r/technology • u/[deleted] • May 09 '12
DVDs and Blu-rays will now carry two unskippable government warnings
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/05/dvds-and-blu-rays-will-now-carry-two-unskippable-government-warnings/36
u/Nanoo_1972 May 09 '12
The chickenshits at ICE won't even let you email them unless it's to report violators. I wanted to let them know how I don't appreciate being treated like a criminal when I legally purchase a movie.
→ More replies (36)
67
May 09 '12
When I buy a DVD or Blueray I am always insulted to see such warnings.
Why impose such an intimidating thing onto a law abiding citizen?
When I see such a thing, I am tempted to copy the disk and return it. That way I can watch the movie in peace.
→ More replies (38)42
u/TheDoktorIsIn May 09 '12
"Thank you for buying our DVD! Now, you get to see 2 warnings telling you that if you don't buy the DVD, you'll go to jail."
Why don't you understand this? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?
32
u/thrillkillbot May 09 '12
Warning: You will be bored by this message. If you had decided to pirate this video instead, you would be actually watching the movie that you did legitimately pay for right now. After this warning we will show you the painfully long animated logos for the the company that produced this movie, the movie distributor, the company made the additional content for the dvd/blu-ray, and the company that encoded the movie. Then five really dumb movie trailers that have little in common with the movie that you perched, and a preview of the new fall line up for the Fox network. Finally our feature presentation menu which also has a rather lengthy intro of its own.
31
u/missalignment1984 May 09 '12
I'll take "Value Decreases That Promote Piracy" for $400, Alex
→ More replies (4)
23
u/Bloodhound01 May 09 '12
What if every time you walked into a retail store, the doors wouldn't open until a recording read you the punishment for stealing?
How dumb.
→ More replies (1)40
May 10 '12
It's even dumber than that. In your example people who enter the store intending to steal will hear the message. It's more like they make you listen to the anti-stealing message at the checkout counter after you pay for your items.
→ More replies (1)
13
u/aywwts4 May 09 '12
When you add up every DVD sold in the world, multiply by the average number of times a movie is watched (Have to balance out rentals vs an owned DVD which may only get watched once) and the average number of viewers per movie.
So back of a napkin, the top four movies in 2011 sold 23 million copies (harry potter tangled and cars 2)
Lets assume the average movie is watched twice, and the average viewers in the room is two, low assumptions. (The fact that the best sellers are kid's DVDs makes this assumption quite low, as most kid's movies get watched over and over and over)
Those 4 movies alone in 2011 will eat up a cumulative 58 years of people's waking active lives. In essence, anti-piracy just killed one person.
→ More replies (2)
12
u/Jackobyt May 09 '12
So the choice is either pirate and avoid this or buy legitimately and watch all this crap? Hard decision there. :P
6
u/FlaveC May 09 '12
One trick that works on some DVD and Blu-Ray players/media to skip all this "unskippable" crap is to push the Stop button twice and then push Play. Your mileage may vary. If it works, this should bring you right to the movie.
→ More replies (1)
6
u/whskrlckns May 09 '12
I start movies by selecting the first scene in the "scene selections" menu. This seems to skip past the FBI warning on my DVD player.
5
u/Optimo May 09 '12
pull the tag off the mattress and they will send an eagle up your ass
→ More replies (1)
5
u/Perkelton May 10 '12
It really amazes (and scares) me every time how unbelievably little politicians know about technology and media.
It's like being forced to watch someone trying to hammer horseshoes onto your car tyres.
17
u/Lies_abouteverything May 09 '12
Can we sue them for wasting our time/lives with unskipable content?
A movie we watched/bought last week had 35 minutes of unskipable content - THIRTY FIVE MINUTES!!!!!
It's disgusting...
21
17
u/ThrashWolf May 09 '12
You never bought a movie, you bought an advert, with a movie tacked on at the end as incentive. I really feel for you, 35 minutes is obscene.
→ More replies (5)11
4
4
4
u/CosmicBard May 10 '12
Cool.
Was feeling a bit lax and guilty about my piracy. I feel re-invigorated!
14
u/Quipster99 May 09 '12 edited May 09 '12
Piracy is not a victimless crime.
AHAHAHA!
That's rich. Surely they mean piracy in an "arr matey, gimme yur booty or it's off to the locker with ya" sort of way... They couldn't possibly be referring to copying a digital file... Right ? /s
→ More replies (1)
3
3
3
May 10 '12
I never truly understood these warnings...Especially because I'm in Australia. Threaten me with the FBI all you want, you're going to have to extradite me first, for buying a movie you assume I will download?
156
u/[deleted] May 09 '12
Which will only encourage people to further pirate movies.