Do you actually own anything digital?::From ebooks, to videos and software, the answer is increasingly no
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It all depends on the licence. Even if you buy something on physical media you may not technically own it. If something has a FOSS licence MIT, BSD, GPL, etc Then yes you do own your copy and no one can change that.
If buying is not owning, then piracy is not stealing.
We get it, every comment on every Lemmy post. We get it.
I may only have a license to view the contents of a dvd, but at least I’ll always be able to view it as long as it’s in my possession and I have a dvd player.
Content you can only access remotely via someone else systems (or requiring remote authorization via there systems) can be taken away at anytime regardless of the terms of your license, even supposedly “indefinite/permanent/lifetime” licences.
Both of these items use the same term ‘purchase’. This term used to refer to the first situation only, but now it covers both.
- FOSS licenses are distribution licenses, not EULAs. You have the right to own and use software you acquire even without agreeing to them; they only “kick in” when you decide to do something that would otherwise violate copyright law.
I liked the explicit way version 2 of the GPL explained it:
Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not covered by this License; they are outside its scope. The act of running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the Program is covered only if its contents constitute a work based on the Program (independent of having been made by running the Program).
Version 3 says the same, but less clearly (note that “affirms” is entirely different from “grants”):
This License explicitly affirms your unlimited permission to run the unmodified Program.
- EULAs presume to “grant” you something you already have due to the First Sale Doctrine (namely, the right to use your property) and are therefore complete bunk as they lack “consideration.” If you believe EULAs are somehow valid just because the copyright cartel’s shysters say so, you need to learn to quit taking advice from the enemy!
Possession is 9/10ths of the law, so I 90% own a whole lot of stuff I pirated while I don’t own most things Ive paid money for… Great system guys
If I can actually download it and it’s DRM-free, yes.
The only certain way to own digital products is apparently to pirate it illegally.
Fyi, steam doesn’t add additional DRM to games. So long as the maker hasn’t added anything significant, you can often just copy the game folder out, and run it independently. There’s nothing (in theory) to stop you backing it up yourself.
There’re few games that work like that. Many use the steam basic drm, making the game not launching if a valid steam session is not running.
That’s why I have the generic steam crack. In case they pull the plug some day.
Steam itself is drm though. If you have a pc that can’t connect to the internet or is no longer compatible with steam (like an XP pc for example), even if you have the game files, you can’t play then without first installing and updating steam.
I have an XP pc for period-era gaming and I can’t touch anything steam related for it so instead I have to either look for them on the internet archive or hope there is still a torrent for such an old game. Or failing both, actually find a physical copy. This still means I can’t really play Valve’s XP games though because of their requirement of Steam no matter how you bought the game.
Sort of, but only if you’re launching through Steam. You can launch DRM-free Steam games through the executable file without launching Steam if you already have the files downloaded.
Games on Steam don’t require Steamworks or any other DRM, if your game won’t launch without Steam running that’s a choice by the game developer and not a restriction imposed for Steam.
There is a whole list of drm-free games that will work without the launcher or with instructions on how to make them run without the launcher. If a game makes use of Steam’s APIs, it won’t run without proper authentication when opened with the launcher even if it is drm-free. You would need to launch it directly from the game’s files in that case.
I’ll look into it, saves me buying a game again on gog
Gog provides DRM free installers when buying games at their store
And plenty of steam games are DRM-free too.
I really wish steam made it clear though. Should have to come with a tag stating DRM/no DRM. Shit, let us filter games by its DRM status.
Don’t all games on Steam get the basic DRM treatment?
Nah, it’s optional
However, because steam doesn’t tell you which games are DRM, and companies have been known to arbitrarily add DRM in updates, I generally treat steam games as being DRM games
Nah, you can buy it legally and break the drm illegally. That is what someone I know very well does with my, ahm, their ebooks.
Removing DRM from content you bought is actually legal
What’s illegal is doing so for the purposes of sharing whatever was DRM’d in the first place
Not that it stops me
It depends on the jurisdiction. Removal is illegal in some countries
Why do I need to own them?
Let’s say you paid $150 for microsoft office. One day microsoft says, we are only doing office 365 subscriptions and when you launch word, it will not let you use it. It makes you pay for a cloud subscription instead.
You paid money for something and then you find you can’t use it again. You seriously think that isn’t fucked up?
Yes, that is “fucked” up. The same way it is fucked up that not all VHS you once bought and own have been preserved without loss and none of them will forever. The same way it is fucked up that a software product you once bought and own won’t be updated to be usable with your requirements forever.
The mortality of a product does suck, but a) this isn’t exclusive to the greed of subscription services and b) you don’t need to use a product til the end of time to make it worth it. E.g. I don’t use Netflix anymore, but everything I was able to consume during my subscription was ridiculously worth it to me.
The only “digital” I download, is something that I can put on my personal storage. If I can download it to Nintendo Switch and then move it to USB or SD card, then I can clone the sd card and therefore I own it. (immediate usage might be different, and they may chose to delete if it is put back on the Switch. But I still own it, I just need to find an alternative method to use it).
Same goes with games/movies/whatever. If I can download it and store it on my NAS, I own it.
If you are paying for “digital” but you cannot acquire a copy of it, then it is NOT “Digital” it is streaming. You are paying for the privilege of using some services’ electronic library, but you do not own anything on it.
I’ve been watching this argument lately, and its amusing. The whole Sony thing about Discovery (or whatever it was) has nothing to do with ownership. You were paying to access a library that Sony curated. Sony dropped the contract with the other party, and chose to tidy their library. You just have access to it, because they let you. You do not have any ownership whatsoever, you signed a T&C that says Sony curates the library and they can do what they like.
People seem to have a hard time using words like “content”, “streaming” and “digital” vs “electronic copy”, “local digital copy” and “DLC”; and then confuse "ownership and “content access”.
It depends on how you acquired it. Nobody can take the license for your pirated, modded fallout. Literally buy it anywhere but itch.io? You probably don’t.
I think I own my fingers, so them.
Those who down voted you are either idiots, or hate clever wordplay
Or they saw that I made the same joke five hours before this one? :p
I don’t get it
Digit is the medical term for a finger. Digital is the term for pertaining to or describing the fingers
Haha alright that’s pretty clever word play
or they just hate OP for still having their fingers
We still own all our CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays, so them as long as the players still exist.
Only if the DRM is broken. DRM can make the player stop working sooner. It’s literally about making the media less playable.
It’s a very complex answer, but in short, no. You don’t own anything.
Even if you buy a CD or record you own the medium and the right to reproduce the content, but you don’t own the content itself. Hence why it’s illegal to make copies or commercially reproduce content. Same thing with electronic devices. You might own the hardware itself, but design of it is copyrighted and software you only get the permission to use.
Definitely not my car. And if I can help it, it’s going to stay that way.
Like Doctorow said, if you cant own it you can’t steal it.
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GOG, buy music in mp3/flac format, not sure about video. I guess you can pay for subscription and just pirate stuff you like to keep real ownership.
I like that on GOG you know you own it because they let you download the installer DRM free so you literally can keep a separate copy of all of your purchases. You will always have access to them regardless of what happens to GOG. Videos, music, games, everything they sell.
Yep, I always check GOG first when I want to buy a game on PC.
i do if i stole it
Based af
ARRR!!!
I actually wonder if the files you download off Bandcamp have DRM on them or not.
I am curious why you think that. I download Bandcamp files and place it on a home server, and I have never had any problems. It is conceivable that they have a tracker or some bull shit connected to it, but more than a little unlikely.
Bandcamp files play fine on non bandcamp-approved playing devices. This is a big win on my book.
I guess that answers my question. Thanks, mate.
They do not have DRMs.
Good to know
