

Help! I’m Being Forced To Pirate Game Of Thrones Against My Will  - spdy
http://pandodaily.com/2012/03/20/a-winter-of-piracy-is-coming/

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cicero
He wants to watch a TV show, and there is not a way for him to do it at a
reasonable cost. If he really is concerned about following the law, he would
just not watch the show. He is not being "forced" to do anything; he is making
a choice.

I'm not arguing that what he is doing isn't understandable, or that he doesn't
have cause to complain. The statement "I'm being forced ... against my will"
completely misses the meaning of "force" and "will". I don't mean to be
pedantic; I only point it out because it reflects a common outlook that does
not bode well for people's ability to choose wisely in a difficult moral
dilemma. Other examples of this kind of talk might be: "I was forced to pay an
undocumented worker substandard wages against my will because I could not
otherwise afford to have my lawn cut," or "I was forced to buy from a company
that I object to because the competition's product is not as cool."

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takinola
You miss the point. People tend to write in extremes (e.g. "I'm so hungry, I
could literally eat a horse"). No one in their right minds believes he has no
other choice but to behave illegally but he is just highlighting how much of a
pain it is to behave legally. It is more of a business issue than a
legal/ethical one. Your business model sucks when your most rabid fans are
struggling to find ways to give their money to you.

ps. given this is the internet, I do somewhat have to concede that quite a
significant number of people may not be in their "right minds"

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lukesandberg
A while back i pirated a bunch of old episodes of This American Life so i
could listen to them on my commute/long runs. The episodes were available to
stream from the website, but (at the time) i was unable to do that on the go.
So I torrented them... and then i donated $100 to the program. Listening to
the radio shows was only really practical when i was commuting and it turned
me into a huge fan. Now i donate regularly, if it wasn't for bitorrent I'm not
sure that would be the case. Nowadays i have a smartphone and there is a TAL
app that lets you download episodes for 'offline' listening. So i probably
wouldn't do it that way again, but still bitorrent provided an extremely
valuable service to me, and i think it also provided a good service to TAL.

~~~
jacquesm
The interesting bit is that no matter how much you donate this is still
illegal.

You can't unilaterally buy yourself out of a transgression like that. Sure it
makes you feel better but the letter of the law has no spot for the honour
system.

~~~
wladimir
Well even if not legally, morally he did the right thing. The spirit of
copyright laws is that the authors get paid for their work, right?

And whether it's illegal depends on the jurisdiction. In some countries (such
as The Netherlands) it's legal to download.

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bigiain
I want my next door neighbours Ferrari, but Ferrari only sell them through
dealerships, and they want _heaps_ of money for them! I could wait for a
second hand one at a reasonable price, but I'd have to wait a year or two.
I've got no alternative!

(Yeah, I know, physical goods vs digital goods, but _ye ghods_ there's a sense
of entitlement in that post!)

~~~
egallardo
Your analogy doesn't work. The author's gripe (which is mine) is that he
doesn't want to pay for cable because it includes paying for a bunch of shit
he doesn't want. He's willing to buy the Ferrari from Ferrari, but not if it
also includes paying more for a Vespa, a Dodge Neon and an Escalade..

As consumers, if we want to purchase something you'd hope the manufacturer
would do everything in their power to sell it to us. That's not the case
currently and that's his point..

~~~
talentdeficit
Here's why HBO requires you to subscribe to their channel to watch Game of
Thrones.

If you watch Game of Thrones, maybe you'll also watch Veep or Girls or
Eastbound & Down or Life's Too Short. You might notice that HBO staggers their
series so they overlap for roughly half their run. The Sopranos and The Wire
never ran in lockstep, The Wire would start roughly halfway through The
Sopranos run. They're trying to get you to continuously subscribe, rather than
just subscribe for the 13 weeks Game of Thrones is on.

I know, you're too smart to fall for that, you're just gonna PVR Game of
Thrones and stop recording exactly when the episode ends. You're never going
to see anything except Game of Thrones no matter what HBO does. You, however,
are still atypical. Maybe the day will come where HBO's trick doesn't work and
their subscribers routinely cancel and resubscribe so it's most advantageous
for them, but for now it works well enough that offering Game of Thrones a la
carte is a money losing proposition for them. The sales they'll get from MG
Siegler and yourself will not offset the subscribers they'll lose who would
rather just pay for HBO continuously than go without Game of Thrones.

HBO (and other content producers) may be stubborn and short sighted, but they
are not stupid. They've run the numbers. If you want to change their minds,
you have to change the numbers and, regrettably, that means you have to
boycott them completely. Pirating their content just signals it's valuable and
HBO is right to keep availability costly (whether through direct pricing or
obnoxious distribution terms).

~~~
jiggy2011
_They're trying to get you to continuously subscribe, rather than just
subscribe for the 13 weeks Game of Thrones is on._

This may have worked in the 90s but people have other options now and they
expect other options.

 _Pirating their content just signals it's valuable and HBO is right to keep
availability costly (whether through direct pricing or obnoxious distribution
terms)._

I think that's the point though, people do find it valuable and may be happy
to pay a premium price for it but they don't want to have to pay for a ton of
other stuff especially on a monthly subscription.

If it is popular then there is no real reason they should be losing money on
it, I think the piracy signals an untapped market.

It's arguably worse for those in the UK, if we want to see game of thrones
then we have to fork out for a sky subscription which adds yet another set top
box to our already overburdened collection and puts the money into Rupert
Murdoch's pocket (there are many who would feel that piracy is a morally
superior option to that).

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jakeonthemove
I'm going to get downvoted for this, but here's my opinion:

I recently had a similar issue with OnLive - I registered for free and found
that you can play over 100 games for $10 a month - a great deal, right?

Well, for some unfathomable reason, I couldn't PAY for the monthly
subscription because I am outside the US. I used a VPN and added my (Bank of
America!) credit card to the system without problems - now I have a
subscription and enjoy Dirt 3, TR:Legend, Driver: San Francisco on my laptop
AND Android phone (it's really impressive).

I'm also practically forced to order a physical CD of a band I like (I'm NOT
going to do that, because I'll have to wait a month, then just rip that CD to
my computer and throw it away, which is quite sad, really) instead of being
able to order it online and download it.

HBO doesn't want to allow you to watch a show you like (love?) and you can do
it illegally - I say DO IT if you want - sooner or later, they'll either sue
everybody or understand that they need to give their potential customers the
products they want, when they want, which will actually save them money and
make them richer.

And the author, actors are getting paid the same amount regardless - the
network pockets most of the profit, anyway (that's why I hope the current
direct artist -> consumer trend is the future).

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rdubsy
Firstly, I think the point would have been better made without the 'I'm being
FORCED to pirate it' argument. :)

HBO is allowed to sell their content how they like, if it is costing them
money then so be it. They will eventually adapt or fade away, and I don't
think illegalling obtaining their content is going to convince them that
putting stuff online faster is the way to go.

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isleyaardvark
What an entitled, spoiled view. He's not being "forced" to pirate it, he just
think it costs too much.

