Comment by echelon
4 years ago
> it'd rather treat devices as things that we lease for a low cost from a vertically-integrated company.
This is a nightmare.
I built my PC, I repair my phone and laptops. I replace joysticks and mod old gaming consoles. I fix my own car.
I don't want the industry following Apple into the depths of hell.
We used to be allowed to record tv shows on VHS legally. Look how far we've slid down the path of non-ownership.
We've given up our privacy, we license media on subscription, and even our employers rent premium and expensive time sharing on "cloud".
Open source has been captured and turned into hidden away SaaS/PaaS.
We're all being gaslighted.
>We used to be allowed to record tv shows on VHS legally. Look how far we've slid down the path of non-ownership.
What's changed that prevents you from doing that today? I'm guessing the answer is: "But that's a crappy alternative to what people watching Netflix or even renting DVDs are doing." And I would agree with that. (Though in the case of music, owning versus renting is still very much a legitimate choice at least for me.)
> What's changed that prevents you from doing that today?
What's changed is that technologies involved in modern video streaming are designed up front to prevent end-users from recording the stream, and are backed by regulations making some of the workarounds illegal.
MAFIAA may not be able to close the "analog hole" completely, but it doesn't stop them from achieving the next best thing - making it so hard to exploit that almost nobody bothers. This is a positive feedback loop, because the market in general doesn't like to serve small niches unless it has nothing more interesting to do. Thus: no VCRs for Netflix.