"The Interview" was pirated about as much as it was purchased at release.

[ReaperOwnz]

ITT: Thieves who believe they are justified for whatever reason they deem fit.

Stealing is stealing, no matter your reasoning.

Making a copy of a digital resource is not the same as stealing a physical item. It's still immoral sure, but I can live with that.

[alturic]

Quoted for truth. If you buy a movie and see it with 5 other people who didn't buy it, by this thread's definition of stealing/pirating, those 5 are doing something illegal, which is more than stupid to consider.

How is it quoted for truth? I don't know countries laws, but isn't it illegal to make copies of movies and just pass them out?

[Xisa]

Your critical thinking and reading comprehension skills are abysmal. I've been trying to give you the benefit of the doubt but I see now just how eager you are to voice your opinion without thinking. No wonder you originally supported GamerGate

I will explain my original GamerGate support, since you don't actually have an argument and have spent this entire thread attempting character assassination instead. Our 3 letter agencies would be proud of you.

I support, and still do support, the idea that journalism, in all aspects, should be divorced from everything except for itself. The original flak storm around GG existed because of information being spread around about the journalistic infidelities that said accused person had committed, not the romantic ones. My initial opinion was formed by that.

Once more information came to light, and very specifically once the GamerGate movement was taken over by psychopaths, my support of said movement eroded, and my position changed.

I only elaborate on this, because it is relevant to the discussion at hand. You seem to be of the notion that I support Hollywood, the movie industry, and the current status quo in entertainment media.

This is inexorably false.

My greatest frustration comes from that something that could work as a distribution platform I.E. The Internet in this case, is never going to be able to because most people, at their core, are selfish, greedy assholes. The same platform that would allow for easier online distribution WILL allow for easier piracy, and online distribution only works because you will theoretically reach a larger audience, so you charge less per audience member.

When more than half of your audience is never going to pay to view the content you created, that entire notion falls apart. Theaters are profitable because every person viewing the screen has to pay to do so. As long as you can pull the torrent for any film and see what you've seen with The Interview so far...the movie industry isn't going to leave theaters.

[Espe]

I could ask you the same question.

Thanks for proving my point, champ

[Begrudge]

I use the illegal sites but pay for the same shows in hulu and netflix, just coz they want to release it the next day so cable providers can catch a buck is no my problem, i can watch it the next day, I am not going to wait coz your tyring to get me to pay for cable when I can watch it 30 minutes after it comes on or wait till midnight for the services which I pay for. Need to get rid of the middle man, cable companies are just a money sink holding back new forms of distribution.

[Orange Joe]

Thanks for proving my point, champ

Which was what? You still haven't answered that.......

[Deleted]

Two things.

1. The release was region locked. If you're outside the US your only option is to torrent it.
2. People are used to torrenting movies. One well-distributed release won't immediately make people change their habits.

[Orly]

And in this thread people have admitted to downloading for free things they could have paid for.


For the 5th time what is your point? You don't really seem to have one.

If it's not available in my country then I cannot pay for it, even if I want to.

Face it, so long as you make a limited number of copies you cannot in good conscience expect only that exact number of people to use that product and not a single extra one. That's stupid.

Corporations should just grow the fuck up already and realize that the more you hinder the availability of your products the more you increase the chances of someone taking it upon themselves to make it more available and make a profit out of it too. It's like opening a window and crying that your things fly out of it.

[Kathandira]

Making a copy of a digital resource is not the same as stealing a physical item. It's still immoral sure, but I can live with that.

Which supports my statement. You have just attempted to justify theft.

[Espe]

<snip>

I don't care how you feel about GamerGate and that obviously wasn't my point. My point was you have a history of posting without thinking. I was challenging you to at least consider the subject you are posting about before trying to force your view that "everyone is wired to be a thief" down everyone's throat. We want discussion, not to hear your subjective, flighty and clearly uninformed opinion.

[alturic]

Why would you test your luck by downloading a movie? You guys are aware that is how bot nets are born correct? There are plenty of illegal streaming sites just like torrent sites. That being said I have a hulu and netflix subscription and still watch the shows that come on those sites the day of instead of the next day, I don't feel anything wrong with it.

That's why you use software firewalls. I love seeing all the random shit (legal stuff too I might add) that tries phoning home. Seriously though, movies are the last thing to worry about getting malware from. Unless you download the super high-quality ones that make you download dem codecs. :P

[vqkatsuko]

The article in question, from Torrentfreak.

The numbers since this original release have actually unbalanced themselves even further.

Why is this, do you think? The eternal argument against Piracy is "Whatever is wanted to steal is too inconvenient to obtain otherwise", yet the rate of Piracy versus legitimate viewership of this movie seems to suggest that's a bit of a false argument.

We don't' have a final way to look at it until we get a heatmap of the downloads, but all in all, this just makes me think that DRM and Theater releases aren't going anywhere. This is pretty solid proof as to why they exist: A large sum of people are just cheap assholes, and would rather steal something than pay for it.

You had your chance to make something special of this, Internet, and you fucked it up.

First it wasnt a good movie.

Second "Currently you can watch the movie The Interview on YouTube Movies, Xbox Video, Google Play and Sony’s dedicated website called the SeeTheInterview.com. But all of them are for consumers inside the United States."

So the world content laws fucked up once again since you had to either have a US VPN setup, and all that hassle, or just pirate it. You cant look at a movie that is only legally available in the US, when the world is a global economy. Even if they made the movie FREE to watch it would still be "torrented/downloaded" because those sites would only allow you to view it via a US IP address. and just downloading it would be quicker then watching it via a VPN that might be throttled and have shit bandwidth.

TL;DR anything that is region locked to the US/Canada/BBC will always have high piracy rates because there is no other way to get the content.

[Themius]

ITT: Thieves who believe they are justified for whatever reason they deem fit.

Stealing is stealing, no matter your reasoning.

Except pirating != stealing.

- - - Updated - - -

Which supports my statement. You have just attempted to justify theft.

It doesn't. Your statement is wrong, can we not call you on your wrongness?

[Orange Joe]

If it's not available in my country then I cannot pay for it, even if I want to.

I keep asking but no one has answered this yet. If it isn't available in your country(whatever the reason) what gives you the right to watch it?

[Begrudge]

That's why you use software firewalls. I love seeing all the random shit (legal stuff too I might add) that tries phoning home. Seriously though, movies are the last thing to worry about getting malware from. Unless you download the super high-quality ones that make you download dem codecs. :P

I have yet to download a torrent without malware and I have been torrenting for about 10 years now, I put the file I want in my main HDD and format the drive I downloaded it to. Downloading only provides bot nets with a means of causing DDOS attacks which the same people will complain about which they are usually causing with their recklessness.

[alturic]

Two things.

1. The release was region locked. If you're outside the US your only option is to torrent it.
2. People are used to torrenting movies. One well-distributed release won't immediately make people change their habits.

That's the thing though, do people in other countries despise the region bullshit to the fact they illegally obtain things all the time?

- - - Updated - - -

Which supports my statement. You have just attempted to justify theft.

Yea, I'm a pirate but even that one was a little crazy.

[Elim Garak]

No, DRM exists so that intellectual property cannot be reused without permission of its creators and owners.

That's its goal. I'm saying it exists only because people like you allow it to exist.

DRM does not fuel piracy, it is a response to it.

Oh yes it does. If you buy a movie that you can watch only on secure TV and secure player and only on your current region. You are very limited in how you can watch the movie. Enter the Piracy. Here have a movie in different formats and sizes, you can watch it on any device you want in any region online or offline. Here take these additional audio tracks and hand-made sub-tittles, here's an original audio track that is missing in your region because whatever.

This is a blog from Greenheart Games, the developer of Game Dev Tycoon, who intentially seeded a false torrent onto the web to perform an experiment with their game.

1. It's a game. Not a movie.
2. Some people will pirate no matter what - because they are mostly teens with no money.

Read that. DRM exists to prevent piracy, because at their core, most people are selfish and greedy, and would prefer to not pay for something than pay for it. The whole concept of "Put it on the Internet with no restrictions and you make ALL OF THE MONEY BECAUSE INTERNET" is inane.

I don't care WHY DRM was conceived. I'm telling you why it still exists. DRM doesn't help against piracy at all. Proper delivery platform and flexible prices DO. See STEAM and to some extent Netflix (it has a limited library because Movie industry is so deep in the last century even video games got ahead of them as an industry)

As for DRM and making money, see Kickstarter. If you offer people what they want - they will pay before you even produce the product. No DRM.
Of course it's stupid to expect people to pay for a mediocre product with no DRM. This is what DRM is used now for - for selling mediocre products.

Look at the company that makes Witcher games - they offer them on their own platform with no DRM - they are financially successful. I pre-ordered withcer 3 on GOG. In fact thanks to Steam AND GOG I am no longer pirating games at all. AT ALL. No fucking DRM can take credit for that.

[StayTuned]

Well, for my part, it just wasn't available outside the US. So really, what could I have done? Wait?

No, for a movie which I expected it wouldn't make me laugh I really didn't want to wait. But after all that hype I just wanted to see what the fuss was all about.

And I wasn't surprised to see that the movie is a 3/10 at best. Team America was 100x better

If it wasn't for all that hype, I would not have watched it at all.

[Kathandira]

Forbidden fruit is tempting. But it is not an excuse to steal.

Just because it is not available in your area, does not give you a free pass to steal it.

Mind you, a movie is not a necessity in life, it is a leisurely activity. It is so important to you that you must steal it?

[Orange Joe]

Except pirating != stealing.

Stealing = taking something which you do not have permission to take.

pirating = taking something you do not have permission to take.

Pirating = stealing.