Media Industry sues ISP because users download

[kirottu]

I illegally downloaded some drugs and then used them!

[Hurlshort]

But you are in the States. In the rest of the world region locking affects practically everything, and inevitably leads to greater piracy.

 

I get that, I really do. But none of this stuff is critical, it's all pretty much entertainment. So if you have to wait 6 months for something to release in your own country, why is that a big enough deal to break the law over? I've made the argument before that there is this odd sense of entitlement to the whole piracy debate that I've just never understood.

[Gorgon]

In the old days before rampant movie piracy, waiting 6 months for a movie to finally arrive in the theaters Europe was not uncommon.

 

Now I can't fathom why people would bother downloading something filmed directly off the screen with a camcorder, but apparently enough do that the distributers have been shaken out of their complacancy and generally release movies more or less at the same time. I can't say I'm unhappy with the outcome.

 

I suspect that the same effect is going to happen with TV shows. The producers will realise that they must make their show available or lose out. The end result will benifit the consumer.

Edited February 5, 2010 by Gorgon

[kirottu]

nvm

Edited February 5, 2010 by kirottu

[Pidesco]

But you are in the States. In the rest of the world region locking affects practically everything, and inevitably leads to greater piracy.

 

I get that, I really do. But none of this stuff is critical, it's all pretty much entertainment. So if you have to wait 6 months for something to release in your own country, why is that a big enough deal to break the law over? I've made the argument before that there is this odd sense of entitlement to the whole piracy debate that I've just never understood.

 

 

The point isn't that region locking justifies piracy. It goes without saying that it doesn't. The gist of the issue here is that media corporations are essentially encouraging piracy and missing out on a potentially huge customer base by doing region delays. It's not about morals, but rather about lack of business sense on the part of the corporations.

 

Steam's regional pricing , to give an example, essentially means I don't buy any game on it, directly, unless it's one of those bargains. And I'm essentially the demographic which services like Steam target. What's the point of that?

 

Corporations should stop playing the morality card, which is pointless, and start offering competing services to the people who pirate. Imagine if, say, ABC, offered a torrenting worldwide service of Lost episodes, for, say 5$ an episode. Kind of like the price of a movie ticket. They could, as encouragement, guarantee speedy delivery, better quality files and extras like a preview of the following episode, stills of the show, wallpapers, and whatever. The bottom line is that to stop piracy, companies have to treat piracy as any other competitor.

[Hurlshort]

I really don't know enough about regional restrictions to really discuss this, but I definitely see Gorgon and Pidesco's point.

[Walsingham]

i don't see it as a strong paradox to accept that something is always wrong, yet accept that more can be done to avoid it happening. Regional coding is just greedy nonsense. Lose it and move on. You fight to win, you don't fight on points you can't win.

[Humodour]

Steam generally doesn't do regional pricing for Australia, so it's a great deal to buy on there. When it is forced to do regional pricing by stupid publishers however, e.g. Bioshock 2, the product is usually twice as expensive. Why? Taxes add about 10% to 15%, not 100%. It is for this reason that I will not purchase Bioshock 2. I won't deny simply downloading it instead crossed my mind, but I'm a patient person - I'll just wait 3 years until the price drops to $20 or so on Steam (I'd never buy it elsewhere, since it'd have online activation DRM).

[Walsingham]

I was thinking about buying Mass Effect again, and was wondering why I hadn't until I was about to buy and remembered the DRm. What the **** EA. Give it up, you wankers. We are not the bitch of you!

[Calax]

I think that the only way for the viewing media to not be pirated would either an extreme, either extreme limits, or extreme freedoms. Either way it'd make the pirates jobs either to hard (of course some do it to feel like freedom fighters), or useless. The question is how would they get around the funding problem. My guess would be that if things became "free" you'd have more adds on the 'net versions than you would on the TV version.