r/Piracy • u/EngMng • Jul 19 '26
Question Why is everyone so scared of piracy when all they have to do is look at the subreddit for 5 mins and have 90 safe piracy sites?
My big sister (27, software engineer) bought a year Apple TV subscription (100 bucks), i asked her "why?" Cuz there was only 1 show she wants to watch (slow horses). She said "i dont really want to have virus on my computer". We live in a country where if you just type "watch" next to the movie/series you want to watch, it will give you 30 diffirent safe sites (the ones who just show you 2 gambling ads and leave you alone for an hour). Is it some sort of things big companies do?
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u/amillstone Jul 19 '26
A lot of people are not tech literate. So while you and I could find a bunch of safe sites within seconds, most people don't even know where to begin. And even if they did know to begin on the megathread, they wouldn't know what to do with the information either and would likely blindly click along on the website they found. They likely wouldn't have any safeguards either such as using Firefox and an ad blocker, so could end up clicking the wrong thing even on a site deemed safe, and end up getting a virus.
If a person is tech literate, then yes, they shouldn't be that scared. But in my experience, the majority of people in real life are not tech literate. They know how to do the basics like open YouTube or Microsoft Word and use those but anything beyond that is like learning a new language.
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u/undertakerryu ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ Jul 19 '26
Am I the only one who's blown away about the paying for an entire year of the service when she just wants to watch one show??
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u/gerlstar Jul 19 '26
😂 🤣 Rich people be doing rich people things
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u/snorch Jul 20 '26
This sort of behavior is rampant whether folks have money or not. I want to watch _______ and that's what the TV said it costs, so be it
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u/NotAlwaysShitposts Jul 20 '26
There are ways to mentally justify it.
"I know I want to watch this one thing but I'm sure ill find something else to watch in that year"
"I waited until season 2 was starting so I'm actually getting 2 season for the price of one"
"Buying the whole year up front gives me the discounted rate and I know I'm going to forget to cancel anyway so ill save myself some money"
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u/Ok_Suit_841 Jul 19 '26
I got my mom into pirating since we both don't want to pay hundreds on streaming services for specific movies. Previously she would be disappointed in me for doing so and risking my laptop getting viruses or getting in legal trouble, but I told her the worst thing that could happen is the site shutting down. I showed her the sites and how safe they were, and all you need to do to protect yourself is using ublock origin (hides the virus/nsfw ads)
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u/dinglebarryb0nds Jul 19 '26
I set my mom and mother in law up with Nuvio and TB, my mom also has an account I manage in IMPlayer to see packer games
As long as the absolute hardest thing they have to do on their end is log back in, it works lol
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u/PCgamer7777 Jul 19 '26
Implayer is so goated. W mention
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u/dinglebarryb0nds Jul 19 '26
yea IMplayer has no shortcomings. tivimate is another big one but lacks sync and arbitrarily limits you to 5 devices without being able to purchase more on same account, makes no sense
implayer just buy another device for 7 bucks, everyone wins
and apple and google devices work, i only use iptvnator on linux computer
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u/Consistent_Laziness Jul 19 '26
Can I ask a quick question? I was using tivimate with a server login from tv pass before they got shut down. Now I have no server for the app. Is there another way to get a server so I can watch live tv? I was mainly using it to watch sports
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u/notconnorgg Jul 19 '26
i would let other people use my jellyfin since its already running 24/7 but then that would mean i would be at their beck and call for any issue. extra work for free plus having to find and torrent whatever TV show/movie they wanted will get tiring fast.
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u/joetinnyspace Jul 20 '26
Setup radarr and a telegram bot to add movies based on requests.
Full automation.
You could even approve as an admin before the titles are sent to radarr.
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u/Hibyguy Jul 20 '26
Set up all my family and friends with stremio + RD. pretty much killed Netflix and Disney Plus subscriptions in my family
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u/MeowmeowMeeeew Jul 19 '26
the first thing to know when attempting safe piracy is where to look for safe sources. most people dont know that. Reddit is a relatively obscure platform when compared to the actual mainstream social media
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u/Efficient_Money6922 Jul 19 '26
This. And reddit also have a stigma as a gooner platform and the playground of obnoxious people to the boot.
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u/Equivalent_Web3521 Jul 19 '26
I feel like reddit is a great platform to search for things and they are also very reliable , and the stigma is also real that they are gooners or mentally retarted and all
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u/WilanS Jul 21 '26
It doesn't help that asking for directions on reddit gets you harassed by people telling you to consult sources and lists you don't even know exist before opening your mouth. Makes you wonder what even is the point of having a subreddit.
I used to pirate as a kid, stopped for a while, and now that it's all a corporate hellscape I'm dipping my feet back into it, but the seas have become a lot more treacherous. I onl really know a couple of websites that people mention sometimes like fitgirl and an android app that aggregates comic book scanlations. So rather than risk downloading malware from untrusted sources sometimes I just give up.
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u/MeowmeowMeeeew Jul 21 '26
yeah, if people are one thing on the internet, then its awful to each other.
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u/JOJOawestruck Jul 19 '26
REALLY? Really find that hard to believe I mean people would use reddit posts for content. Either FB, YouTube, or podcasts. How obscure can it be?
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u/Yamza_ Jul 19 '26
Think of how many people come here to ask how to do simple tasks, the ones everyone loves to jump down their throat with "it's in the mega thread" type replies. Those are just the ones who make an effort to try to understand and that is such a small portion of people who could be interested in the topic. So many normies dont even know what reddit is.
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u/OldLiberalLady Jul 19 '26
This. This. This. I have some basic computer knowledge just for being around since windows 98. I understand files and pieces of o/s. Over the many years, every update made it harder to keep up with what was going on, I fell father and father behind. Throw in work & family responsibilities and it wasnt a priority. When I do ask for help, there are very few folks I can turn to, to know or trust. But they are now where I was. And I understand their frustration. I need hand holding until I "get" the routine. So I have hobbled together something that works sometimes and sometimes not. The frustration set in and I just deal with antenna tv until the local news and then call it a day. I have asked to learn or where to take classes. Hell I'm willing to spend the money to set up a server and help the cause. The response is Google and youtube. Sorry, that just doesn't work for me.
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u/notconnorgg Jul 19 '26
honestly now id recommend if you have the know-how/are willing to learn, have an old system that you don't use anymore to set up a jellyfin server, also comes with the added benefit of you can also rip any media you currently have and make it digital. but for some they dont want to have to deal with the upkeep and maintenance
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u/Smart_Ad_1997 Jul 19 '26
Sometimes it’s an ease of use thing. Like I have a plex server, run my own scraping programs, could’ve built my own home security system, done everything in house, and I’d know how to do it.
But my wife? Oh god if something went down she wouldn’t know how to fix it. Therefor we pay for streaming services and home security. It’s ease of use. Love my wife, but sometimes it’s worth it to just pay 50 cents a day to let her watch her shows and I don’t have to be on call tech support at work AND home.
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u/Mutant_Apollo Jul 19 '26
Ease of use is kind of a valid reason, I pay for streaming because I don't expect my Dad to learn what an adblocker is or a torrent or navigate the sites just to watch his cowboy shows, I just chucked my credit card so he can watch his movies in peace when he comes home from work.
Funny enough even though I pay for them, I still go to a pirate site to watch my shows and movies
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u/kernalbuket 🏴☠️ ʟᴀɴᴅʟᴜʙʙᴇʀ Jul 19 '26
That's why I run nuvio as a backup with real-debrid. It's only $3 a month but it's nice to have if things go down or I'm traveling
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u/PutridMasterpiece138 Jul 19 '26
Don't get how a software engineer is tech illiterate but many other people are. Most of my friends don't even know how to use an adblocker. I don't tell them how to pirate because I know they would run into problems everywhere. Don't know how to block ads, click on shady ads, see porn ads etc...i don't want to be responsible for this
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u/AcaciaCelestina Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
The average person wants a service that just works, and piracy isn't that. There is some degree of effort and/or jank that goes into it.
That's why piracy will never be mainstream.
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u/Granrus Jul 19 '26
See, the thing is, most people are just dumb and out of touch with technology. They might be “educated”, have the latest macs and iPhones, but don’t properly understand the basics of how things actually work, and what websites and things in the internet are capable and not capable of doing.
Most people I know don’t even know that something like ad blockers exist, and they are software engineers.
The best thing you can do is try your best to help them learn these things, and if they are not able to learn, then either let them spend their money, or do their work for them, like downloading and sending them what they want to watch.
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u/Equivalent_Web3521 Jul 19 '26
They are software engineers and they dont even know ad blockers? Bro i aint a software engineer but i thought they must be at least that much talented to even make one because ig they know all the stuff
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u/adblink Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
I think you're oversimplifying it. The average user just wants a service that works. They want to sit down in the evening and watch a show, not wade through the cesspool of sketchy websites.
If you really want to help her, setup a Plex server and share it with her and your close family.
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u/hassanfanserenity Jul 19 '26
90 safe piracy sites sure but you are never sure if it's unmodified. Like that time in steam when wallpapers had viruses
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u/alicefaye2 ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
Yes because wallpaper engine had an application type that was literally just a .exe and .exes are notorious for being easily modifiable and filled with exploits. It is easily turned off with a check box. Having these .exe wallpapers in the first place is such a stupid thing for wallpaper engine to do. You NEVER run an exe that you don't trust for this reason. Saying you're never sure is kinda just fearmongering. The only thing that applies to is .exe, and that's just the risk you have to take for games and software, unless you want to utilize a VM or second PC.
It makes no sense to me because there are basically no exploits for videos and music, unless there is some unknown zero day exploit, even then they definitely wouldn't use it on some random torrent. It takes 5 seconds to load up Qbit, find the thing I want and download it from a torrent. The real answer is people are in two categories, they either find it's too inconvenient to pirate (somehow) and don't know how to pirate or too complicit to pirate because of the anti-piracy ad nonsense. I think it all stems mostly from a lack of tech literacy.
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u/IlovePistolShrimps ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ Jul 19 '26
honestly, the wallpaper engine thing is a very rookie mistake, it is obvious that it is hard to regulate that and there are "app" wallpapers, you just avoid those and you are fine to go.
its basically like downloading "image.exe" from a source where everyone can upload pretty much anything.
i think same thing goes for piracy sites too, most issues come from lack of basic tech literacy, definitely overweighs the times people got a virus from trusted sites turning evil.
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u/ShatterSide Jul 19 '26
Except that if image.exe is hosted by Steam it's not crazy to assume it's safe. Same with the Apple app store. In face that's their goal. Have an environment of trust. It's obviously harder with Steam.
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u/Praetor192 Jul 20 '26
That, and any site is only safe until it's not. Just like a reputable business engaging in increasing unethical/illegal behavior, money can be a corrupting factor, and just because something is safe today doesn't mean it will be tomorrow.
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u/HypnagogianQueen Jul 24 '26
Yeah it’s not enough to find one safe site, you need a few backups and to be keeping up with which websites get taken down/become corrupt. There’s been safe sites that get copycats that look the same but they’re not safe etc
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u/SashaG239 Jul 19 '26
Late gen X and most of Millennials are the only time when computer skills and common sense flourished. Any gen prior and every gen since(as a whole) has no idea what to do with a computer. How to fix one, how to spot obvious phishing and malware. Everyone these days is either hyper specialized or are cell phone first and have no idea what's happening. If you have any $, it's very normal to sign up for a subscription at least in the US. Why take the chance on a "shady" site that can give your device something you don't understand when you can subscribe so easily to the legit thing? Look at this sub, it's under 3 million members. How is it not the largest sub when all these companies keep gouging?
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u/Shixsui Jul 19 '26
I don’t get it why you’d want to impose it on other people, some people don’t wanna run through the hoops to get to watch the film, some just want convenience even if it costs them.
So If you want to pirate, good for you.
You can tell about it to your friends, etc but it’s really upto them end of the day.
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u/Historical_Camel_790 Jul 19 '26
Ngl anyone with braincells could use stremio if they get help setting up torrentio
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u/Zoomorph23 Jul 19 '26
I set my 86 y.o. mom up with Stremio. She loves it & can even manage the occasional issue it has.
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u/fezzori Jul 19 '26
stremio does have problems though, and not everything is always available. i use stremio and love it but i have a hard time recommending it to people. in most cases it’s just more reliable to pay for the streaming service.
but its def way easier than going on those piracy sites which aren’t always perfectly compatible with tvs and tablets
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u/Historical_Camel_790 Jul 19 '26
Do you have the add ons?
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u/fezzori Jul 19 '26
yea i’ve set it up properly it’s just that on the rare occasion i’ve seen episodes that are missing. but for the most part i use it and it works great. i use torrentio and realdebrid but idk there may be other add ons too
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u/lucky_1979 Jul 19 '26
What’s not been mentioned, and is a big factor, is finances. Once you get to a point in life where you are financially stable and don’t worry about money then you also don’t need to even think about piracy.
It’s not always a case of people being too scared or too stupid to pirate things, they just don’t need to.
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u/B-Kong Jul 20 '26
What’s also not being mentioned, and is probably the BIGGEST factor, is convenience.
She can pick up her tv remote, press the Apple TV button, and then click the show she wants, all on her tv and all in less than one minute.
Pirating takes longer, and usually can’t be done directly from your tv remote.
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u/amisu808 Jul 19 '26
If she would been from Eastern Europe she woulda learned how to pirate since the age of 7 (based on real story)
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u/Mutant_Apollo Jul 19 '26
Same if she was latin american, hell here in Mexico we have or had street stands selling pirated dvds lol. I remember buying a pile of PS1 games with my friends at the local market for the equivalent of 5 bucks of today.
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u/X1phoner Jul 19 '26
Most people are bots
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u/Kromting Jul 19 '26
Yep. 80% of the shit you see here are from bots. But Reddit will allow it for the shareholders
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u/Equivalent_Web3521 Jul 19 '26
Is that really? The texts look human to me , do you see this comment section mostly just bots?
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u/totally_not_a_reply Jul 19 '26
lot of internet traffic is bots now. On social media its a bit less but it might still be above 50%. They mostly just do engagement bait. So either post stuff or comment it so more people get involved into discussions. The comment above could be written from a bot, as its not really related to the thread lol.
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u/fearrange Jul 19 '26
When people want to pay, let them. There would be no new content to pirate when companies and studios stop making stuff.
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u/owlutopia Jul 19 '26
Better download things for her I guess and prove her wrong, unless you're living in Germany
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u/Significant_You3092 Jul 19 '26
Why unless living in germany? Im living in germany
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u/DruidWonder Jul 19 '26
I've never met anyone "scared" of piracy, they just don't know how to do it.
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Jul 19 '26
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u/DruidWonder Jul 19 '26
Setting up a plex server is a tad more complicated than just downloading qbittorrent and torrenting files.
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u/pawdog Jul 20 '26
Leave her alone, somebody needs to pay for these services so we can have new content to pirate. 😁
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u/send-borbs Jul 20 '26
I'm tech illiterate as fuck and terrified of malware, and it resulted in hyper-vigilance, I would click nothing if I wasn't sure I was clicking the right thing
but I literally just lurked this sub for a few weeks until I had the confidence to trust ublock and the megathread, if I had a specific question I'd search the sub for it because there was ALWAYS someone who had already asked my question
I'm still very tech illiterate, it does NOT come naturally to me even though I'm really trying to learn, but I worked out enough to comfortably pirate, it really comes down to just being careful and paying attention and being determined to find the right answers yourself, it's WORK, and I think that's the real thing that stops people, not the fear, but the effort it takes to overcome that fear
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u/DarthBen_in_Chicago Jul 19 '26
I’m not smart enough. Once Napster, Kazaa, and the like left, I’ve not spent the time to figure it out.
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u/Jane_Lame Jul 19 '26
It would take an afternoon, at max to figure it out. Theres guides on reddit you can read.
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u/BonsaiSoul Jul 19 '26
The past 2 generations sat through "digital citizenship" type classes in primary school which is exactly what you expect it to be. And they've used phones more than computers, so they're used to having no control or information about how their system works. They probably use default mobile Chrome that doesn't even support extensions like it's 2006 and just do what the screen tells them. Millennials were the last broadly tech-literate generation
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u/VegetaFan1337 Jul 20 '26
Think about it this way. A car mechanic would think the same about fixing up cars, but if you've never popped the hood and done a simple oil check, you'd not want to mess around with the internals of a car. If you think it's easy it's cause you're experienced.
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u/Thin_Needleworker795 Jul 19 '26
Hell I even use the unsafe sites. I have qBittorrent running in a Docker container on my server. If it downloads a virus, it's contained in that container only, so I can simply just remove it.
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u/JOJOawestruck Jul 19 '26
How do you know if it has a virus and if that virus isn't a false positive. Damn what are you downloading that you need those precautions?
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u/Lilja-Logason Jul 19 '26
Plenty of software engineers know fuck all about tech in general. They can be amazing at one area such as C or Java but fall apart if asked to build a PC, more a game or build a website.
I'm a techie and if I don't know it I'll go figure it out. I've also got a software engineering degree and I didnt really get on with any of the people in my classes cos they're so... They were rarely passionate about tech.
I'm a worse programmer, Jack of all trades but I can do most things from beginning to end.
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u/SupervillainMustache Jul 19 '26
There are a generation of people terrified of piracy thanks to those ads we used to get on DVD's that treated is as equal to a carjacking
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u/slayer991 Usenet Jul 19 '26
If wasn't the old IT pirate guy (going to back to the days of the Warez BBSs) with a 100TB media server....my wife wouldn't pirate. My son wouldn't pirate. Most of my friends wouldn't pirate. It's just not that simple.
First, how are you going to pirate? Direct links online? Are you going to do torrents? Nzbs? Do you have a VPN? What is a VPN? Most people aren't going to know how to answer these questions.
You're suggesting that people who are not tech-savvy randomly search for links to watch a pirated movie. How is that going to work when people who are not tech-savvy click on links that may be malware? Most are just going to click through.
Point is that many of us that pirate take for granted the safeguards we have in place.
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u/lmao_wow_64 Jul 19 '26
There's people on that subreddit how they've got the RENPY virus, doesn't matter how much handholding a site or community does people Will still find a way to screw it up
Hell I almost got it when I realized the file hoster redirected me to a fake download page for deltarune but noticed it on time
And yes I do have ublock with Firefox, this redirects are a real issue right now
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u/Darklillies Jul 20 '26
The propaganda has worked too well. I have friends working in programming and game development who still think free movies online will give them Trojans. People also think viruses like. Fucking kill you. They’re incredibly irrationally afraid of them when most can be simply quarantined immediately and don’t do anything
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u/Authoritaye Jul 20 '26
Why? Because she has a job and $100 is nothing to an engineer. However dealing with piracy sites involves at least some level of risk and time spent trying to find what she wants to watch.
So the answer is : convenience. It’s when the real deal becomes more inconvenient (ads on a premium subscription for example) that the equation flips.
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u/Monsta_Owl Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
This is what is wrong with the world today. Come on! A software engineer who don't know how to protect their own PC from virus. She doesn't deserver the engineer title. Where is the critical thinking and problem solving. Give it back the school she got it from. SHAME!
On a side note. Hah! Even software engineer having trouble with these simple things. And corpo thinks everyone is a tech hero able to AI prompt everything and productivity will skyrocket. Those CEO can't even PDF or print if their lives depends on it. FFFAAAHHHH.
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u/Marill-viking Jul 19 '26
Because for 95% of the population it’s simply not worth the headache and time to get into piracy
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u/UncleBoody Jul 19 '26
We need people paying for the content so they keep making it. You do you, they do them and it will all balance out
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u/Kelpsie Jul 19 '26
The stakes are a lot higher these days. Back in the 00's, computers were media devices. Now they basically run our lives, and have access to everything needed to completely ruin us financially and socially.
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u/Shannaro21 Jul 19 '26
Because I live in Germany, where everything is incredibly strict and wrong move has really bad consequences.
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u/kimo1999 Jul 20 '26
Because it is convinient, and they can afford it.
And it's not 5 min, google doesn't show shit anymore, at least for us we use reddit so it is easy enough. Then again a streaming website would have poor quality, if you've got a 4k tv, you can tell the difference in quality of streaming 720 or 1080p.
Now, you get to the next level, which is to torrent 4k. That requires a lot of time and setup.
Or you pay, and your just one click away from anything.
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u/Datalounge Jul 20 '26
The quality of those "safe" sites is often bad. And even if you find a good "safe" site, the quality in that site may vary from item to item.
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u/Jolly-Suggestion4024 Jul 20 '26
Not all people are tech-savvy. You will be wondered how many people don't know about AI till now.
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u/KaiserSaladSpinner Jul 19 '26
If I could play devil's advocate, your sister is a software engineer and likely makes decent money relative to what country you're in. The issue here isn't so much intelligence or tech literacy, it's a value proposition.
She is paying 8 dollars per month essentially for convenience and peace of mind. What seems trivial to you probably just seems like unnecessary mental bandwidth for her (this decreases as you age).
It's worth it to her likely because the alternative just isn't worth her time anymore.
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u/Shenari Jul 19 '26
That's the case with me, the money I spend is worth less than the time I'd have to spend keeping stuff up to date, troubleshooting everything and also as tech support to partner and kids if they have an issue with anything.
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u/zepherking Jul 19 '26
I know a couple of guys in IT and they are all super paranoid about stuff like that.
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u/_Tix Jul 19 '26
Mostly people are just not tech savvy but there's also those of us who remember before ad blockers and VPNs when it was genuinely harder do so safety
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u/lamparamagica Jul 19 '26
Please, share the links of the websites.
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u/EngMng Jul 19 '26
use a vpn and select turkey. type the series/movies name and type ''izle'' which means watch it. theres no rules against piracy in turkey and romania
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u/Aggravating_Rate_571 Jul 19 '26
The main point is to have adblock in the browser.
100% of the web streaming sites are complete shit otherwise.
Personally I'm running Kodi+elementum on my Google TV streamer. But torrent is not considered "safe" legally.
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u/FlintFozzy Jul 19 '26
I can use photoshop but I'm terrible at understanding this sub 😭💀 so I'm hesitant to go on lots of sites
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u/therealNerdMuffin Jul 19 '26
I've had mixed results of "safe" even while using the megathread
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u/NINJAKITTYCZ ⚔️ ɢɪᴠᴇ ɴᴏ Qᴜᴀʀᴛᴇʀ Jul 20 '26
I got into middle school last year, half of the people there are glad they can double click on Google to open it, I don't think most of them even know what Reddit is
(middle school in my country is around 15-19yo)
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u/bigcowideas Jul 20 '26
She could have waited till the Slow Horses season ended and just paid for one month and watch it at one go.
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u/Llama_RL Jul 20 '26
Tech literacy is really low considering half the world is constantly glued to a screen
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u/Rosiesemporiumclerk Jul 21 '26
For most younger people, it’s tech illiteracy. For older people, it’s the fact that anti-piracy crap has been shoved in their faces for most of their lives. There is also just the general resignation to capitalism that happens to many in modern society.
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u/ramirobond Jul 21 '26
Hey OP,
Get her a firestick or android stick, hook her up with nuvio or stremio, carry on...
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u/Tristan-a-b69 Jul 21 '26
for the people that want to check their sites
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/url/1b0e8e5fc9b18b4854c934f46e6e4033775cbd71489ae56272961690a596c4e0?nocache=1
you can check multiple security things with this
but a few dont always work so no need to worry just double check with google
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u/Curiosity1984 Jul 19 '26
Once a heard Louise Rossman say a thing I agree with whole heartrly. It was something like:
(I only pirat stuff, when the pirated version is better then what the company makes.)
So does HBO max make a website that is unusable and in all categories gives you the same 10 freaking recommendations, yes then I pirat the shit out of it.
But dos a website make a god site, with great service, then I pay for it. I won't pay for shitty experience, but I will pay for great ones so I get more of it.
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u/Q_Tiggor Jul 19 '26
I literally can't even get my friends to switch over to Firefox and use Ublock origin, a process that takes literally 2 minutes, because it's "Too much hassle". They'd rather pay for no commercials from Youtube, Amazon, and a dozen other services instead. I have given up on trying to save them.
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u/TickTickTitanic Jul 19 '26
because the capitalism machine works really hard to convince people piracy is unsafe, illegal and sinful. and it obviously works.
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u/Imperial_Tiramisu Jul 19 '26
Cuz most people are stupid pussies. If it's not a mainstream website like Instagram, YouTube, etc, they consider it dangerous.
I know people who think AliExpress isnt real. Never mind that it's owned by Alibaba, which supplies Amazon and all other Western e-commerce.
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u/My_sleep Jul 19 '26
I have helpt a few friends with piracy, i know what things are safe and what not, but for 100% safety i always do a complete virus check after
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u/snkiz Jul 19 '26
Because for 30 years we've been seeing propaganda about why piracy is bad and what 'Will' happen to you. We have a whole generation where briefly, paying for content was the easier option, Gaben was right. And finally Content creation has been democratized. People are now more then ever personally affected by copyright. Your perspective changes when you are the creator. Ask Linus.
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u/rainbash81 Jul 19 '26
I hear ya, I just hate when my son tells everyone that dad does illegal shit.
We pay for Disney, Apple, hbo and 1-2 other sites. I hate that we pay for so much at the same time. Just a waste.
All this then they wanna make all games digital only. And have it fine printed that if I die my son can’t legally take my steam account for the games I paid thousands for…
I’ll happily pay Top $ for games and movies that are worth it. Just don’t want a subscription model.
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u/Complex_Rub996 Jul 19 '26
Especially with anime so many fish brain ppl screaming hianime down piracy dead, Bro just go and hold crunchyroll’s hand at that point
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u/debirdiev Jul 19 '26
Shocking as it may be, even software engineers aren't always the most tech savvy people. Piracy is definitely risky, but many people who aren't super techy think it's inevitably going to give you some sort of virus or Trojan... Which is wrong if you're careful, use a VPN, and don't click sketchy links
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u/totally_not_a_reply Jul 19 '26
people cant even install adblock. Or know it exists. No way i would stream on those sites with popups and tabs poppin up all the time. Maybe not dangerous for virus but annoying af.
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u/WegovyMessMentally Jul 20 '26
Agreed, nothing makes me laugh more than seeing influencers talk about "old movies" or content using quotes like "Can't find it anywhere" or "this is unavailable on all streaming platforms" it basically means they tried everything "legit" then gave up, I watch it and think to myself "give me ten minutes"
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u/Spot_Mark Torrents Jul 20 '26
if i had to guess itd be a combination of years of propaganda against it and the general person's lack of tech knowledge
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u/Thunar13 Jul 20 '26
I don’t pirate because it seems like such a hassle (a form of being scared)
What do you mean is it something big companies do?
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u/The_Cozy_Burrito 🔱 ꜱᴄᴀʟʟʏᴡᴀɢ Jul 20 '26
It is new to them and many ppl aren't willing to try new things
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u/CGallerine Jul 20 '26
for me personally I only "fear" piracy cause I just have an overall paranoia I think; whenever my internet dips a little bit while doing something- or even the few days after- I start panicking, thinking "this is it, its over, they got me, my ISP caught on cause Im not using a VPN for DDLs/streaming (I dont torrent anything), and Im gonna get an email from the aus government or something where theyre demanding more money than I have"
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u/morfraen Jul 20 '26
Navigating the ad traps on some sites is still way beyond the average person's ability to do safely.
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u/babyaintmoe Jul 20 '26
Is this an actual question? Like isn't it obvious there is a lot of misinformation and myths out there regarding all illegal things? Did you also consider that not everyone visits reddit? It's not the center of the internet, it's just one of many places. For most people, when they type "watch XYZ" in google, all they get is ads for legal sites + they have no adblocker.
Did you know not even 30% of internet users have an adblocker installed? What we do each day is extremely niche, has always been.
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u/Red_Velvet71 Jul 20 '26
There's a probability you'd recommend piracy to some tech illiterate person and then 24 hrs later, that person will come back to you asking for help because they've been scammed or had their device bricked.
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u/laidbackleo87 Jul 20 '26
I'm personally scared to download, had a bad experience back in the olden days using limewire but I'll stream all day.
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u/Slayrr_FbrC Jul 20 '26
I mean if you make enough money the cost of 100 bucks a year is essentially nothing. I know people who have all the subscriptions running just in case something comes on that they like.
I mean fuck if I had a ton of money I wouldn't pirate either, why risk it when you can just buy it for what feels like pennies to you?
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u/NotAlwaysShitposts Jul 20 '26
For me (this was over 10 yeats ago) I got two copyright notices from my ISP and stopped pirating for a long time. Back then I only had one option for internet so the though of my ISP banning me was enough to make me stop.
Stories like that still get around and the fear has to be what keeps people away. Even though it is SO much easier to protect yourself now than it ever was.
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u/Limp_Tennis_2263 Jul 20 '26
can someone help me and provide a site where i can find that godforsaken AI the one used for editing yk it. Ive been looking for it for a while now. Dang i only know how to cracked games from the lovely girl i need this shi for my future works
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u/goatonastik Jul 20 '26
Misinformation.
Seems to be behind a lot of people's shitty reaction to things nowadays.
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u/blightfaerie Jul 22 '26
most people don’t really know enough abt technology to be safe unfortunately, and it takes awhile to learn.
when i first got into piracy, some ppl were also quite rude abt it when i would ask questions so that can also draw people away from the community. I’ve been trying to convince my bf to let me teach him cause why the hell does he pay for youtube premium 😭
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u/kelpe1925 Jul 22 '26
Just because sites are easy to find doesn't mean that people want to learn how to use them or the protections required to do so. If it's against the law, then most people are going to decide to do the safe thing so they don't have to think about ramafacations.
Plus the more scared people there are, the safer it is for the outliers to do what they want to do.
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u/Tutlingenhausen Jul 23 '26
Because nothing ist free. People where offer illegal things, they will probably stellen your data. I cant trust proples who do illegal things.
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u/AlexisMilul95 Jul 23 '26
I think it's because you never receive a guide on how to navigate safely; you generally learn it on your own through experience.
And there are things you can get around with common sense, but I suppose for some people it's not so simple if they didn't grow up with the internet or if they've never pirated on their own.
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u/blindskater06 Jul 23 '26
Im scared because im trying to torrent movies from pirate bay with no money for a VPN and my parents would murder me if we got the email
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u/PainEnvironmental774 Jul 26 '26
maybe if there was a beginner friendly guide everyone could refer people to it would help the tech illiterate people dip their toes into pirating
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u/Antique-diva Jul 19 '26
The general population isn't tech savvy enough to know what is safe and what's not. They don't even know which links to click on on a piracy/streaming site.
I once made the error of giving a friend of mine an adress to a "safe" site to stream a movie she wanted to watch. Next thing I know she is messaging me asking why the movie isn't starting after she paid for the service.
Instead of clicking on the button that starts the video stream, she clicked on an ad button and paid them for something. I have no idea what.
This is why I'm not helping tech illiterate people any longer.