Have a source for any of that?

Despotic government? More like bought and paid for by RIAA etc.

Desperately seeking? No evidence of desperation, this appears to simply be rhetoric or maybe wishful thinking.

Psychological command and control? You're equating SOPA, which is a simply misguided attempt to save a declining industry through legislation to psychological warfare on the US population...

Your extremist rhetoric is misplaced.

 

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I disagree. First the NDAA was signed New Year's Eve, then quickly SOPA & PIPA. Not to mention the ever growing tentacles of Homeland Security / TSA.

TSA groping children and old people is not to check for terror, it's to teach and train the people to submit to government.

 

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This isn't ACF...

 

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I was trying to download a ROM update for my Android phone this weekend and these are usually hosted on Megaupload and other cyber locker sites. Naturally the Megaupload links weren't working. But I was a tiny bit surprised some of the other file sharing sites didn't seem to be working either.

And now FileSonic announced they have disabled file downloading on their site (unless you personally uploaded the file).
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57363594-93/filesonic-disables-file-sharing-in-wake-of-megaupload-arrests/

Appears they are going through and cleaning up some accounts and content. Kind of a "Oh crap, parents are home, we gotta clean up this mess quick before they see it" situation.

I saw that Filesonic today as well. However, there are a billion of these download sites, so it will take a while to smack em all down if that is there intention.

 

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I read an article the other day which made the point that unfortunately we now have a whole generation brought up solely on the internet and expecting something for nothing all the time, all to be achieved through the advantage of total anonymity. A generation that isn't used to paying for movies, music etc and who therefore see any attempt at cracking down on piracy in order to protect the living standards of those whose copyrights are being trashed 24/7 as an act of a corrupt and desperate Government. The article made a lot of sense.

The US Government may be tackling the issue the wrong way, but I for one am in no doubt that the issue does need to be tackled, and I have no time for the criminal and anarchic antics of the likes of Anonymous.

Meh, people can and will pay for reasonable alternatives. As Gabe Newell said: its a service problem. Just look at how they are trying to clamp down. Redbox is seen a threat, so WB wants a 58 day wait from when a movie is released to DVD to when you can rent it. Sorry, I know they want to sell new seasons of TV shows for $60, but there is no way in hell that's viable.

Game developers / publishers are trying to strip parts out of the game and provide a one time online code to prevent resale. Cmon man, resale has been an "issue" where the original author doesn't get more money since the dawn of.. uh, "content". A painter doesn't get more when his painting is resold. An author does not make a dime when his book is passed around.

The industry likes to pretend that it provides "options", but it doesn't. I cannot consume what I purchase where I want, when I want, or in what format I want. Its usually riddled with DRM or flash / proprietary players. If the industry wanted to do a $4.99 per season 420p digital download of a TV series, that would be interesting (for the current season, as it airs, with previous seasons @ $1.99 a season). Oh, I can hear it now, but but but bandwidth costs! Doh, they could use bit torrent to *legally* distribute the episodes.

Seriously, $1.99 for a TV show that I can get *WITH AN ANTENNA* is absurd. Its this type of fundamental disconnect which turns consumers into pirates. Pirates can and will turn into customers given the right incentive. Best #1 incentive? Let me download the show slightly before it airs. With torrents, you have to wait for someone to up it, so immediately they would have a service advantage. Thats *if* they were interested in providing a superior service.

My piracy of video games stopped when I started using steam. I consume more content over Netflix than I do from torrent sites at this point, though with the industry viewing it as a threat and the content costs going from $200m to $2b, who knows how long that will last.

They are dinosaurs and just like the music industry, and its going to take a while to adjust. They need to realize that you cannot bend the internet to meet your demands. Statements that people want things for free tend to miss several key points IMO.

How dare you apply logic to the situation?!

"My piracy of video games stopped when I started using steam."

I think this is the loudest thing you said in that whole post. Those stupid idiots are trying to fight using a system that could make them crazy amounts of money and cripple the pirating world severely.

 

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Steam and Spotify have "made me a better man". Someone needs to get their head out of their ass if they think Netflix, with it's current content, is the solution to streaming movies though...


Edit: I am not implying you, btw

 

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another problem is that they don't look at the causes as to why people pirate things.... they just see that people do it and want to stop it.

on demand from comcast is a perfect example.. they can put television shows on there that otherwise you'd have to have recorded or wait to purchase them (or now days spend a dollar or two an episode to stream it from a site) and do what? Put the advertising in them... i don't get it... the ability for me to watch a tv show when i want is what i want.. i don't care if i have to watch the commercials (i won't lie i'd rather NOT watch them) so long as i can still watch the shows i want when i want. yet there are lots of shows or networks that won't do the on demand thing for whatever reason.. i don't get it...... they could be not only having me watch commercials but more targeted commercials and they still refuse to use the service.

netflix is a joke.. whats the point of "streaming" if you can't stream the new releases at the same time you can get the dvd? thats why people will still pirate movies instead of pay for a service.. in fact.. how many people out there have netflix accounts but still pirate movies? i don't really know but my guess is there are a lot.. and they just pirate what isn't on netflix available for them.


to be honest they will never stop piracy.. there are some people who do it because they can and they always will. but i'd say the majority just need for all these companies to be more reasonable in what they are asking... there has to be a price point for games, movies, services, etc where they would make more money in the end by charging less, there has to be a good median....

then again there are companies like apple.... provide you with the same @#@$!$ ina nice looking package and says it's better...charge more.... and millions of people buy it... so maybe i'm wrong.....

 

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