re: Industry response to Kodi, etc.

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Yes. Deep stuff...like stealing.

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First, no it gets into what kind of "experience" we are actually purchasing when we buy a movie ticket. Are we buying access to the facility? The singular visual experience of the film. If we are only buying the singular experience of the film, then the memory of the film is a problem (psychologically speaking, we need that very memory to talk about the film afterwards. Are we then stealing if we discuss a film, since we are in fact, "reliving" it?)


Secondly, this entire focus on "the law," is problematic. So you've never broken the law in your entire life? Always drive the speed limit? Never given a drink to a minor? Never drank as a minor? You're 100% certain that you've lived your entire life within the constraints of the law? I'm going to guess no.

Give it up. You're probably preaching to a crowd that couldn't download a movie if they wanted to

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Give it up. You're probably preaching to a crowd that couldn't download a movie if they wanted to

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It's not like I do it anymore, but to immediately come in waving the stealing and lawbreaking flag for this is just so hypocritical. Plus, I actually do think there are defensible reasons to steal. After Baton Rouge lost Siegen, and between the death of video stores and the rise of Redbox, there was NO WAY to get independent films in that city. And that was right around the time I was consuming everything. Everytime I visited my sister in Dallas, or traveled somewhere with an independent theater, I would head off late at night to watch anything there, I just didn't have the opportunity at home. Even when stuff went to video. It was either buy an entire DVD for a movie I'm not sure I would like or not see it. Or find it illegally. So yeah, I understand some of the intricacies.

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So yeah, I understand some of the intricacies

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And that's the difference, they don't.

I'll post this again, it's easy to combat Kodi:

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Look, it's fairly simple:

If the industry wanted to eliminate stealing, it would be simple:

1) Release all movies everywhere at the same time, this is possible
2) Release movies on all formats, at the same time, this is also possible (was not 20 years ago)
3) Create more opportunities in this structure for benefits... Buy Blu Ray when movie comes out, get a free ticket to a theater. I'd probably pay $20 for a digital copy of something I really loved right up front if they gave me a movie ticket with it.
4) Stop forcing 3D on everything, particularly IMAX movies


The problem with something like film is that you have two competing ideals on an experience, the industry and the consuming public. Are movies REQUIRED to be seen in a theater? 90% of the time, no. But they continually focus on that export channel (thanks Soderbergh for trying to buck the trend), no matter the cost. There are some films I just don't want to see in the theater.

Now, with digital film technology, there is literally NO NEED for a 5 month wait between theater and home video, that's manufactured for specific profit-generating reasons. So they are creating the want. And when you have the means, like now, to satisfy that want without waiting, people will do that.

This is the path of least resistance, culture will always conform to take that path. Yes, back in the day with movies and film....you had to see stuff in the theater. There was no way to bring it home. Then when you COULD bring it home, that process took months to complete. Not anymore.

These things are easy.

These are profit motivated companies, their goal is to squeeze as many pennies as possible from each person for the stuff they create. But they make it really really hard to want to give them money.

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Cheating their offered channels of distribution feels wrong

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I beg to differ.

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borrowed a DVD

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This is such a fricking canard.

The rights owner has made the decision to place his intellectual property for sale after its theatrical release and, as you noted, First Sale doctrine deals with issues related to lending/borrowing.

The person lending me the DVD paid for it and did not charge me (which he is prohibited from doing by law), just as I could not charge someone to watch the movie while it was in my possession.

This torrent/screener bullshite is outright theft. PERIOD.

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The rights owner has made the decision to place his intellectual property for sale after its theatrical release and, as you noted, First Sale doctrine deals with issues related to lending/borrowing.

The person lending me the DVD paid for it and did not charge me (which he is prohibited from doing by law), just as I could not charge someone to watch the movie while it was in my possession.

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First sale doctrine also predicts rental companies, which are charging you to watch it.

But, this isn't about the law. It's about the act of paying someone to consume their content. Either you are or you aren't. Not paying to consume content is stealing, unless someone offers it to everyone for free. That's what this conversation boils down to.

Even though borrowing is legal, in the sense of this conversation, it's CERTAINLY stealing.

The person who bought the DVD, in terms of the content creator, has the right to watch the film. No one else does. Simple as that. Just like a movie ticket, they need to pay for that right to the content creator.