Mo Ⓐ☭🇵🇸3d ago
Martin Guay 👨‍💻🌈🎮📱🍁

I'm noticing a rise in software, media, and game piracy again. Why?

Because people are fed up.

SaaS fatigue. Subscription overload. Constant price hikes with minimal improvements. Products we never truly "own." DRM that breaks more than it protects.

It’s no longer just about "getting it free"—for many, it’s a protest. When Photoshop is $30/month and requires internet to launch, and movies are split across 6+ overpriced services, people will rebel.

We’ve modernized the tools, but repeated the mistake:
Make access too expensive or too frustrating, and piracy becomes a more ethical experience.

People don’t want to be free. They want fairness.

#FOSS #SaaS #Piracy #DigitalOwnership #DRM #Streaming #TechEthics

Jul 17 at 5:55pmWeb
Show threadMartin Guay 👨‍💻🌈🎮📱🍁3d ago

📈 Piracy is rising fast—and it's not just nostalgia.

🔹 15+ billion piracy site visits in 2023
🔹 Software piracy remains ~37%
🔹 Music piracy jumped 13% in a year
🔹 Streaming piracy up 36% since 2020

Why the increase?

Subscription fatigue

Rising costs across SaaS and entertainment

Fragmented content (too many platforms)

DRM is punishing legit users

Loss of ownership in digital goods

People aren’t just stealing—they’re pushing back.

When paid options are worse than pirated ones, the system is broken. Time to rethink value, access, and trust.

#Piracy #SaaS #StreamingWars #DigitalOwnership #SubscriptionFatigue #DRM #FOSS #TechEthics

Show threadThird spruce tree on the left3d ago

@MartinGuay

The peak was (IMHO) iTunes. $5-10 for a season, $1-2 per episode, $5 movies. And then ITS YOURS for ever, DRM free file do what you want with it.

Fuck, I kept buying Hunt For Red October on every. single. platform cause after a year of owning it over here, whups now its only over there. Sigh.

Make shit easy, make it affordable, and confer _ownership_ and people will PAY.

Still true to this day: https://theoatmeal.com/comics/game_of_thrones

I tried to watch Game of Thrones and this is what happened - The Oatmeal

WINTER NEVER CAME.

The Oatmeal
Show threadMartin Guay 👨‍💻🌈🎮📱🍁3d ago
@tezoatlipoca I don't blame you. To the people I've talked to about this subject, it resonates.
Show threadEryck Gu⸸⸸eЯaL2d ago

@tezoatlipoca @MartinGuay
Not only all of the above but, like... do a good job. 😒

I want DVDs and Blu-Rays with several audio options.
I want proper closed captions that are done superbly and the TV / media player recognizes + displays them properly. Which means the hardware needs to all be done thoughtfully.

I want all the extras, too. Bloopers, commentary track, photoshoot slideshow & wallpapers in various sizes, etc etc.

I want packages with the OST + score + music videos. SACD w/ multichannel & stereo.

And more! Give me everything. When/if I have money and the space to put these things, I'll gladly buy the media I really enjoy / needs support.

Show threadEryck Gu⸸⸸eЯaL2d ago

@tezoatlipoca @MartinGuay

Also, no digital restrictions management on any of it. Include ePubs and Opus books in the bundle.

If I'm going to buy something then I want the entire thing in whatever format suites me at that point in my life. Or, maybe later on I want to re-visit the story and would like to experience it through a different medium.

Show threadEryck Gu⸸⸸eЯaL2d ago

@tezoatlipoca @MartinGuay

Now, speaking about software... GNU/Linux has been making gains in the video game console and desktop/laptop/workstation and phone/tablet spaces.

Libre software, certain pieces have snuck in on non-operating systems and people have been using them all while having no idea what copy left is.

People do need to be aware and willing to try out and adapt to different work flows with software that is free as in freedom. That will always be better than sticking with proprietary.

Make a big stink demanding companies re-license their SW and donate as much as possible to the #FreeSoftwareFoundation #FSF and all the SW you like.

Show threadEryck Gu⸸⸸eЯaL2d ago
I think I mastodon'd wrong and split up the flow of these comments. lol. Oh well. Sorry.
Show threadKing_DuckZ3d ago
@MartinGuay #piracy has been demonised as the root of all evil, ironically by those very companies with more money than they can count. The same companies often found harassing fans, shutting down small projects and thwarting competition and conservation efforts. The same that are now pirating left and right because #AI. As #Stallman correctly pointed out even the word "piracy" is wrong yet it gets repeated endlessly. It's an upside down world we live in
Show threadMartin Guay 👨‍💻🌈🎮📱🍁3d ago
@duckz you aren't wrong at all.