Morality question

[ionbasa]

...

BTW, it is illegal to torrent TV shows, but I'd say it's acceptable (I mean pfft, nobody's paying like £25/mo for Sky's package which offers it)

Its not Illegal if the copy protection bit is set to 0x00 (copy freely) on digital cable systems [and you pay for cable]. The same can be true about Free to Air broadcasts and transmissions.

 

As far as I know, nobody has been sued, gone to court, jailed, or fined for distributing material that is 'copy freely' or free to air (because it wouldn't hold up in court and legally is allowed).

 

The only exception I can think of is Aero, but they were essentially a business charging for format shifting, and content delivery, which does make them a 'broadcast provider' by definaition. Aero made the mistake of charging users, if it were a free service, they may still be around today...

[Yoinkerman]

I pay about $100/mo for television so I don't feel bad if I download a show I missed. If I didn't pay for a TV subscription I wouldn't download any TV.

[Sammael]

It is theft.

 

Tv creators and networks are not in the business of producing shows to air to any and everyone, they are in the ad business, and at times subscription business along with ads.

 

That is what pays for the content to be created in the first place.  Every time someone watches a show without ads or without paying for some service to get access to the content legitimately, they are stealing from the creators.  It's not normal theft, but they are stealing their creativity, they are acting like leeches in the system, because if EVERYONE did what those pirates did, there would be no tv shows made.  It would all turn to ash.

 

 

I say all this as someone who pira... hypothetically pirates tv shows all the time.  And when my hypothetical self does this, it is usually not because it's not available here in the US, it's because I want commercial free viewing.  In doing this, I am DENYING the creators the ability to have my viewing of tv be monetized.  This cannot become the norm.

 

 

We HAVE to have a mechanism to monetize viewing, or we get NO content.  I want the shows I enjoy compensated, but not enough to deal with commercials.  I do not know the solution to this problem.  I pay for netflix, and am willing to pay something for access to other shows, but not too much, and therein lies the rub.  People have different thresholds for what they consider reasonable.  I am not dropping 2 dollars per episode.  That is insane to me, but others have no compunction against such purchases.

 

 

I'd be willing to pay another 30 dollars a month to get access to other shows in full HD, where the funds could be split between shows.  But again, I suspect that model is not enough to sustain the money needed for television.

 

Television thrives on the VAST majority of the money spent going to channels and shows NONE of us have ANY interest in.  Because our tastes are different.  But such shows extract rents from us all because they are clustered together.  And free is pretty compelling too.  Why pay ANYTHING if free is so easy.

[mr moose]

Not quite sure that's what you meant there

 

It's what I meant. I've never liked the phrase "agree to disagree" it seems nonconstructive, almost like a cop out.  Here I acknowledge you have more to say but I doubt I will agree and for the sake of civility and respect I don't want to simply dismiss it either.

[Trik'Stari]

I would torrent them, then later purchase the box set to offset the "loss" they supposedly suffer.

 

Then again, the only show I want to watch right now is on Starz so it has no commercials, and it's on mid season break until april. DAMNIT, BRING BACK MY OUTLANDER!!!!!!!

[Sauron]

It's what I meant. I've never liked the phrase "agree to disagree" it seems nonconstructive, almost like a cop out.  Here I acknowledge you have more to say but I doubt I will agree and for the sake of civility and respect I don't want to simply dismiss it either.

 

I see, I thought that's what "agree to disagree" meant but hey, that's fine too ^^

[mr moose]

I see, I thought that's what "agree to disagree" meant but hey, that's fine too ^^

I always assumed it was said when the only thing people can agree on is that they disagree.  I would rather not settle on an appraisal of the discussion, but focus on accepting that the core discussion isn't over and even though there is still more to discuss it will not likely end in agreement.

 

EDIT: I see why this sounds like it's the same thing though :unsure:

[xox]

Its not Illegal if the copy protection bit is set to 0x00 (copy freely) on digital cable systems [and you pay for cable]. The same can be true about Free to Air broadcasts and transmissions.

 

As far as I know, nobody has been sued, gone to court, jailed, or fined for distributing material that is 'copy freely' or free to air (because it wouldn't hold up in court and legally is allowed).

 

The only exception I can think of is Aero, but they were essentially a business charging for format shifting, and content delivery, which does make them a 'broadcast provider' by definaition. Aero made the mistake of charging users, if it were a free service, they may still be around today...

If you record it off the air, it's only legal if you're making a copy for yourself, not for others.

[Misanthrope]

I've downloaded some of the shows I loved (Law and Order, House, Seinfeld) and I don't care if people call me a thief or something: I watched all those shows religiously on TV and still do so in my mind they already got their fucking advertising money, now I just want the convenience of having them digitally.

[ImBleu]

I only torrent TV shows as well, as they're either not available or like you they're 400 years behind. My justification is that by making them not available here they never had me as a potential customer, they were never going to make money off me anyways so they're not loosing any business.

[ionbasa]

If you record it off the air, it's only legal if you're making a copy for yourself, not for others.

I stated that in my previous post. So long as you don't distribute it, it is legal.

[Master Disaster]

Cheers for the input everyone and cheers for staying civil