Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by wvenable 4944 days ago
Your license to the content, when you buy it, is tied to the medium you bought it on. You can buy the Blu-ray, watch the Blu-ray, but that doesn't give you a license to watch a downloaded copy.
2 comments

True, but it does, at the very least, clear one's conscience a bit about downloading. I want to support the things I like. However, I hate many of the forms that they come on, and/or the venues in which they are presented.

For instance, I loathe my local theaters, but I love movies. I'll buy a ticket to the theater online, and then just pirate a copy of the movie so I can watch it in the comfort of my own home. Is it legal? Nay, but it does allow me to still support the content creators I like without having to deal with all the crap (unrelated to the core content) that I'd have to wade through otherwise.

It's my "moral" approach to piracy.

That's the worst you can do, because you are still breaking the law, while at the same time voting with your wallet for something that hurts you.

Either pay for it and use it as is, or don't.

If you don't like DRM than you must realize that the only way they'll backtrack on it is if their bottom line is seriously injured. If you have no problem with DRM and the status quo, than the pirating you mention doesn't make sense.

Also, if you want to reward content authors, reward them in cases where the distribution suits your needs. E.g. I never buy movies in digital format, but I go to the movie theaters like once every 2 weeks (I'm the opposite of you, going out for movies is something I like, but my local movie theaters are making an effort in pleasing their customers). I don't buy music, but I go to concerts. I only buy ebooks without DRM, etc...

UltraViolet is supposed to be fixing this. Many Blu-rays that I buy now come with UV licenses.