I wrote a thing about Netflix

[sirtoby]

It's finally happened: Netflix has given in to the pressure from the movie industry and is blocking VPN users who are trying to access its service. I'm one of those who are affected. I used to watch Netflix's UK and US catalogue as the German one wasn't great at all. Now I'm standing here and asking myself, how I can continue to watch those TV shows. Netflix's move has left me with two options: The legal way and the illegal way. The legal way is inconvinient and expensive. It is stores like iTunes where you pay at least 20€ per season and then get a file that has been crippled with DRM in a way that I can't even watch it on Linux. I've done this once for Top Gear. I'd do it again for TG, but only because I utterly love the show.
This leaves me with the illegal way.

Remeber when Gabe Newell said that piracy was a distribution problem? Yeah, he was right. I used to obtain music and games from questionable sources (hopefully worded that CoC conform enough ) then iTunes made its music basically DRM free and Steam became popular so I bought my music and games because it was more convenient. I understand that content costs money, and I want to pay for it.
The BBC is another bad example for that. I watch a lot of stuff on the iPlayer (BBC's vod platform), and I want to pay money for it, but I can't. There is literally no way for me as a non British citizen to do that. BBC, you make great content, let me pay for it!
It could be so easy for the content industry. It just needs to be more convenient than piracy, which isn't hard whatsoever. Downloading multiple archives, entering Captchas, dealing with viruses; All of those are things that I didn't have to deal with when watching Netflix or iPlayer.
We're held back by the current distribution model. Why shouldn't a new episode be available on cable and streaming at the same time?
I guess the biggest obstacle are the traditional cable companies. On the one hand, they're responsible for a lot of the shows we all love, but these companies are slowly going down if they don't adapt. The problem is that until one of the giants is legitmately struggeling, we will be stuck with the traditional distribution model. Fortunately there's hope when it comes to new shows thanks to streaming companies who are now producing their own content which has a distribution model that is appropriate to the age of streaming.

 

TL;DR Netflix bans VPN users, piracy is now the most convenient method to watch US TV shows again.

[Paralectic]

Altough piracy is not convenient in Germany because they will block you from using their internet and catch you.

[sirtoby]

Altough piracy is not convenient in Germany because they will block you from using their internet and catch you.

Not in my experience... you're still save as long as you avoid torrents.

[Volbet]

I still have access to Netfilx via my VPN service. I'm sitting in Denmark and I still have access to the US and UK Netfilx catalogue.

There is also other legal options than iTunes. You could buy the physical version of whatever you want to watch. 

If there aren't any stores in your local area, then use the stores online. You are in Germnay, so the the entirety EU is your shopping mall. 

 

The reason you can't watch any of the BBC's content is because you (as a German citezen) don't pay to the BBC. 

Why is it fair that you should have free access to something other people pay for?

However, there is EU legislation on its way that will make it so any content legally available in an EU country has to be legally available in all EU countries through the same service.

So the BBC Player has to be available in all EU countries if it's available in the UK: 

[r1Ns3]

Netflix is fking TERRIBLE in Australia, just a few good shows and that's it. If I could pirate Netflix somehow, I so would do it.

[sandboarder08]

Have you tried blockless? Its a dns server and smart vpn. They have a free week trial. (This is not advertising this trying to find a solution.)

[You_are_a_cunt]

Until Netflix sorts out the distribution problems that are caused by license holders and gets a broader variety of shows and movies available worldwide, I'm 110% on board with watching movies/shows using less than legal methods.

I jumped onto the Netflix bandwagon day 1 of availability in Romania and I can almost say I've watched everything on Netflix (taking into account that I watch stuff at work for at least 7-8 hours/day, then taking into account that my secondary monitor is pretty much dedicated to Netflix when I'm not working, that brings me up to like 16 hours of media consumption per day, be it active or passive).

There are a metric buttload of shows that are on Netflix but unavailable, or just plain partial (Mythbusters only has 2 seasons, Elementary is in the same boat). I was disappointed when I saw that there are only 2 Kevin Smith movies available (Clerks and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) and the list goes on and on.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love Netflix as a service that I can use wherever I am (unlimited data plan for mobile from my ISP makes me pretty much connected 24/7 as long as my devices have enough juice in them to function), but the license holders that refuse to allow them to make their content truly worldwide is the problem.

Do license holders not get a cut of profits from Netflix? How is getting something for allowing Netflix to stream their content better than "losing" money to pirating? Digital distribution doesn't suffer the same costs as physical media does, since there's no manufacturing or distribution costs to deal with, specially when someone else is hosting and streaming your content FOR you.

 

Them big wigs need to sort their shit out before it's too late.

[sirtoby]

I still have access to Netfilx via my VPN service. I'm sitting in Denmark and I still have access to the US and UK Netfilx catalogue.

There is also other legal options than iTunes. You could buy the physical version of whatever you want to watch. 

If there aren't any stores in your local area, then use the stores online. You are in Germnay, so the the entirety EU is your shopping mall. 

 

The reason you can't watch any of the BBC's  content is because you (as a German citezen) don't pay to the BBC. 

Why is it fair that you should have free access to something other people pay for?

Howvever, there is EU legislation on its way that will make it so any content legally available in an EU country has to be legally available in all EU countries through the same service.

So the BBC Player has to be available in all EU countries if it's available in the UK: 

There are a few VPN's left, and some will remain, but the majority will get blocked. I don't really like carrying a DVD player around with me None of my devices has a disk drive any more, and ripping DVD's or BlueRay's is illegal if you're circumventing DRM (which you're doung in this case), so it isn't any better than a direct illegal download The thing that i meant with the BBC, is that they make it impossible for the millions of non Brits who use their service to pay for it. I WANT to pay for their iPlayer, but they don't let me.

[ShadowCaptain]

so it isn't any better than a direct illegal download

 

Of course it is, since you are still paying the creator for their show, you would probably much better off iwth this defence in course

 

"I bough all my TV shows and Movies on disk, I just converted them so I could watch them on my tablet"

 

instead of "I did not pay for anything and downloaded it all for free because I am a pirate"

[Volbet]

There are a few VPN's left, and some will remain, but the majority will get blocked. I don't really like carrying a DVD player around with me None of my devices has a disk drive any more, and ripping DVD's or BlueRay's is illegal if you're circumventing DRM (which you're doung in this case), so it isn't any better than a direct illegal download The thing that i meant with the BBC, is that they make it impossible for the millions of non Brits who use their service to pay for it. I WANT to pay for their iPlayer, but they don't let me.

I'm not talking in any legal terms, since I don't have an understanding of copyright laws in every country. I'm talking on a more practical level.

if you buy the DVD or Blu-Ray the content creator is still making money of it. They aren't making any money if you get your content from the Pirate Bay.

So no, it is better to buy the physical medium and ripping it than it is to just straight up pirating it. 

The content creator probably doesn't even care if you are ripping your DVDs aslong as you don't distributes the ripped files.

Also, you can buy an external optical drive cheaply online, so that isn't even an excuse.

[sirtoby]

Of course it is, since you are still paying the creator for their show, you would probably much better off iwth this defence in course

 

"I bough all my TV shows and Movies on disk, I just converted them so I could watch them on my tablet"

 

instead of "I did not pay for anything and downloaded it all for free because I am a pirate"

Of course, thanks for pointing that out. I worded that completely wrong. What I meant was that no matter what, you're still doing something illegal, even though one option is morally right. Netflix does give you an easy opportunity do avoid the whole illegal thing in the first place

[ShadowCaptain]

Of course, thanks for pointing that out. I worded that completely wrong. What I meant was that no matter what, you're still doing something illegal, even togh one option is morally right. Netflix does give you an easy opportunity do avoid the whole illegal thing in the first place

 

True 

 

But honestly, I am soon going to be cancelling my extra tv subscription, cancelling netflix and cancelling Spotify

 

That will save me £40 + £10, + £7 = £57, for that money I can just buy the music, movies and tv shows I want to watch and I will have them to keep forever

 

(I already buy 3-4 movies a month already anyway)

[Elapo]

My VPN still works, and others can just change their external IP address(which a couple have said they are going to do). Netflix is going to have to be lax in blocking these VPN's if they want to keep some subs, as in some countries it just isn't worth the price.

I do get this though. When I got Play music, I pretty much stopped pirating, thanks to the extensive collection of music available. Now that I have Netflix, I still pirate movies, because it's the easiest way to get movies that aren't on Netflix.

Altough piracy is not convenient in Germany because they will block you from using their internet and catch you.

Use a VPN. They won't be able to tell what you're doing. For all they know, you might be watching Netflix, while you're actually downloading an entire series.

[derekb108]

Smart dns & Getflix (technically the same company)  they've tweeted to try and find a replacement so that there customers don't leave them.

[Centurius]

Just get a cheap vps with good speed in the US and install openvpn on it. Private VPN.