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submitted 10 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

Do you actually own anything digital?::From ebooks, to videos and software, the answer is increasingly no

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[-] Xtremis77@lemmy.world 131 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Well, I have 10 Tb of pirated digital content sitting safely at my own home, so I would say yes, yes I do own a lot of digital stuff.

[-] BigDaddySlim@lemmy.world 42 points 10 months ago

Right there with you buddy, 13TB and growing. Self hosted media servers are the best.

[-] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 18 points 10 months ago

Those are rookie numbers. Need to start getting entire TV shows in 4k and things you've seen previously but may want to watch again in the future quickly and easily.

[-] BigDaddySlim@lemmy.world 16 points 10 months ago

Personally can't justify many series in 4k, some of the ones I have only ever got SD releases (DVD at best) but there are a few I can justify 4K for. Mainly very cinematic shows such as The Mandelorian or The Last of Us. As long as they have subtitles in the other shows and are available in their best original release resolution it's fine for me.

For example if the original Doctor Who series had a 4K release for it's entirety it would probably be my entire server lol. 693 episodes in 480p is almost 300GB.

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[-] 69420@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

They're my bytes, and I'll put them in whatever order I wish, thank you very much.

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[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 86 points 10 months ago

If it's on my Jellyfin server, I own it as much it's possible to own anything.

If they wanted me to pay for it, maybe they shouldn't have dicked me around, watering down my subscribed services while simultaneously jacking up the price.

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[-] grue@lemmy.world 62 points 10 months ago

Yes, because I go out of my way to make damn sure of it.

[-] yoz@aussie.zone 14 points 10 months ago

How ? Please share so that people like me can learn. I've started watching Louis Rossman YouTube videos and that guy actually makes sense about how companies are treating their customers.

[-] viking@infosec.pub 44 points 10 months ago

Not the OP, but I'm buying DRM free ebooks and software only, and for every album, movie or series I purchase, I'll download a pirated copy that I add to my offline storage + backup.

If a book I want is not available without DRM, I'll buy a hardcover and a pirated copy.

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[-] Secret300@sh.itjust.works 30 points 10 months ago

Pirate stuff. That's the easiest way to make sure you own it

[-] Dexx1s@lemmy.world 16 points 10 months ago

Even if you buy it(which I do support more and more), pirate it. We're at a point where it's just far easier to use the pirated versions of a lot of digital items and you also don't have to worry about someone "taking it back" afterwards.

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[-] nutsack@lemmy.world 45 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)
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[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world 43 points 10 months ago

Can it be taken from you, at any time, for any reason or no reason at all?

If yes, then you don't own it.

[-] Waluigis_Talking_Buttplug@lemmy.world 17 points 10 months ago

I mean, that technically applies to everything. The government can seize your land, the police are in the news every few days for straight up taking money out of people's homes and vehicles and shooting dogs, robbery is still a living profession, etc

There's really not a lot that sentence doesn't apply to, if anything at all.

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[-] Octopus1348@lemy.lol 37 points 10 months ago

If I can actually download it and it's DRM-free, yes.

[-] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 20 points 10 months ago

The only certain way to own digital products is apparently to pirate it illegally.

[-] stoy@lemmy.zip 17 points 10 months ago

Gog provides DRM free installers when buying games at their store

[-] TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago

And plenty of steam games are DRM-free too.

I really wish steam made it clear though. Should have to come with a tag stating DRM/no DRM. Shit, let us filter games by its DRM status.

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[-] User79185@discuss.tchncs.de 31 points 10 months ago

GOG, buy music in mp3/flac format, not sure about video. I guess you can pay for subscription and just pirate stuff you like to keep real ownership.

[-] MashedTech@lemmy.world 24 points 10 months ago

I like that on GOG you know you own it because they let you download the installer DRM free so you literally can keep a separate copy of all of your purchases. You will always have access to them regardless of what happens to GOG. Videos, music, games, everything they sell.

[-] Sniatch@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago

Yep, I always check GOG first when I want to buy a game on PC.

[-] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 30 points 10 months ago

I think I own my fingers, so them.

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[-] jabjoe@feddit.uk 27 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

If you're on Lemmy, you almost certainly understand the problem and know how to acturally own digital stuff.

The problem is all the normies who can't even see the problem. We need everyone to be protected by law and it all to be citizen oriented. As the moment, it's all stacked in favour of exploitive multinational companies. Maybe ever was it so, but we need to fight that.

We treat it as a tech problem, something to work round, but it's a political problem and we need to solve it politically.

[-] Sanyanov@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago

This.

Also, we all here are aware of the problem, to the point where such posts are nothing but circlejerk.

The article might come as eye-opener to some, but certainly not here. Time for solutions. And they are political.

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[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 22 points 10 months ago

Aye, I be ownin' it all, mateys!

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[-] TheBiscuitLout@lemmy.world 20 points 10 months ago

I’ve got a digital watch

[-] DJKayDawg@lemmy.world 19 points 10 months ago

My digital watch, a Pebble, stopped working. The company who maintained it got bought by Garmin. Garmin broke my digital watch 🙃.

[-] TheBiscuitLout@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

Mine is a Casio I’ve had for about 30 years, I’m pretty sure it’s mine by now

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[-] Toneswirly@lemmy.world 18 points 10 months ago

Like Doctorow said, if you cant own it you can't steal it.

[-] kerrigan778@lemmy.world 18 points 10 months ago

Possession is 9/10ths of the law, so I 90% own a whole lot of stuff I pirated while I don't own most things Ive paid money for... Great system guys

[-] LainOfTheWired@lemy.lol 17 points 10 months ago

It all depends on the licence. Even if you buy something on physical media you may not technically own it. If something has a FOSS licence MIT, BSD, GPL, etc Then yes you do own your copy and no one can change that.

[-] Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca 9 points 10 months ago

I may only have a license to view the contents of a dvd, but at least I'll always be able to view it as long as it's in my possession and I have a dvd player.

Content you can only access remotely via someone else systems (or requiring remote authorization via there systems) can be taken away at anytime regardless of the terms of your license, even supposedly "indefinite/permanent/lifetime" licences.

Both of these items use the same term 'purchase'. This term used to refer to the first situation only, but now it covers both.

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[-] ultra@feddit.ro 17 points 10 months ago
[-] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 14 points 10 months ago

We still own all our CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays, so them as long as the players still exist.

[-] jabjoe@feddit.uk 9 points 10 months ago

Only if the DRM is broken. DRM can make the player stop working sooner. It's literally about making the media less playable.

[-] Commiunism@lemmy.wtf 12 points 10 months ago

No, and once I became aware of the fact realized that I was kinda screwed when it came to video games.

Every single video game I have purchased is on Steam, and considering its DRM and licence business model, I had multiple conversations with my friends who also had the same worry and wondered what would happen if Steam shut down one day. Valve did state that they'll remove the DRM if the platform shut down, but there's no way of knowing the future as million things can happen and for all we know, they might change their minds or not be in a position to remove the DRM once the time came.

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this post was submitted on 24 Dec 2023
343 points (96.5% liked)

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