Technology

Buying is renting, pirating is owning

It's high time laws protected us from this. Yes, even from High Lord Gaben.

If we buy it, we own it. We can transfer them to other account. Any stores selling stuff must have a plan in place for what happens when the store closes, whether that's transferring ownership to another store, or something involving making files publicly downloadable...

I never built up a CD collection but I now started a digital DRM free local collection. Yes, I am actually buying that stuff (call me stupid if you like) but only loss free.

One of the few disks I own is sadly too corruoted for error free ripping, luckuly I still have it as mp3. That album simply does not wxist online anymore, anywhere. Possibly not even in the darker corners of the net. I think that happens more often than many believe.

i think browsing webpages should be the same.
load it once, then store it locally andor host a torrent for it

Realistically we shouldn’t need laws for this. We should all just vote with our wallets. If we can’t own then you go out of business.

However there should be laws against companies changing the terms of the contract after sale.

If buying isn't owning, then pirating cannot be stealing. These corporations are literally herding people back onto the seas. I need to go get myself a new flag with a skull and bones, since I tied my boat to the pier about fifteen-twenty years ago.

Well, aren't you quaint. Next thing you'll be asking for is seed corn that you can replant year after year from the corn it grows, heated seats in your cars without a subscription payment, replaceable batteries in your battery powered electronics.

It's always been hypocrisy. The media companies only say what part you actually own based whatever is most profitable to them.

Technically, back in the day, when you bought any music wether it be 8-track, LP, cassette, or CD, you were purchasing a single-user license for the music and the media was just how the record companies delivered it to you. That's why Napster and all the piracy that followed it was/is illegal, because you don't own a license when you copy the digital file.

HOWEVER... Over the many decades I've been alive I've scratched, twisted, demagnetized, or just plain old lost hundreds of LPs, cassettes, and CDs. Do you think if I requested a new copy of the music that the record companies would send me a replacement?

No, they would not. So I obtained digital replacements by...other means.

Now that we're all used to digital copies, suddenly that's been the important part all along.

Beyond the obvious problem of paying but not owning, it's impossible to watch/listen without that data being stored on a massive corporation's server and likely sold to hundreds of advertisers. Last I saw Spotify had over 300 venders they share data with. I've seen sites with over 1000.

So you're not only paying for something you don't own, but you're also paying to have a larger profile in the surveillance capitalism machine.

Listen, me hearties…

The starving (and recent gutting) of the public domain demonstrates the institution of intellectual property persists in bad faith. Therefore media piracy is a legitimate means to acquire and consume media.

As the C-suite and its political and paramilitary minions have shown us crime is not about behavior and consequences, but who you are and to whom you bend the knee.

I do, raise the black flag and you can too.

I saved all my DVDs because the pawn/sale price wasnt worth it... So glad I did.

I have no fear that Amazon will come to my house and remove the books I bought. If they were DRMed ebooks, on the other hand, that would be something to worry about.

Only way I feel I can push back is by also saving it locally 🏴‍☠️

We got frog boiled in the 2010s to accept renting out media. Me and my sandisk Sansa clip still go for walks listening to mp3s. I wonder if devices like this will see a resurgence under the idea that owning it gives you control of your media.

This hasn't bothered me at all. I've been _Arr_chiving a lot lately.

That's what I've been saying for years. If you've bought digital multimedia like movies, TV shows, software, etc from large corpos, you don't own it and you are at their mercy. Contracts can expire and licenses can be revoked. Corps want you to own nothing and be grateful for them allowing you the privilege of paying them for a product or service they can rescind at any time for any reason, because fuck you, that's why.