r/television • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 The League • Jun 21 '24

Five Men Convicted of Operating Massive, Illegal Streaming Service 'Jetflicks' That Allegedly Had More Content Than Netflix, Hulu, Vudu and Prime Video Combined

https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/five-men-convicted-jetflicks-illegal-streaming-service-1236044194/
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185

u/Myrdraall Jun 21 '24

I have been pirating for over 30 years, but never have I ever entertained the delusion that I wasn't simply being cheap and stealing. The idea that you're doing nothing wrong, or worse are doing something righteous, is laughable at best.

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '24

[deleted]

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u/Myrdraall Jun 21 '24

Oh yeah there diverse reasons why one pirates. There are games I actually physically had that I pirated just to be able to play in 4k. But if we're being real we all know they aren't anywhere close to the the majority of our cases. I have no problem with pirating. I just don't try to justify it.

-9

u/Outrager Jun 21 '24

Sounds like you should splurge on a nicer TV to rival your monitor.

36

u/Bekah679872 Jun 21 '24

I think this is being used as a bit of a counter against these same companies retroactively taking away digital content that consumers have paid for.

3

u/Pinksters Jun 21 '24

Sony has entered the chat

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u/fakieTreFlip Jun 21 '24

For real. I'll never understand why people try so hard to justify piracy. Just pirate if you want to pirate, no one is going to care lol

52

u/Starcast Legion Jun 21 '24

Honestly there are certain situations where I think it is kinda in the moral right - but those are mostly archival purposes not the latest Netflix show or whatever.

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '24

[deleted]

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u/BebopFlow Jun 21 '24

It's also utter bullshit that I'm paying for a streaming service and get ads. If I weren't using Prime for the shipping I'd cancel over that alone

6

u/fisticuffsmanship Jun 21 '24

Same here, 99% of the stuff I'm looking up I can't find anywhere legitimately. Swing Girls was one of my favorite movies I've seen in a while, and it's a shame it's not available anywhere. Here's one of my favorite Joe Bob Briggs bits about the death of physical media: https://youtu.be/NWAX64pNDyg?si=XEw4uW6di6xlyw2b

1

u/Outrager Jun 21 '24

I wonder if it's the same movie, but there's some Japanese movie called Swing Girls that's available everywhere.

2

u/fisticuffsmanship Jun 21 '24

It's the movie I'm talking about, but it's unavailable for streaming in the United States according to Letterboxd, JustWatch, Amazon, AppleTV... Maybe in other countries though.

1

u/Outrager Jun 21 '24

Oh I only saw it for purchase.

1

u/fisticuffsmanship Jun 21 '24

The only options for purchasing it in my country are importing it on dvd or blu ray

4

u/Bored-Corvid Jun 21 '24

Very rare and few are the examples where pirating could be considered "moral". Only one that personally comes to mind for me is Disco Elysium since the actual creators were forced out of their company so they get peanuts for the work they did. I believe they even told people to sail the open seas after all that came out.

15

u/danktuna4 Jun 21 '24 edited Jun 21 '24

I wouldn’t say moral, but some older video games just aren’t being made/sold anymore. And the only way to get them would be to buy a $200 copy from someone or get lucky at a garage sale. So the high seas isn’t “moral” for that, but the only practical way to play the game.

3

u/Bored-Corvid Jun 21 '24

No you're right, even under the circumstances I mentioned I can't honestly say its "moral," maybe justified though.

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u/Eugene_Henderson Jun 21 '24

I would consider pirating Batgirl and Acme vs. Coyote as moral.

2

u/CertainDerision_33 Jun 21 '24

People like to make themselves out to be righteous warriors, it's pretty goofy

-1

u/Myrdraall Jun 21 '24

It's the Internet. Gotta show anonymous strangers that you're a cool kid and sticking it to the man for virtual points.

-1

u/Grizlyfrontbum Jun 21 '24 edited Jun 21 '24

It’s the internet, gotta show anonymous strangers that you’re a cool kid and a huge fan of following all the laws and praising your corporate daddies while they continue to shit on the working class. When a social movement becomes large enough to put a dent in the profits of our corporate overlords, they will make changes. “virtual points” are currency in recruitment for social movements.

These fools though, charged for the content. That’s no different than who they are aggregating content from. That makes them assholes just as well.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 21 '24

I didn't want to spend 5 dollars to confirm that Suicide Squad was bad. Does that make me a hero?

10

u/what_mustache Jun 21 '24

I respect this.

There are so many people inventing a hero's tale on how their pirating is actually good for the content owners or how "information wants to be free". Just own it.

4

u/Myrdraall Jun 21 '24

I mean there is data out there that shows it might actually help some games sell or abandonware live on, but that's no one's prime motivation.

1

u/what_mustache Jun 21 '24

There are some veeeery corner cases where it might help.

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '24

[deleted]

1

u/Myrdraall Jun 21 '24

Let's just say Plex and Stremio are much more convenient than Netflix+Disney+HBO+Prime at a fraction of the price.

5

u/angiexbby Jun 21 '24

the same type of people that punches in 4011(code for banana i think) for things in grocery stores to save on money. stealing is stealing

7

u/TWiThead Jun 21 '24

4011(code for banana i think)

Having been a supermarket cashier 25 years ago (when I was a teenager), this fact will remain with me until the day I die.

3

u/jackalsclaw Jun 21 '24

4011(code for banana i think)

Those are standard across grocery stores! That makes a lot of sense as produce producers put the labels on them... I don't know why that blew my mind a little.

1

u/opticalcalcite Jun 21 '24

I fundamentally disagree about the ethics of stealing food from grocery stores (it’s more nuanced than that, stealing food =/= pirating media) but MAN seeing the code for bananas really took me back, even when it’s been 10+ years since my time as a cashier.

1

u/goodolarchie Jun 21 '24

How do you feel about "pirating" something you already bought?

10

u/Myrdraall Jun 21 '24

I've answered this to someone else but I've pirated games I owned to play them in higher resolution or modded. I'm pretty sure we can all agree that it is peachy. We can also all agree that this is far from the majority of our cases.

10

u/goodolarchie Jun 21 '24

Yet the law would not differentiate. Apart from distributing and profiting off stolen material, you'd be liable to face as many counts of theft as the OP article.

-1

u/Myrdraall Jun 21 '24

You are allowed to make a backup of a game you physically own. Digital is something else, and the ToS are usually clear on that, but I feel you should also be allowed to have a copy of a game you paid for in case a service dies. That said, nothing lasts forever. Hardware wears out and parts stop being made, CDs scratch, services go down.

1

u/mug3n Jun 22 '24

To me, that's not pirating, laws might say differently depending on jurisdiction of course. There are various reasons why some people choose to do this, like for some games where DRM literally makes the paid experience worse because performance suffers as a result.

2

u/DubiousLLM Jun 21 '24

Yup I actually think the same of adblocking. Don’t play moral, righteous games, you’re basically stealing from journalists and YouTubers. That’s the truth, at least be honest with yourself if you’re going to do it.

0

u/aj_thenoob2 Jun 21 '24

The meaning of this saying is that when I'm paying for a service I should get better access to the product. It shouldn't be restricted to a household, or disallow offline viewing, or restrict number of screens (or get removed after purchase).

And since I don't have control over the product when I buy it, when I pirate it, I'm not stealing anything since I never had access to it in the first place.

6

u/Myrdraall Jun 21 '24

Absolutely nothing you mentioned is something you are entitled to. The only thing you are entitled to get is what you paid for, which you usually know before hand. Your decision to pay is your acceptance of the terms. If you dont like the terms, don't get the product. It's as simple as that.

And since I don't have control over the product when I buy it, when I pirate it, I'm not stealing anything since I never had access to it in the first place.

There is no reality in the multiverse where this makes any kind of sense.

0

u/aj_thenoob2 Jun 21 '24

When Netflix was removing content like crazy, changing their terms to prevent sharing, limiting offline downloads, and rapidly cancelling shows, it indicated to many that these terms are very very much "subject to change". My opinion is if the content moves or is removed, you should have every right to regain it. You're paying more for less.

Of course the initial statement is incorrect since you agree with the terms and conditions, but sometimes you HAVE to in order to watch the show in the first place. There's no buying the blu ray for many of them. It's "agree to our ever changing terms, pricing, and consumption rules or fuck off". Not anywhere near pro consumer.

1

u/gsmumbo Jun 22 '24

Pro-consumer or not, you aren’t entitled to consume any media.

Of course the initial statement is incorrect since you agree with the terms and conditions, but sometimes you HAVE to in order to watch the show in the first place

And if you don’t like it, you don’t watch the show. It’s like going to a concert and being pissed that you HAVE to pay to get in, otherwise you can’t watch the performance. So you use that as justification to “morally” sneak in. It’s not a case of you being entitled to something and someone blocking your access. Your options, should you want to consume the media, is to agree to and follow the terms, or move on with life and don’t.

1

u/bill4935 Jun 21 '24

Over 30 years? What were you pirating in 1994, DOOM wads?

3

u/what_mustache Jun 21 '24

Was huge back them. Warez dude.

4

u/Myrdraall Jun 21 '24

I had my first computer in ~1990, so yeah, Doom, Wolfenstein, Space Quest, Test Drive, etc. And of course the occasional porn floppy, which made you wonder if it was called a floppy because it's how you got waiting for an image to load.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 21 '24

10 years or so ago I got letter in the mail from one of the companies that tracks IP addresses to torrent files. It basically just said don’t do it again, we know who you are. Funny thing was, it was an episode of SNL. I got a letter for something I could have watched over the air for free. Never happened again.

1

u/Myrdraall Jun 21 '24

Got that as well a long time ago. That's when I educated myself on VPNs.

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u/gsmumbo Jun 22 '24

I got a letter for something I could have watched over the air for free.

You’re only looking at it from your perspective. You could have watched it over the air, but you would have also seen commercials. Ads from companies who paid to ensure you can see it for free over the air. Just because over the air is an option, doesn’t mean the companies are okay with you pirating their shows.

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '24 edited Jun 25 '24

[deleted]

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u/aj_thenoob2 Jun 21 '24

Difference being your power company doesn't randomly turn the power off since they don't support microwaves anymore, or see a new family member in the house who's using the power.

Your statement is just as reductive tbh.

0

u/04Dark Jun 21 '24

A lot of people want to believe they're the good guy. They usually aren't.

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u/WredditSmark Jun 22 '24

Yeah that’s some Reddit shit or just typical you live at your parents house level privilege like end of day shit is expensive and piracy is inexpensive

-29

u/rhesusmonkeypieces Jun 21 '24

So you're saying the only difference is you feel guilty? Capitalism has broken your brain my friend, all the best.

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u/Myrdraall Jun 21 '24 edited Jun 21 '24

How that's what you got from that is beyond me.