Villian or hero?

[VectraMan]

I use pirate bay and have saved literately thousands over the years on extortionate cinema/blu-ray fees. If some fat-cat producer or egomaniac actor can't buy another yacht because of pirating then WGAS.

But would you GAS if hardly any films were being made because it was impossible to make any money, or even cover the costs?

[SpontaneousOrder]

This

What does that have to do with anything? I'm not convinced that you understand what capitalism is.

[VectraMan]

Cars are scarce. There is no scarcity in data. Hence why pinching cars is called theft, and copying is called, er..., copying.

So everything digital is worth zero, is that what you're saying?

That's me out of a job then.

[stek]

The torrent sites are realising this and moving towards a better experience, though. For example Popcorn Time, which is looking at delivering a Netflix / Lovefilm / NowTV style interface for downloads.

I'd like to think that at some stage in the future, film studios automatically release a low-quality torrent when films hit the cinemas. Those that want the experience and the quality will still go and watch at the cinema, buy the DVD / BR etc. and they'll still get the money; those that want a quick fix and aren't fussed about the quality get a reliable download in low quality (similar to getting a camera capture, maybe) that they might pay a small amount for, and the studio gets rid of the low quality stuff on torrents. Everybody wins.

Mark Kermode said the same, release it postage stamp size on day one for download for a quid, for those like me who need to be doing two things at once and can't relax in the cinema..

[MicrosoftBob]

What does that have to do with anything? I'm not convinced that you understand what capitalism is.

What does that have to do with anything?, I'm not convinced you understand what legalised theft is

If you legally allow companies to steal image rights for commercial use, why should facilitating torrents be illegal ?

[SpontaneousOrder]

So everything digital is worth zero, is that what you're saying?

That's me out of a job then.

No that's not what I'm saying. I've made no mention of worth or value at all - It's right there for you to read.

To steal is to take & deprive someone else of their property. Property by definition but be scarce (hence why IP is a contradiction in terms) as the whole reason for the existence of the concept of property is because scarce resources can only exist in a limited number of places at the same time - normally 1. When you possess a scarce resource (and ownership is the right to decide who possesses that scarce resource) then you necessarily prevent someone else from possessing that same resource.

The sequence of data that a movie is encoded in is NOT a scarce resource (although the physical media that hosts that encoding may be). You can copy data infinitely without ever denying anyone else the possession of that same data at the same time. As such data is by definition not able to be owned.


So to get to the point - if people would never have bought the movie, and download it for free because it's free, the creators & distributors of that movie have lost nothing. If someone who would never buy a car steals one instead, the owner of that car will suffer a loss.

[Unix]

But would you GAS if hardly any films were being made because it was impossible to make any money, or even cover the costs?

Not really 90% of movies are utter tulip, and there are always a section of the population that will follow the rules and do what there told. There are maybe 2-3 films a year I go to the Cinema and watch.

[SpontaneousOrder]

What does that have to do with anything?, I'm not convinced you understand what legalised theft is

If you legally allow companies to steal image rights for commercial use, why should facilitating torrents be illegal ?

Again.... what does legally allowing theft have to do with capitalism?

[SpontaneousOrder]

Not really 90% of movies are utter tulip, and there are always a section of the population that will follow the rules and do what there told. There are maybe 2-3 films a year I go to the Cinema and watch.

Plus look at all the kickstarter projects, like Elite: Dangerous. When the industry starts to suffer the model will change because people want movies. Perhaps they'll start getting better stories again & less expensive but pointless effects.

[TheFaQQer]

I thought popcorn time died a death about 6 or 7 years ago? Maybe it's been revived.

I'm not sure about the history, but it's had a bit of press in the past couple of months about how they are looking to take on the mainstream streamers.