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- cross-posted to:
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For those saying “just pirate it” some people like the option of physical media and have moral qualms about piracy. This is actually a good thing WB is doing. Just let people have their DVDs
If you own the physical DVD, fair use allows you to own a backup copy, so torrenting it in that case would not be unethical nor illegal.
You’re allowed to make your own backup, but I’m pretty sure downloading somebody else’s backup is still illegal? First time I’ve seen someone suggest otherwise, would love more details about the actual laws.
I’m not a law talking guy, but from my understanding of it, downloading isn’t illegal. But if you’re torrenting it, you’re uploading bits of it to others while you’re downloading. That would be distributing it to others, so that’s copyright infringement.
So if you could find a way to download something without uploading anything, you’d be fine. Kinda like if someone uploads copyright infringing material to youtube. You’re not going to get into hot water for watching that video, but the person who uploaded is.
It is illegal to download. If you want back ups, then you need to back it up on your own - this includes physical games as well - like NES and such.
Downloading a copy would not be illegal in the US. Uploading a copy to someone would likely be illegal.
I mean maybe technically (I’m sure it varies depending on country). But I’m not aware of any cases where they’ve ever pursued anyone for that.
It’s definitely a grey area in the US, I believe (again, no precedent set), and someone with a good lawyer could actually get a good ruling here, which would set the precedent. Which is probably why they never pursue it. I think that happened with VHS when people were taping shows in the 80s/90s (could be misremembering that).
The concept of “fair use” in general (not referring to specific interpretations of the term) definitely allows you to do this. At least how I interpret it. I am not a lawyer.
So if it were me, I’d only be concerned with the ethics, and I see nothing ethically wrong with it whatsoever. But that’s just me.
I don’t know about the US specifically, but oftentimes, and definitely where I’m from, laws can have a small amount of “common sense” leeway and judges can find justifications for rulings if they want to rule a particular way. e.g. I have pirated games that I legally bought because there’s literally no functioning “official” download link anymore, if anyone were to ever prosecute me for that, even if it were illegal technically a judge could find a way to rule it lawful out of sympathy or whatever other reason, if they wanted to. A lot of the time it’s “the government can’t have possibly intended this law to be enforced this way, therefore I rule XYZ”.
In any case, as you said, I’ve never heard of anyone being pursued for that. And if it’s not enforced, it’s not a law.
Fuck off, these people already own it at this point, so there is no such moral qualms. They paid for it. As for physical media, do you think only these companies can burn ISOs to DVD???
be ye shill or bootlicker, may thou be cast at great speed into our Goddess and saviour Sol
Thanks for the reminder that I own DVDs
I forgot all about them in storage
It doesn’t matter. If the CD/DVD works, copy it immediately. If not, so sorry.
or just pirate it whenever.
Yeah seriously; never understood why a certain sector of people obsess over backing up their personal media, when you can literally download a perfect copy straight from the internet with no effort on your part. Especially when it comes to widely-available media like popular Hollywood films or video games that sold well. Just grab a torrent and toss the disc.
Pirated copies rarely contain any of the extras. Some people actually do watch those.
They’re also generally lower quality
Shockingly good news from a media corp. Paramount would just steal your discs and tell you to pound sand
As would Sony and Disney. It is surprising that WB is doing this.
I think this is because WB used cheaper manufacturing and now they’re failing way before they should.
I just checked one of my dvd shelf and two WB movies that should be in excellent condition were little bit sticky from both sides. This feels like a flashback to when Arturia’s hardware keys and knobs started to ”melt” after few years. Companies use cheapest plastics possible.
I knew WB’s HD-DVDs (remember those?) were a timebomb. I didn’t realize regular DVDs were, too.
All optical media is.
How does one find the manufacturing date of the discs?
Cut it open and count the rings
If you turn the disc over, you can actually count the rings without needing to cut into it! This lets you skip having to glue the disc back together after checking the age.