Short Summary
- Louis Rossmann discusses an article from The Guardian about ownership of movies and TV shows in the age of streaming services.
- The article addresses the intricacies of ownership in technically savvy fields that normal users may not be aware of.
- Purchasers of media are often treated worse than pirates, and may be viewed as second-class citizens or criminals.
- Companies may take away perpetual licenses and upcharge for 4K content.
- Netflix only allows viewing on smart TVs, which may spy on users.
- Sony and Amazon use revocable licenses and restrict access to purchased content.
- Vicky Russell spent $2,500 on media but was told she didn’t actually own it and needed to purchase new hardware to access it.
- Terms of service state that purchased or rented content is only accessible through the service and may be lost if the account is terminated or suspended.
And what makes the purchaser being viewed like a criminal?
When the content purchaser encounters arbitration of access to the content they purchased, the implication is that they didn’t genuinely purchase it. It can’t really be separated that the material effect of the DRM mechanism being encountered is to inform purchasers that they are attempting to commit a crime.
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