Piracy is truly part of our culture now...

[Munin]

I know this may be an obvious observation but it just took a wall post on FB I just saw to really make me realize this. Some highschool girl I know had a wall post asking for "movies to download?" and had about 20 suggestions. And among them not a single objection or thought over the fact that she is publicly admitting to piracy to the 1200 friends she has.

Now I really don't want to seem like I've got a holier-than-thou attitude and all that and I don't think you should be sent to prison for downloading a single movie or whatever, but I find it really, really frightening that piracy has become such a completely acceptable and natural thing, especially for teenagers, which you don't even need to hide anymore. It's not even an "illegal" thing at this point, just a thing you do. It's truly become part of mainstream youth culture now.

Regarding movies I think this has really become worse through all these streaming websites, always shared among that teenage demographic. When I was a teenager, it really took some digging to find pirated stuff on the web, and now, it's become so insanely easy. And with those sites you don't even get to appreciate the actual medium anymore - the kids are happy with watching shitty camrips at a heavily compressed 600*300 resolution as long as they can watch fucking Saw 9 the day after it comes out.

I don't think this is hurting the movie industry terribly yet looking at the numbers the big movies still do, but I think it will be really dangerous for smaller productions and for the simple and IMHO far worse implication that we will have kids who will be raised thinking that movies (and music and games, I suppose) are throwaway stuff that you can get for free anytime. I find that very, very sad.

Anyway I just needed to vent this...

 

[Duki]

literally been like this for nearly ten years now bro

whatever the morality of it is, times are changing and industries are going to have to adapt

too fucking bad if your business model is made irrelevant by technological change

shit be how it be

 

[daviyoung]

The distribution companies need to start offering more then.

 

[DSN2K]

I've never forget the day a work when I over heard 2 middle age woman talking about R4 DS carts, truly stunned they even knew what they were but they did and were also actively downloading roms.

 

[BocoDragon]

literally been like this for nearly ten years now bro

Yeah... this. Everyone had Napster back in the day.

 

[Cromat]

If a majority of people are breaking the law, then something is wrong with the law.

 

[WorriedCitizen]

One can tell OP didn't grew up owning a C64 or Amiga.

 

[Rygar 8 Bit]

once all the ISPs have their way with bandwidth caps it'll kill most of the pirating

 

[aku:jiki]

Is this a serious thread?

Also, you were pretty terrible at using the internet if you ever had trouble finding pirated shit. Pro tip: it used to be a lot easier back in the day. Entire movies hosted directly on the site, one click download. Geocities link collections and Simplenet domains (was that it? the one that allowed infinite space and thus hosted a billion piracy sites?).

 

[Munin]

literally been like this for nearly ten years now bro

whatever the morality of it is, times are changing and industries are going to have to adapt

too fucking bad if your business model is made irrelevant by technological change

shit be how it be

Of course it has been long possible but I think it only really arrived in the mainstream in the past few years. When I was in school, movies were traded on CD-Rs or later DVD-Rs among the geeky kids, the others mostly still went to the cinema or the rental stores. Now it's become completely normal even for normal, non-technologically savy people to watch movies on the web, and they don't need anyone else to provide them with the knowledge or content.

If a majority of people are breaking the law, then something is wrong with the law.

Retarded argument. A few hundred years ago it was completely acceptable to own and/or abuse slaves so according to you, as that was what the majority was doing, it should be fine and legal?

(disclaimer: I am not trying to imply piracy is as bad as slavery)

 

[MrHicks]

i'm guessing just about the whole of europe/non US watches american tv shows through torrents

there is NO WAY these people are just gonna wait for months/years? for those shows to finally reach domestic tv channels

these shows are oftentimes a season or more behind etc

or do you guys truly believe that in such big threads like lost used to have that all the people commenting "great episode" were americans/canadians lol?

 

[Gouty]

once all the ISPs have their way with bandwidth caps it'll kill most of the pirating

Kinda what I'm thinking. You can't expect the content providers to offer a better deal than free.

 

[Buckethead]

1200 friends lol

 

[Moundir&Tony>you]

I used to be like this , until the day I realized that I didn't even watch 99% of the shit I had downloaded or gotten from friends .

Since then , I've bought dozens of hd-dvds , blurays and dvds , which I don't watch either , but at least , I know I'm not risking anything anymore , and I'm doing my part as a consumer .
Some people still make fun of me when I tell them that I don't want to download a movie illegally , they just don't get it .

 

[Kyaw]

It is especially popular with teenagers as they lack money to buy these things.

I have many friends who just stream cam rips from various websites. I just shake my head...

Can't stand anything less than Blurays.

 

[ItAintEasyBeinCheesy]

Piracy has always been part of human culture.

 

[calza]

Kinda what I'm thinking. You can't expect the content providers to offer a better deal than free.

iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Youtube Shows are all pretty successful and if the content is available legally, easy to acess and relatively cheap then people will use it.

The only reason streaming is so popular is because of how easy it is, however Netflix and iTunes are even easier. If Netflix were available to me I would definitely be using it.

 

[JDSN]

Yeah, I also like to pretend to be outraged when Gafers comment about TV shows and anime that isnt available on their area.

Now I really don't want to seem like I've got a holier-than-thou attitude and all that and I don't think you should be sent to prison for downloading a single movie or whatever, but I find it really, really frightening that piracy has become such a completely acceptable and natural thing, especially for teenagers, which you don't even need to hide anymore. It's not even an "illegal" thing at this point, just a thing you do. It's truly become part of mainstream youth culture now.

Regarding movies I think this has really become worse through all these streaming websites, always shared among that teenage demographic. When I was a teenager, it really took some digging to find pirated stuff on the web, and now, it's become so insanely easy. And with those sites you don't even get to appreciate the actual medium anymore - the kids are happy with watching shitty camrips at a heavily compressed 600*300 resolution as long as they can watch fucking Saw 9 the day after it comes out.

I don't think this is hurting the movie industry terribly yet looking at the numbers the big movies still do, but I think it will be really dangerous for smaller productions and for the simple and IMHO far worse implication that we will have kids who will be raised thinking that movies (and music and games, I suppose) are throwaway stuff that you can get for free anytime. I find that very, very sad.

Anyway I just needed to vent this...

Yeah, nothing pretentious about your attitude at all.

 

[WorriedCitizen]

The premise of this thread that piracy is nowadays more widespread and accepted than it used to is utter nonsense.

 

[dalin80]

i'm guessing just about the whole of europe/non US watches american tv shows through torrents

there is NO WAY these people are just gonna wait for months/years? for those shows to finally reach domestic tv channels

these shows are oftentimes a season or more behind etc

Most folk I know download TV shows purely to watch them without ad breaks.

 

[Buckethead]

Most folk I know download TV shows purely to watch them without ad breaks.

Or if they missed it and don't have TiVo.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

Most folk I know download TV shows purely to watch them without ad breaks.

Well maybe if we didn't pay 50 dollars a month to watch 50% commercials, consumers would be a little less likely to pirate TV shows.

Or if they missed it and don't have TiVo.

That reminds me. On-demand doesn't even let you skip commercials anymore for newer shows. They ever botched that up...

 

[CiSTM]

I'm all for pirating. Some movies or series are never released here so only option for me is piracy and I don't feel terrible about it. Movie/TV/Music industry just has to assimilate for the future and stop fighting against it. Start streaming shows via internet and place some ads there to get some money.

edit: btw op, days of shaky cam rips are over. Most leaked films are copies of review copies.

 

[Drkirby]

iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Youtube Shows are all pretty successful and if the content is available legally, easy to acess and relatively cheap then people will use it.

The only reason streaming is so popular is because of how easy it is, however Netflix and iTunes are even easier. If Netflix were available to me I would definitely be using it.

I really wish Netflix had even more movies on steaming though. So often one movie after anther I will find I can't simply stream. Sure, I have the newer stuff, but its tends to be older stuff that I want to watch.

That reminds me. On-demand doesn't even let you skip commercials anymore for newer shows. They ever botched that up...

You have to realize, a ton of stuff we take for granted is subsidized by advertising media. Ad Companies fund almost every website, and subsidize TV greatly.

 

[MRORANGE]

I'll stop downloading when netflix reaches my country.

Torrent games on the other hand is a big no. Downloading and playing through the entire game and not paying a dime is just wrong.

 

[Munin]

Yeah, I also like to pretend to be outraged when Gafers comment about TV shows and anime that isnt available on their area.



Yeah, nothing pretentious about your attitude at all.

So I'm pretentious because I don't fit into the main demographic anymore in which this problem seems most widespread (for obvious reasons)? I don't get it.

I am not saying I have never pirated in my life nor am I saying everyone who downloads a movie is terrible. I am just amazed how completely normal it's become.

Also, comparing this with C64/Amiga/other old computers makes no sense, because the userbase for those compared to the extremely wide demographic that watches movies was a lot smaller.

 

[Hawkian]

Only a few sites have learned to adapt. Apple stayed ahead of the curve with music. I don't know what hulu plus is like but it sure as hell took long enough to offer.

Basically, to compete, you have to offer

-DRM-free or functionally equivalent content
-A nice, intuitive interface that makes the experience better and makes it simple to buy
-reliability, speed, and other features that justify a price over zero.
-with downloadable content, no commercials

It isn't hard to do this and have a successful business model, the parties involved were just slow to get off the ground. Pirates got good at being faster and better at just delivering the content with no bells and whistles easily.

Steam is another good example, with regard to games.

 

[norinrad]

If a majority of people are breaking the law, then something is wrong with the law.

Yep they will have to send everyone to jail now to satisfy corporations and CEO's who take home 40 million Dollars a year. hahaha

Too bad they are not willing to adapt, greedy old fools

 

[Zenith]

And among them not a single objection or thought over the fact that she is publicly admitting to piracy to the 1200 friends she has.

dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnnnnn

I frequently see people here post online links to tv shows.

 

[worldrunover]

I know this may be an obvious observation but it just took a wall post on FB I just saw to really make me realize this. Some highschool girl I know had a wall post asking for "movies to download?" and had about 20 suggestions. And among them not a single objection or thought over the fact that she is publicly admitting to piracy to the 1200 friends she has.

Now I really don't want to seem like I've got a holier-than-thou attitude and all that and I don't think you should be sent to prison for downloading a single movie or whatever, but I find it really, really frightening that piracy has become such a completely acceptable and natural thing, especially for teenagers, which you don't even need to hide anymore. It's not even an "illegal" thing at this point, just a thing you do. It's truly become part of mainstream youth culture now.

Regarding movies I think this has really become worse through all these streaming websites, always shared among that teenage demographic. When I was a teenager, it really took some digging to find pirated stuff on the web, and now, it's become so insanely easy. And with those sites you don't even get to appreciate the actual medium anymore - the kids are happy with watching shitty camrips at a heavily compressed 600*300 resolution as long as they can watch fucking Saw 9 the day after it comes out.

I don't think this is hurting the movie industry terribly yet looking at the numbers the big movies still do, but I think it will be really dangerous for smaller productions and for the simple and IMHO far worse implication that we will have kids who will be raised thinking that movies (and music and games, I suppose) are throwaway stuff that you can get for free anytime. I find that very, very sad.

Anyway I just needed to vent this...

You realize you can download movies from iTunes, right?

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnnnnn

I frequently see people here post online links to tv shows.

I once saw somebody recommend buying used games on facebook, and had no problem openly admitting to it in front if hundreds of people.

 

[Buckethead]

don't know what hulu plus is like

It's better than paying $50 for cable but a lot of people are irked by them still charging $9/month with ads (and locking out iPads unless you pay said $9/mo).

 

[Deleted member 1235]

I can not remember a time when you had to keep piracy a secret, except on gaf. I'm 31 and have never heard a single person ever say anything to anyone trying to protect rights holders. Just cause the tech has changed doesn't mean the industry will disappear. There is money in it and there will continue be.

 

[SmokyDave]

In the 80's, my older sisters used to record the Top 40 singles chart onto audio cassette when it was broadcast on a Sunday. My parents bought pirated VHS videos from a guy that drove door to door and sold them from his boot and I got my C64 games for 50p per tape under the counter at my local game shop. Nowadays I buy everything legit. My experience has been the opposite.

 

[Munin]

You realize you can download movies from iTunes, right?

How many people do you know that mean "rent on iTunes" when they say "download a movie"?

I don't know anyone. But I am also not living in the US or Western Europe.

 

[gerg]

The premise of this thread that piracy is nowadays more widespread and accepted than it used to is utter nonsense.

Accepted, perhaps, but piracy is certainly more widespread if only because of how much easier it is to do.

I actually think that a similarity can be drawn between piracy and binge drinking in the UK - my mother always argue that people don't want to drink particularly more now than they did before, it's just that the current cheapness of alcohol simply allows them to. The same could be said for piracy - people have always wanted cheap (and/or free) easily-attainable media; it's just never been possible before now to actually have it.

I once saw somebody recommend buying used games on facebook, and had no problem openly admitting to it in front if hundreds of people.

iseewhatyoudidthere.jpg

 

[Stormwatch]

I think piracy has moved away from college kids in dorms using Kazaa and Napster to young kids and parents regularly pirating things like it is the norm. My cousin bought an iPod a month ago and sent me an email asking me where she can download a lot of free music to fill it up. My Manager at work comes in every week and tells us about how many Netflix movies he rented for the weekend that he then burned to DVD to keep forever. The cook at the cafeteria distributes a list of DVDs that he sells of movies that just came out in the theater. I don't remember these things 10 years ago. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention.

 

[Averon]

I'm not surprised piracy is acceptable to the younger set. A DVD rip of a movie or a recently released album with great sound quality is really easy to find, and with DD sites like MegaUpload and Mediafire, they're fast to get and you don't have to bother with Bittorrent and risk being caught.

 

[Fonds]

If online services like iTunes would actually sell movies and series in Europe, I would definitely buy more.

The fact of the matter is that those services aren't live in Europe. They're pretty much promoting piracy by doing that imho.
I don't wanna buy a crappy piece of plastic in a store, in a format that will waste away over time.

 

[Nard Bagman]

someone on my fb wall bragged about torrenting 800 songs for someone's birthday present.

 

[fabricated backlash]

I think piracy has moved away from college kids in dorms using Kazaa and Napster to young kids and parents regularly pirating things like it is the norm. My cousin bought an iPod a month ago and sent me an email asking me where she can download a lot of free music to fill it up. My Manager at work comes in every week and tells us about how many Netflix movies he rented for the weekend that he then burned to DVD to keep forever. The cook at the cafeteria distributes a list of DVDs that he sells of movies that just came out in the theater. I don't remember these things 10 years ago. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention.

You definetly weren't paying attention. Hell most of my music as a kid was taped either from the radio or from other peoples albums. Sure quality took a loss but whatever. I remember having exactly one original VHS at home, the Lions King, that was it. The rest of my 80 or 90 upwards movies were all recorded or copied back then.

Floppies were doing their rounds with copies of games all of my friends and myself included were way too young to get our hands on (by todays standards of course)

This whole doomsday discussion about piracy reaching some sort of critical point now beyond stupid. But then again, what would one expect from an industry that blames its customers of being smart and using the legal option to buy second hand games to save money.

 

[Escape Goat]

Dont copy that floppy!

 

[Unknown Soldier]

You have to realize, a ton of stuff we take for granted is subsidized by advertising media. Ad Companies fund almost every website, and subsidize TV greatly.

I would gladly pay the "TV tax" that British and Japanese TV owners pay just so I wouldn't have to watch so many goddamn ads. It's the one thing which pisses me most about American domestic television, and as ad revenues have been sagging over the decades, the percentage of ad to show on American TV has crept higher and higher. The average length of a 1-hour program on American television is now down to 44 minutes, that means >25% of a 1 hour show is now nothing but ads!

 

[Escape Goat]

Commercials wont go away. They make too much money. And like 5 people would watch the super bowl.

 

[mokeyjoe]

It's always been this way. Back when I was a kid it was copied VHS, Amiga games on floppy discs and music on cassette tapes.

It's easier and more accessible now so it's more appealing but attitudes haven't changed. Data is infinitely copyable so many people don't have a moral issue with it, the piracy=theft argument doesn't compute.

 

[Shurs]

The premise of this thread that piracy is nowadays more widespread and accepted than it used to is utter nonsense.

If I wanted a tape of Revolver, I'd need to know someone who owned the tape, meet up with them to get it, buy a blank tape to record it to and then dub the tape, losing sound-quality in the process.

Now, I'd have to turn on my computer, open my web browser, type "Revolver" plus the name of a file hosting site into Google, download the songs and drag them into iTunes.

Piracy is certainly easier nowadays.

 

[speedpop]

Dont copy that floppy!

When I was barely old enough to wipe my own arse, our C64 games were stored in two huge containers. I'm pretty sure that not a single game was an original.

Piracy is certainly easier nowadays.

It comes part in parcel with the advancements created by humanity, really. I can buy a case of imported beer straight from Belgium with the click of a button if I wanted to, or a dozen bottles of gin crafted on the Shetland Isles half-a-world away from my current location. 10 years ago? Good luck.

 

[Escape Goat]

When I was barely old enough to wipe my own arse, our C64 games were stored in two huge containers. I'm pretty sure that not a single game was an original.


It comes part in parcel with the advancements created by humanity, really. I can buy a case of imported beer straight from Belgium with the click of a button if I wanted to. 10 years ago? Good luck.

you just admitted to piracy! banded!!!! joking of course.

 

[speedpop]

you just admitted to piracy! banded!!!! joking of course.

I remember my friend recording the entire Kid A album on the radio via cassette and handing me a copy. I think that was the last time I ever listened to a cassette. I was part of the problem, Thom!

 

[SneakyStephan]

If I wanted a tape of Revolver, I'd need to know someone who owned the tape, meet up with them to get it, buy a blank tape to record it to and then dub the tape, losing sound-quality in the process.

Now, I'd have to turn on my computer, open my web browser, type "Revolver" plus the name of a file hosting site into Google, download the songs and drag them into iTunes.

Piracy is certainly easier nowadays.

Easier yes, but the result of doing it hasn't changed, nor has the intent behind it.

People used to lend eachother videotapes, LP's, casettes and cds all the time, copy cd's and videotapes, or copy music from their cd to a casette.
(the latter option was a major selling feature on almost ALL home stereo systems).

For some reason gaming is put on a pedestal, especially with the pity campaigns from publishers and devs lately.

I'm willing to bet 99 percent of old enough gaf spent their youth trading music, books and video casettes and porn magazines, and most have hundreds of downloaded songs and probably a few dozen gigs worth of movies and tv shows.

Ease of use never stopped anyone, my dad used to drive me 100 km's to buy a dozen psx games (and spend 100 dollars on it too) back in the late 90s.
People spent hours waiting for their tapes to copy from cd, tons of people had bootleg filmnet cards to plug into their receivers, there was a whole market of mob type distribution for it lovingly called 'the russians'.
Most game stores had an under the counter chipping service, they all rented games out like there was no tomorrow.

Getting bootleg software actually cost enough to not be able to afford legit entertainment anymore.
I know people who bought a house from their piracy earnings...

I haven't met a cop in my life who doesn't pirate his music or didn't have a chipped playstation for his son back in the day.