you have committed piracy (since I never game permission for you to use it.) So copying numbers are now illegal ???

    Yes, according to current idiotic, archaic, law. It is called "Copyright Infringement"

    It doesn't matter if numbers represent data such as audio, video, text, etc.

    Saying it is illegal to copy a number is still stupid.

    (*) It a 6502 program (*) that prints the letters A-Z on an Apple ][.

    main LDA #C1
    next JSR $FDED
          CLC
          ADC #1
          CMP #DB
          BNE next
          RTS

    --
    Only children censor
    Adults communicate and even laugh at taboo subjects.

  10. Re:Wrong. P2P is NOT (at least usually) "piracy"!! by Kjella · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Are you drunk or high or something?

    "Copyright piracy" is a legal term

    No. Never has been.

    In other words, "piracy" basically means people who make copies and sell them.

    Bullshit. It's been known as "pirate copying" and "pirate copies" since we were trading floppies in the school yard 30 years ago, obviously completely non-commercial. You just made up your own terms, your own definitions and is going on a rant because nobody gets it "right" even though you're the one trying to redefine everything.

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  11. Re:theft by KiloByte · · Score: 1

    On the other hand, "copyright theft" does actually exist. It happens when someone (usually a MAFIAA member) takes something from the author then makes a fraudulent takedown request, thus depriving the copyright holder from his work.

    --
    The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
  12. Most shows still aren't for sale at any price by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Duh? The files still aren't for sale, even in 2018. You can wave your money in their faces but you cannot force the video industry to take it.

    So for most shows, if you want to watch it on standard equipment, piracy is the only option. Your money is unwelcome.

  13. The word your looking for is freeloading by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Most "piracy" is freeloading, very little "piracy" is actual piracy i.e. distributing other people's work for your own profit. But please do not pretend the latter doesn't exist, or that the worlds don't intersect.

    Still, word of the day: Freeloading.

  14. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  15. Re: theft by kurkosdr · · Score: 2

    Your program does not meet the criteria to be copyrightable. This is what you get when slashdoters try to do law...

  16. Re: theft by kurkosdr · · Score: 1

    Even if it is theft, most of us "normies" don't really care. That's right if we are stealing from some corporation at the other end of the world that we are not afflicated with. If I could trick Amazon's ordering system to send me a couple of Alienware laptops without paying, I would do it.

  17. an "anti-piracy" oufit says so. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A new research report from anti-piracy outfit Irdeto shows that P2P remains very relevant

    (emphasis mine, because apparently it's needed)

  18. Re: theft by AlanBDee · · Score: 1

    I assume you're right but it is a very good explanation as to why it is still piracy when you download (and upload small bits) of a copyrighted movie using bit torrent technology.

  19. nope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the shit however hollywood is putting out ....im at about 5% of what used to do cause 95% IS 100% BULLSHIT GARBAGE

    1. Re:nope by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      Agreed. Although it is actually worse then 5% !

      Here is a list of ALL the movies that came out in 2017. Out of the 704 movies released in 2017 only ~14 were good IMHO. That is, 100 * 14 / 704 = 1.988%

      And that IS including the dumb, dormulaic, mindless-action, pop movies:

      - Cars 3
      - Despicable Me 3
      - Dunkirk
      - Guardians of the Galaxy 2
      - Thor Ragnarok
      - Wonder Woman

      Roughly ~2% of movies are good, the rest are garbage.

      /sarcasm Here's to another 126 Hollywood shitty re-makes that no one asked for! Maybe the sixth remake of Robin Hood will be the golden ticket. *snicker*

  20. Re: theft by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

    > Your program does not meet the criteria to be copyrightable

    Which is what exactly ... ? Chapter and Verse of the U.S. Code, Title 17, please.

    Also, please define "original work of authorship"

    TIA.

  21. Re:Wrong. P2P is NOT (at least usually) "piracy"!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Grand parent is absolutely right. Piracy used to be the unlicensed distribution of unlicensed copyrighted material, while unlicensed copies for private use were just mere infringements. Noone would ever call the creator of mix tapes a pirate, when he only gave them to his friends.

    Interestingly, the cambridge dictionary sticks with the old definition, while the RIAA already got to merriam webster

    cambridge dicitonary
    Merriam-webster

  22. Re: theft by DRJlaw · · Score: 5, Informative

    Uncopyrightable procedure, process, system, or method of operation.

    Specifically, in this instance, something covered by merger. There are no expressive elements to the program. It is merely the simplest, most mechanical way of getting a 6502 CPU to produce that entirely non-expressive output.

    Signed,
    Actual IP attorney

  23. Re: theft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The only people that call themselves normies are on the spectrum.

  24. I just want to actually -OWN- what I buy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You can't own anything anymore. You can only purchase access to view/listen/use it through some service... services aren't always available, and even when they are, the internet isn't always available, and even when it is, your hardware might not be up to snuff.

    With my personal collection, barring some out-of-left-field tech issue, I know it's going to work every time and be right there where I want it.

    With online services, the price might increase, there might be updates or patches that force you to cough up personal information.

    It's like, no... I just want to give you money, and then you give me a product, and we part ways. Not, I give you money, and then you keep spying on me and sending me ads and essentially "following" through the cloud.

    Wow this rant went all over the place, but seriously, for all it's advantages, I'm fed up with streaming anything.

    1. Re:I just want to actually -OWN- what I buy by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Wait for the OS to start reporting back on what files got created and what got downloaded.
      Call it free anti virus support by the "free" OS but every user file gets a unique number.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    2. Re:I just want to actually -OWN- what I buy by Falos · · Score: 1

      You want control.

      They want to keep it.

      If your device/service has to ask permission to begin, you don't own shit, you have conditional functionality. Does a confirmation? Phones home? Conditional functionality, and they weren't your conditions.

      See you in the terrafoam, boys.

    3. Re:I just want to actually -OWN- what I buy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'll be switching back to Slackware on the day my Linux distro starts doing this! Looking at you, Debian!

  25. Data by manu0601 · · Score: 2

    I wonder what data they used? TFA talks about P2P web traffic, but P2P does not use the web.

  26. Re:Wrong. P2P is NOT (at least usually) "piracy"!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    >"Copyright piracy" is a legal term
    Infringement is. In fact, one judge actually ruled against a prosecution that kept saying pirates/piracy, after the defense had enough.

    Infringement isn't limited to distribution.

    "Just downloading" is still infringement.

    Go ahead and seed, pussy. Your delusions were never protecting you.

  27. Re:Wrong. P2P is NOT (at least usually) "piracy"!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    no you dipshit you are a clueless fuck who probably still has pimples. piracy is when you MAKE MONEY from your warez.

  28. Message to content owners by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 1

    It's true that many pirate videos and music because they don't want to pay. But it is also true that many, probably many more, do so because piracy (e.g ThePirateBay.org) is a very convenient way of getting the material; sometimes the only way. Content owners insist in making it difficult to access the material, in curtailing where it can be played, in creating artificial scarcity, in treating consumers, first and foremost, as potential thieves.

    Content owners, make the material, all the material, available all the time, on all platforms, at a reasonable cost, without unnecessary complications, and millions out there will pay for the privilege of consuming it. Carry on doing what you are doing, and piracy will flourish. Which implies that piracy will flourish, for there is no chance in hell that current content owners will pull their heads out of you-know-where.

    Max Planck famously said that science advances one funeral at a time. That's probably true as well of the entertainment industry.

  29. Count me in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm doing my part!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3ywBX1OGeE

  30. The REAL Piracy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Moreover, the real piracy is the copyright lawyers denying access to the public domain. When the copyright MONOPOLY rule was established, it was a deal: A LEGAL MONOPOLY for 14 years, in exchange for the work reverting to the PUBLIC DOMAIN after that.

    Today the lawyers call the LEGAL MONOPOLY "intellectual property", implying it is perpetual, and they have indeed made it so.

    This is the piracy, not some bloke downloading bits off the Internet.

  31. Re: theft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  32. Re: theft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Intellectual property does exist and is defined and protected by law, whether you like it or not. Your pointless rage does nothing but amuse us, who giggle at your impotence and frustration. The internet has been all but tamed. You will abide by the law or you will be destroyed. Grow up and accept it. It would be unwise not to.

  33. Re:theft by Waccoon · · Score: 1

    Context and intent actually matter in court cases. You can't copyright a number, but you can copyright something that can be represented by an otherwise huge, random number.

    Consider yourself lucky. If it was possible to claim a copyright on such a tiny program, you'd likely get sued by someone else who already wrote it before. 8)

  34. Re: theft by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

    Agreed.

    You man enjoy N. Stephan Kinsella's book -- a patent attorney of many years' experience who is Against Intellectual Property -- IMHO it should have been titled "Against Imaginary Property"

  35. Re: theft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    us, who giggle at your impotence and frustration.

    See headline, oh, potent one. And keep sucking my balls.

  36. If a user wants to pay for a service but can't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'd be willing to pay a subscription to watch UKTV here in Germany. It simply isn't possible. So what do I do, accept the geo-blocking or find a way around it ? I found a way around it.

  37. Re:Wrong. P2P is NOT (at least usually) "piracy"!! by Gonoff · · Score: 1

    What is "piracy" anyway?

    "the practice of attacking and robbing ships at sea."

    When children in school are accused of being a cross between Henry Morgan and Jack Sparrow, you know that the RIAA, MAFIAA etc are full of s**t. It may, or may not be theft. I think it is but it is not, by any stretch of the imagination anything like what still happens off the Horn of Africa!

    --
    I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
  38. Re:Wrong. P2P is NOT (at least usually) "piracy"!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Copyright piracy" is a legal term that has been around for about 150 years.

    In that 150 year old case you are referring to it wasn't a lawyer using the word pirate. It was the plaintiff comparing the defendant to literal pirates.
    Even then "pirate" only meant someone committing robbery on the seas.
    The copyright lobbyists have pushed this comparison ever since and people who are susceptible to propaganda swallowed it.

    If you think pirate is an interesting "legal" term you should hear what the non-lawyers calls each other in custody cases.

  39. Re: theft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You are a useless human who creates nothing.

    Not a good look.

  40. Re:Wrong. P2P is NOT (at least usually) "piracy"!! by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

    But just downloading -- if that's all you're doing -- is NOT piracy, and is not a crime.

    That's why they sue people for distribution. P2P platforms rely on you not only downloading but redistributing the content.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  41. Re:Wrong. P2P is NOT (at least usually) "piracy"!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    True.

    And unless the law has recently changed, here in Canada sharing is still legal.

    Downloading is not stealing; despite what Hollywood wants you to believe.

  42. Re:Wrong. P2P is NOT (at least usually) "piracy"!! by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Accusing kids in school of being Jack Sparrow is maybe not what the MAFIAA wants to do, especially when at the same time depicting him as a hero and overall cool guy...

    Kids just might get that wrong.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  43. Re:theft by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    I wish I had mod points to mod you offtopic...

    What does the taking of another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it have to do with copying stuff?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  44. honestly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When do i get to do a job and sell the results a million times

  45. yeah by BrandonGinn · · Score: 1

    when i get to dig a hole and sell the results a million times... thats when ill stop pirating

  46. and by BrandonGinn · · Score: 1

    media is typically one-sided and only promotes the artists they are paid to promote indoctrinating the young into tasteless garbage who dont have a buck to find anything else...and any artists that have artistic integrity aren't creating art for the money they are doing it for expression...anything else is a business and business isnt art.

  47. Re:theft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you make a copy of a book at a library is that not theft? You just deprived the author of a sale. You stole his work.

  48. Re: theft by DRJlaw · · Score: 1

    Agreed.

    You're really bad at this, aren't you? "Subject to the provisions of this title, patents shall have the attributes of personal property." Quod erat demonstrandum.

    But feel free to explain how the law does not define property, whereupon I shall be freed to appropriate that vehicle that you use to get to work.

  49. Re: theft by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

    /whoosh

    It's called Imaginary Property to show the absurdity of how broken the current legal system is.

    Due to your profession's excessive greed you guys are even patenting Math !?!?!?! Worse, the fucking algorithm is even named, Carmack's Reverse, after the person who independently discovered and shared it. Yet assholes like you think it is OK that a company can "own" another man's original and independent thought -- preventing the idea from being implemented.

    The fact that you defend patents proves that you are nothing more then a leech upon society when your profession patents bullshit like "a single click for buying", illegal numbers, TWO prime numbers (512-bit and 1024-bit) (WTF???), or even a fucking minimal web page!?!

    Your (blatant) greed is a cancer upon society and I will continue to call out your Imaginary Property bullshit while you continue to "justify" and provide excuses for a corrupt system based on flim flam definitions.

    > But feel free to explain how the law does not define property,

    ALL (Legal) Laws are ARTIFICIAL contracts. Physical property can't be copied and shared like "Intellectual Property." Gee, maybe you should pay more attention to the principal author of the Declaration of Independence when he said:

    "He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me." -- Thomas Jefferson

    Hijacking the term "property" and trying to refine the "definition" of Property in context of "Intellectual Property" to be treated the same way as physical property is nothing more then a charade for plutocracy propaganda. You produce nothing of "value" except what you can profit from the work of others -- without inventors you would have nothing to patent! Pretending that you think you "own" an idea doesn't make it so regardless of how much legal intimidation you try to use. Someday you will realize it is better to share knowledge instead of hoarding it and profiting off of artificial scarcity. Children hoard, Adults share. It sounds like you missed that kindergarten class? /rhetorical

    > whereupon I shall be freed to appropriate that vehicle that you use to get to work.

    I walk to work. Maybe you should stick to facts instead of conjecture. How LONG have you been practicing law again???

    Now kindly please fuck off when you realize there are more important things then money.

  50. Re:theft by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

    By your logic if I *borrow* a book or CD from the library then "I'm depriving the author from a sale" ??? (You are *assuming* I was going to buy it in the first place.)

    When I buy a BluRay and DVD and my *entire* family watches are "the rest of my family depriving the author from a sale" ??? No, because in this instance they weren't going to buy it in the first place.

    Pull your head out of your ass. There are LEGAL ways to obtain the information WITHOUT paying for it.

    Stop trying to justify your failed marketing and sales strategy with archaic, and retarded, law(s).

  51. Re: theft by DRJlaw · · Score: 1

    It's called Imaginary Property to show the absurdity of how broken the current legal system is.

    Yes, that's totally what it shows.

    Due to your profession's excessive greed you guys are even patenting Math !?!?!?! Worse, the fucking algorithm is even named, Carmack's Reverse, after the person who independently discovered and shared it. Yet assholes like you think it is OK that a company can "own" another man's original and independent thought -- preventing the idea from being implemented.

    He's free to think it, he's just not free to use it for a limited time. Because the people who discovered the math determined that it could be usefully applied by a computer first, disclosed it first, and got their reward. Carmack came along later, disclosed it even later (you even link to his post to a private mailing list as evidence of his sharing it), and lost out. Just like those who came later in the Oklahoma land rush. Which is for some reason OK to you because that in contrast is "real property."

    The fact that you defend patents proves that you are nothing more then a leech upon society...

    Well that's one social theory. Fortunately, I believe in others, and those are the ones that are ascendant.

    ALL (Legal) Laws are ARTIFICIAL contracts. Physical property can't be copied and shared like "Intellectual Property."

    And? What makes rivalrous matter the sine qua non of property? You can't hold on to physical property continuously either. I should be free to occupy or use it when you leave. Possession is 9/10ths and some such...

    Now kindly please fuck off when you realize there are more important things then money.

    So, as long as I don't realize that I can stick around. Roger wilco.

  52. Re:Wrong. P2P is NOT (at least usually) "piracy"!! by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

    Bullshit. It's been known as "pirate copying" and "pirate copies" since we were trading floppies in the school yard 30 years ago, obviously completely non-commercial. You just made up your own terms, your own definitions and is going on a rant because nobody gets it "right" even though you're the one trying to redefine everything.

    Because you were progagandized into believing it. Not my problem, ace.

    30 years isn't much compared to about 150. And your misuse of a legal term is not my problem.

    Here are some citations from around 1900.

    In 1852 France accused the US of wanton "copyright piracy".

    You really shouldn't open your mouth when there are no facts in the brain driving it.

  53. Re:Wrong. P2P is NOT (at least usually) "piracy"!! by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

    I covered this in my comment.

    I already said it.

    And they can only sue for distribution if there is intent to gain personally... i.e., piracy.

    Well... to clarify, they can sue, but they probably have no chance of winning unless they can show that your motive was personal gain.

    Distribution per se is no crime. Only unauthorized distribution with an intent of personal gain.

    If you let me copy your DVD, you haven't "distributed with intent of gain", unless I pay or trade you something for that DVD.

  54. Re:theft by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

    Good point.

  55. Re:Wrong. P2P is NOT (at least usually) "piracy"!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Are you drunk or high or something?

    Actually, Kjella, this time it's you who appears to be way, way, waaaaaay off base.