• Turret3857@infosec.pub
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    2 months ago

    $14.99 Netflix subscription

    $11.99 Gamepass subscription

    $11.99 Spotify Premium subscription

    Want more than one networks programming? Hulu/Max/Paramount/Peacock all cost around the same

    ISP still sells your damn data to advertisers

    OR

    $5 Mullvad subscription.

    You tell me what makes more sense.

    • алсааас [she/they]@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 months ago

      Unfortunately I cannot recommend Mullvad for Torrenting. They blocked port forwarding, making seeding and thus contributing back to the network that much slower

      I just went for ProtonVPN since (next to iVPN I think) it’s the only other one to at least be partially OSS and still viable for daily-use

      • swearengen@sopuli.xyz
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        2 months ago

        Yes shame about Mullvad. AirVPN still allows port forwarding though.

        Now days I just stick to private trackers while using a cheap European VPS setup with wireguard. Only saves me a couple of bucks a month compared to VPN service but it adds up.

      • Turret3857@infosec.pub
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        2 months ago

        Thats fair, and I agree with you for torrenting, its the one thing I wish they’d change. For privacy though, I feel like Mullvad is leading the pack. (Not having to provide an email, crypto and/or cash payments, DAITA)

  • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    You also need an ISP, which isn’t free either.

    If you have a non-sucking ISP, you don’t need a VPN. But a VPN is incredibly cheap, so just lump it in mentally with the cost of the internet service.

    • samus12345@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      You also need something to play the games on, a place to play them, electricity for the internet and device, etc., and none of them are free. But they’re also not exclusively used for playing a single game, unlike the single game you’re pirating instead of buying.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        That depends on a number of things, like do you want to seed (if so, Mullvad is out), how much do you plan on downloading (if a lot, a VPS may be out), if your ISP blocks any of them, etc.

        I generally recommend Mullvad or DIY w/ a VPS (I DIY a wireguard VPN on a VPS), but just try some out and see what works best for you.

  • bamboo@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    If you live in a country that requires a vpn to torrent, you can probably afford video games.

    • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
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      2 months ago

      Brazil and most Latin American countries are also safe pirate havens, unless you set up a for-profit piracy site, then you’re painting a huge target on your head.

      • Khrux@ttrpg.network
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        2 months ago

        Maybe it’s luck but I’ve shamelessly torrented in the UK my whole life, I wouldn’t be surprised if in the past fifteen years, I’ve downloaded a petabyte on pirated content.

        I’ve never used a VPN and the one time I got a letter from my ISP, I suspect it was a scam anyway. I have used at least 4 ISPs in this period and two mobile networks, I’ve even used public and work WiFis with not issue.

        I’m not sure if this a UK thing or if I’m just wildly lucky.

        • jedibob5@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          I’m stateside, and I torrented something once without a VPN and got an email complaint from my ISP not long after.

          • tomenzgg@midwest.social
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            2 months ago

            To be fair, I’m also stateside and, while I knew enough to know not to do it with abandon, I’ve torrented without a VPN at least a handful of times and never got anything from my ISPs in two decades.

        • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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          2 months ago

          Have the same story here in Belgium.

          Never gotten a letter.

          In the Netherlands they pay a small fee (3.5€ on a new phone) on every electronics “with which you can download”, which allows them to pirate without much worrying.

    • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 months ago

      You can also just direct download games without a VPN.

      100% safe?

      No, but uh, ISPs have so heavily switched over to monitoring torrents, they kind of forgot the other option exists.

      (I’ll update this with a -whoops I got fucked- if that happens, but I’ve been doing this for half a year now, no problems.)

      Another option is I2P for either direct dls or torrents, no subscription fee, but it is quite slow.

  • NotProLemmy@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    Use Tor Or a pretty good free vpn like ProtonVPN. Just not a “free” one. Looking at VeePN with disgust

  • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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    2 months ago

    Piracy free?

    100TB isn’t free Fast internet connections ain’t free VPN ain’t free Hundreds of hours ain’t free

    What is free is the freedom that comes with just being able to watch whatever the hell I want to watch when I want to watch it, without ads, without “oh now we found another way to make money, we shuffle media between providers so now pay someone else too if you want to finish this show”

  • Jessica@discuss.tchncs.de
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    2 months ago

    This is always such a stupid take. Just force fully encrypted traffic in your torrent client… No VPN necessary.

    • miss phant@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      2 months ago

      This is wrong, torrenting is mostly caught by reviewing the peers list of torrents with infringing content, not analyzing the traffic. Only a VPN (or Seedbox) masks your IP, or alternatively private trackers are rare to get monitored.

      • Jessica@discuss.tchncs.de
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        2 months ago

        Okay so I think you are talking about getting caught by a copyright holder, and I am talking about getting caught by your Internet service provider. The alternative (free) solution to the former is just to use private trackers. The alternative (free) solution to the latter is to fully encrypt your traffic.

    • TriflingToad@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      for direct downloads it works, however I tried to torrent on it and it disabled and said “no p2p”. I pay for mullvad now and have no regrets

      • ftbd@feddit.org
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        2 months ago

        How did you set it up? Proton offers port forwarding, which mullvad does not

    • Pacattack57@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Proton is not that good bro. At least not the free version. I kind of hate when people suggest it because just like other free vpns, the free version is designed to not work well. It does basic browsing very well but you are not gonna torrent with it.

    • Psythik@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      Don’t use Proton, use Mullvad.

      That said, if you’re only paying for a VPN so you can torrent, you’re better off getting a Debrid service instead (like Real-Debrid). It’s cheaper and gets you direct downloads to any torrent you want at 1Gbps speeds.

      • Kinokoloko @lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 months ago

        This is the way. Plus you can set up RD through Stremio/various Kodi add-ons so you can stream shows and movies directly from them. And! They even give you credits when you pay for service, that you can then redeem for more service. Pretty nifty 🙂

      • brrt@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        Because it is. Just recently some VPN provider I already forgot the name of cancelled all lifetime subscriptions. There were multiple posts on Lemmy about it.

      • MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.de
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        2 months ago

        Ten years and counting for me and VPN Unlimited so far. Unsustainable? Capitalism is un-sustainable. Cheaper than paying monthly or yearly? Absolutely.

        Personally, I use the VPN to do my searches, grab magnet links, and get the torrent started, then I disconnect the VPN and switch to Cell data, as that ISP has never sent me a nasty-gram about pirating.

        Reasonably sure Nord is still turning a profit on my sub.

        • taladar@sh.itjust.works
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          2 months ago

          It is not that difficult to understand. Selling a service that costs money each month to run for a one time price is not sustainable.

          • Gutek8134@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            Now I’m wondering how costly it is to run Nebula, because they have a 300$ one time payment (equivalent of 5 years of subscription)

          • Rayquetzalcoatl@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            Oh I see, you meant from the supplier side. I thought you meant it was unsustainable from the consumer side, thanks for clarifying ✌️

          • dwindling7373@feddit.it
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            2 months ago

            Not really. It depends on the pricing.

            My issue is that the service have little incentive to keep up a quality standard, unless it’s in the contract…

  • chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Or, and hear me out… you could stop treating entertainment as a right. Stealing food and necessities? I’ll help you carry your prize. But stealing entertainment isn’t a flex. You aren’t helping to drive cost down, and every person that does it is just another reason for companies to put Denuvo in their games. You aren’t “owed” entertainment. Don’t steal it. Find something else to do. Get an old console and a shit ton of games for next to nothing and simultaneously help out the second hand game economy.

    What it comes down to is the price of modern entertainment isn’t just $60 for the game. It’s that plus all of the extra bullshit you have to do. If you don’t want to pay that, fine, no one is forcing you to buy the games, and you don’t need them to survive. Your silent protest against the gaming industry isn’t some valiant effort to rob from the rich and give to the poor. It’s theft. Call it that. You aren’t fucking batman; you are a person who steals entertainment because you have to have the latest thing. You aren’t fighting capitalism, you are part of it, and you are making it worse for everyone else.

    Downvotes are to the left.

    • jinarched@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/09/eu-study-finds-piracy-doesnt-hurt-game-sales-may-actually-help/

      This article points to a research that concludes that piracy is really not an issue for those companies though.

      It think that piracy is actually a great way to give everyone access to culture that shouldn’t be gatekept by their financial situation. Imagine a world where pirating music is shun today. Nobody cares now, we all listen to free music online without paying. Not to mention that piracy is pretty much the only sureway to make sure some medias (including games) are preserved. If you want to make sure that your favorite games don’t become lost medias in the future you should consider the good sides of piracy because those companies don’t care about it; they just want you to buy the next thing.

      So if piracy is not affecting those companies revenues and if it gives access to culture to everyone and even help preserving media why the hell shoul we lose our minds over it? Sounds like a good thing to me.

      Now, selling a game that cannot be owned and that can be revoked at anytime or a game that can change its TOS on a whim is much scummy imo.

      If you don’t want people to pirate your game, price them fairly and allow you customers to own a copy and offer an easy to use service.

      In any cases, I won’t shed a single tear if someome pirate a game especially a AAA game.

      • chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        This article points to a research that concludes that piracy is really not an issue for those companies though.

        And yet we still have anti-theft measures on most games. The anti-theft measures aren’t there because there were never any thieves. They are there because theives provide a scapegoat to publishers to blame low revenue on. Regardless of whether or not it is actually happening, the net results are the same because the lie is there. Pirating or stealing games may not have a real effect, or may even be a positive one, but it doesn’t matter because there is still a negative outcome when companies increase the price of their games and force anti-consumer launchers and anti-theft DRM into games.

        Imagine a world where pirating music is shun today. Nobody cares now, we all listen to free music online without paying.

        Maybe you and your friends do, but a lot of people pay for music streaming services with give an admittedly mediocre amount of revenue to the artists. The idea that we should steal “culture” and make it free to everyone is ludicrous. People still have to eat. All of the time and effort that goes into making a game or a record has an expected return, and that return is a paycheck.

        Now, selling a game that cannot be owned and that can be revoked at anytime or a game that can change its TOS on a whim is much scummy imo.

        If you don’t want people to pirate your game, price them fairly and allow you customers to own a copy and offer an easy to use service.

        That is why there are pro-consumer groups working to make sure that bullshit like what happens today doesn’t continue in the future. The EU and UK have very strong pro-consumer policies that protect the buyer instead of the seller. Change is happening, but it doesn’t make it easier when there is the ever present scapegoat of, “we do this because people steal.”

      • chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        every person that does it is just another reason for companies to put Denuvo in their games.

        If you want more, it’s also a rally cry for execs to bring up at board meetings about why their latest game didn’t sell well. It’s why Nintendo can brick your Switch 2 from orbit if they detect pirated software (which will surely lead to false positives).

        • architectonas@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          They could also choose not to. Also, I have never heard of any game not selling well due to piracy. It just leads to producers not earning quite as much money as they could theoretically (though it is debatable if pirating people really would buy the game instead of just refraining completely).

          • chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            Whether or not it is what actually happens, it’s what they tell their shareholders, which is enough to make them resort to anti-consumer practices like third party launchers and anti-theft software.

    • tauren@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      You aren’t “owed” entertainment. Don’t steal it. Find something else to do.

      I shouldn’t do what I enjoy because you said so? 🤡

    • festnt@sh.itjust.works
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      piracy isn’t stealing. it would be stealing if people were able to literally take ownership of a company’s game.

      if one person wants to buy a game, but doesn’t have enough money, or the game is too expensive, pirating it doesn’t make a difference, since they wouldn’t buy it anyway. it’s very rare for a person who would actually buy a game to pirate it, so the difference is minuscule.

      edit: i forgot to say, if after pirating someone likes the game enough, they are likely to actually buy it once they have enough money.

      • chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        It is theft, and th people that say it isn’t are making excuses so they feel better. You can grow your own food, you know? And it keeps growing back. But if you walk into a grocery store and walk out without paying, you are stealing. If you walk onto a farmers land and keep taking food from their crops without paying, it is stealing.

        You make two very different arguments that highlight my reason for calling out theft. The first is that the person steals because companies don’t allow us to own anything. That almost holds water, until you understand that entertainment isn’t a necessity, and so stealing it is a wholly selfish act.

        However, that brings us to your second point: people pirate because they can’t afford it. You contradict yourself. Who is the “pirate”? The one who steals in under misguided idea that some things cannot be owned, or the one that steals because they can’t afford it?

        At the end of the day, you are being advertised to, and you feel that you have to have the latest thing because the advertising is working, and so you steal when you can’t afford. You are a part of the system that you fight against with your mantra of “nothing can be owned.” Stop.

        • festnt@sh.itjust.works
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          2 months ago

          i “made” two arguments, apparently… when did i talk about the “nothing can be owned” stuff? all i said was that piracy isn’t stealing and that most people doing piracy aren’t affecting the market at all, since they wouldn’t have bought the game anyway.

          also, please look up the definition of software piracy, as it seems you don’t know what it means.

          • chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            piracy isn’t stealing. it would be stealing if people were able to literally take ownership of a company’s game.

            Line one. That’s when you mentioned it. Literally right there in your words.

            • festnt@sh.itjust.works
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              2 months ago

              stealing is taking the property of another person. i was talking about how piracy isn’t stealing, because you’re not taking the property of anyone.

              if friend A makes and shares a song they made with friend B, and friend B copies it and sends it to me without A’s permission, that is not stealing, because neither of us are taking friend A’s property. friend A still owns the song, just like the company still owns the game.

              “not owning games” is a completely different subject.

              • chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                While digital piracy does not constitute theft in the strict sense defined under common law—namely, the unauthorized taking and carrying away of tangible personal property with intent to permanently deprive the owner thereof—it nonetheless constitutes a violation of exclusive rights granted to copyright holders under Title 17 of the United States Code.

                Specifically, piracy infringes upon the copyright owner’s exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute, and publicly display or perform their work. The fact that no physical object is removed is immaterial; copyright law protects the expression of ideas, not just their physical embodiments. As such, piracy is more accurately classified as a form of copyright infringement—a civil and, in some cases, criminal offense—not as theft per se, but as an analogous wrong with measurable economic harm.

                Moreover, jurisprudence has recognized that infringement can result in lost profits, market harm, and unjust enrichment, all of which are actionable. While piracy may lack the zero-sum quality of theft, it undermines the incentive structure copyright law is designed to uphold—namely, the right of creators to control and profit from their original works.

                I don’t know what to tell you. Want to know more? Go read about Dowling v United States from 1985. That should help you understand how its still a kind of theft.

                • festnt@sh.itjust.works
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                  2 months ago

                  >“While digital piracy does not constitute theft in the strict sense defined under common law” >“That should help you understand how its still a kind of theft.”

                  it’s not theft, but it is? i know it’s a crime, but not all crimes are theft. unless you want to define all crimes as theft.

                  is murder a kind of theft, because you’re taking someone’s life? is kidnapping a kind theft, because you’re taking a person?

                  it’s not theft. it’s a different crime. just like pterosaurs and dinosaurs are different groups of animals.

    • Killer@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Denuvo doesn’t even stop games from being torrented. They still get cracked.

      It’s a just a nuisance for paying users and degraded performamce.

      • chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Which is my point. I pay for games. If they have Denuvo slowing them down, it isn’t because I paid for it, it’s because other people stole it, or have stolen in the past. The anti-theft software doesn’t exist because there are no thieves. I do my best to avoid Denuvo games on principal, but it’s hard to play a AA game or higher without it. There are a lot of people to blame for it, but it wouldn’t be there at all if not for thieves.

      • DragonOracleIX@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        Is there anyone left that actually cracks denuvo? I’ve only heard about Denuvo games getting bypassed due to denuvo-less copies of the main exe file getting leaked.