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  • I guess if they could steal the bikes but leave an identical copy behind so no-one knew in between buying their own bikes when they can afford or find them, or while they pay over the odds to borrow a bike from one company and want one from another and can't pay for both at the same time.

  • IIRC vhs hire was about £1.50 mid eighties and a cinema ticket was similar.

    As such £5 to£10 streaming fee seems reasonable compared to a cinema ticket these days. Given the film industry and cinema model is struggling I don’t think watching pirated movies is an ethical activity.

  • I don’t think watching pirated movies is an ethical activity.

    I’m not arguing right or wrong here but the industry never helped itself with the old practices of geo blocking and split release dates for different territories, and these days it’s doing the same with the increasing fragmentation of the streaming market. Customers will only be taken for fools for so long.

  • watching pirated movies is an ethical activity

    I'm fine with it. I'll support things where I can, ideally going to watch something more independent, some streaming platforms are getting my money but they can get fucked if I'm paying for all of them as they get gradually worse. They don't lose out by me watching a pirated copy, it's a copy, it'll be of something I wouldn't have bought any other way so I'd have just not watched it, or will be on one of the streaming services at some point so someone has got something off me indirectly then. I pirated Kneecap and then it was on prime a bit later, which my partner has in the household, I kinda prefer it that way round, Bezos ain't short of a few quid, the Kneecap lads would probably prefer people saw it somehow as they've likely already got their cut and anyone working on it has already been paid.
    If everyone pirated everything there'd be an issue, but they don't, some people pay for the convenience to not do so and others will accept the inconvenience to do it if they can't afford otherwise.
    I'm not saying pirating stuff is more moral or ethical, but it's not that bad if you think of paying for stuff as a progressive tax you means test yourself.

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