“‘My whole library is wiped out’: what it means to...

“‘My whole library is wiped out’: what it means to own movies and TV in the age of streaming services”

It doesn’t mean anything at all, because you don’t own anything.

The language of ownership, or of buying something, is misleading.

Similarly, if you are running/storing something locally but it handcuffs it DRM or communication with someone else’s online server, you should be told this very clearly up front.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/article/2024/may/14/my-whole-library-is-wiped-out-what-it-means-to-own-movies-and-tv-in-the-age-of-streaming-services

Like 14 May at 5:18 | Open on mastodon.neilzone.co.uk

12 comments

Tats :disability_flag:

@neil me buying dvds on eBay doesn't seem so silly now. 😁

14 May at 5:24 | Open on beige.party

Neil Brown

@Tattooed_Mummy Exactly.

I quite like Music Magpie for DVDs.

Car boot sales are cheaper per DVD, but no search function!

14 May at 5:29 | Open on mastodon.neilzone.co.uk

Tats :disability_flag:

@neil it's wild. I've bought several dvds recently cheaper than even "renting" via a streaming service, let alone "buying"

14 May at 5:38 | Open on beige.party

Dr Tim Nicholls

@Tattooed_Mummy @neil I've been buying a lot of Blu-rays from CEX for 50p recently. I started buying them again after Amazon didn't renew licencing for some movies I'd 'purchased' on Prime Video and they disappeared from my list of purchases.

They did the same thing on Audible with William Gibson's books. Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive just disappeared. Neuromancer got replaced with an inferior version with a different narrator.

14 May at 5:50 | Open on mastodon.online

kaateeh :heart_cyber: :pipverified: :donor:

@Tattooed_Mummy @neil It's a bit funny how quickly we all made the circle 'we buy dvds and books' -> 'we get digital stuff to have less items' -> 'we buy dvds and books'.

14 May at 5:56 | Open on infosec.exchange

Tats :disability_flag:

@kaateeh @neil I didn't do the middle bit. I still have all my VHS tapes 🤭

14 May at 5:58 | Open on beige.party

kaateeh :heart_cyber: :pipverified: :donor:

@Tattooed_Mummy @neil That's great as long as you have an appropriate device to play them. I do have the box of dvds I heed to go through from pre-netflix times. I expect to find real treasures!

14 May at 6:00 | Open on infosec.exchange

Tats :disability_flag:

@kaateeh @neil I have multiple dvd and VHS players. Also a record player. I'm thinking of getting a portable dvd player too so I can watch on bed

14 May at 6:03 | Open on beige.party

kaateeh :heart_cyber: :pipverified: :donor:

@Tattooed_Mummy @neil oh, that's really cool. I'd love to have real music playing equipment, not just a computer.

14 May at 6:05 | Open on infosec.exchange

Tats :disability_flag:

@kaateeh @neil I do buy eBooks, but not ones I want to keep, and on kobo, stripped of DRM

14 May at 5:58 | Open on beige.party

kaateeh :heart_cyber: :pipverified: :donor:

@Tattooed_Mummy @neil True, with books I always get a paper copy of important ones. Humble Bundle is good for drm free ebooks.

14 May at 6:03 | Open on infosec.exchange

Frank Bennett

@neil I once had the notion, as a property law academic, that fragmentation of copyright interests should be constrained in the same way that restrictive covenants are supervised by the courts. There was a member of staff at (IIRC) Berkeley with similar ideas. But things have moved on so far now, making reasoned arguments about ©️ is like dissecting a train wreck after it's happened. It's like, go ahead guys, when the whole thing collapses I hope some of us can find enough food to keep us alive.

14 May at 5:32 | Open on indieweb.social