Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

The only named defendant in the Anna's Archive 'WorldCat' hacking lawsuit suggests that the plaintiffs are going after the wrong person.

Every month, many millions of Americans visit pirate streaming site FMovies to bypass paid subscription services and watch movies and TV series for free. The platform is a thorn in the side of the movie industry and a prime exhibit in the quest for local site-blocking measures. According to SimilarWeb's Top 10 chart of U.S. 'Streaming & Online TV' sites, FMovies beats Disney+ and Crunchyroll.

I'm German and seems 'we' rely more on file hosters than torrenting. There are lots of tv series and movies with both the original audio track and the dubbed one on sites like funxd, serienjunkies, serienfans... They mostly redirect to a filecrypt.cc folder and then I get a DLC file to download the parts from turbobit or rapidgator (one-click hosters.)

What setup am I looking for, if I were to automate this? I'm aware of the Megathread but I didn't find the correct software to index those sites and then what kind of download manager people use nowadays. (Ah yes, and I don't want to pay for premium accounts.)

Edit: Replaced "one-click hosters" with "file hosters"

Prowlarr has listed in its default indexers a domain that reminds me a lof of another domain that closed in the last few years, but it's clearly a revival using the same name and adding an article behind it. I don't want to risk downloading from it but it looks well made and legit and responsive and well kept, basically too good to be true.

So, what would be your strategy to see if it's good? Also, there's a discord. But the discord disagrees with Prowlarr on which should the real domain be.

https://i.imgur.com/wxzAcgC.png

I have a relatively large collection of songs I downloaded from YouTube, one-by-one, on my Android phone. I would like to download a lot more of the songs I like, with correct metadata and without having to manually edit the album cover art, artist, and more, on my Windows PC.

(Notes: I'd be ok with running another tool that allows altering many files, like Musicbrainz Picard. Looking at https://rentry.co/FMHYAudio/#audio-ripping, it seems I might've answered my own question, but I'm unsure. Do you know of better methods?)

Is this mode needed if you're using a VPN to hide your IP address? The page states only the following:

If you're using VPN, proxy or I2P, you probably want to enable Anonymous Mode.

What I would like to know is why the developer statement is true? And does it affect download/seeding speeds?

Most of us are aware how geoblocks are one more reason people nudge towards piracy. Well, I didn't knew that companies imposed geoblocks even on free content.

I realize that, after all this time, I have never payed for my all-time favorite games I grew up playing (Fallout 3 & Skyrim). I can pay for it, but I really do not want to pay the money to the Bethesda’s marketing team, CEO, and whoever bullshit middle man who wants a cut of that. I want to give directly to the team that made the damn game, the artists, the sound designers, the voice actors, the programmers. If there was a way to do that, i’d be more happily inclined to spend my money on a decade year old game.

Just thinking

Recently I found this program called Steamtools where you can add games to your Steam library without owning it and Workshop etc. worked. Now I wanted to install some mods for Automation (which I downloaded through rin) and now it doesn't work anymore. It always says CONTENT STILL ENCRYPTED. Does any of you know if it works somehow? I already tried workshop downloaders but they all don't support this game. Edit: Found out why: The game mods are put into the game folder, so it doesn't work. Does anyone here have the game? I want some mods :(

I'd prefer to get a VPN to avoid the risk of my internet getting shut down, but I'm not aware of what the options for Linux are. I figured this would be a good place to ask.

the best answer yet to "why pirate movies"

Folks I'm trynna help my sister get a free music app. Non rooted phone. I got innertune, vimusic etc for android, idk bout iOS.

Would appreciate any help

Ideally smth like xmanager that unlocks Spotify but anything works

For people who will ask I should refer to wiki wiki sources are not good and I'm searching for High quality sourcee with x265 rip like QXR sources but for ongoing tv shows

Get the Backup Repo here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40015961

Hi all.

Can you please advise me how I can prevent data about me from being sent to a developer?

Context:

While wandering around the net, I came across an expression about Foundry being ruthless to pirates. There were no specifics, so I simply typed in the search term "foundry piracy" and found the following:

• Legal Advice (https://www.reddit.com/r/NukeVFX/comments/olw8t7/legal_advice/)
• PSA: The Foundry is cracking down hard on piracy. If you use Nuke or any of their software illegally, you're bound to receive an email sooner or later. (https://www.reddit.com/r/vfx/comments/7k35ve/psa_the_foundry_is_cracking_down_hard_on_piracy/)
• Possible problems with cracked Nuke (https://www.reddit.com/r/NukeVFX/comments/10ls86o/comment/j5z9nuj/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
• Foundry, Creator of Nuke, Demands Thousands of Dollars from Users Running Unlicensed Software (https://www.technadu.com/foundry-targets-pirated-software-users/46535/)

... and I even found a form to report potential piracy on their official website (https://www.thefoundry.co.uk/licence-compliance/report-piracy/).

So I was wondering, how can I protect myself from something like this? How can I prevent any data about me from being sent to the developer? I don't plan on pirating any software developed by Foundry, because I'm just disgusted with using tools created by the likes of... people? It's just the first time I've seen something like this, and I'm curious.

After trying to search for something on this topic on the net, I only came across this thread (https://www.reddit.com/r/Piracy/comments/ot6xkq/isolating_pirated_software/).

My thoughts/questions:

• It seems to me that just blocking internet access through a firewall isn't going to help here
• I would ask if using such software only when the VPN is enabled would help, but it seems to me that such software may run some background processes that will be active even after closing the program, and they will just send information about me / my hardware from time to time, including when I disable the VPN, since I won't be using such software at the moment. And maybe these processes are trickier than normal processes that you can easily close via Task Manager.
• Can a virtual machine help in such a case? How would it help in such a case? I've never dealt with virtual machines and I don't know what they are, but aren't they connected to the same network as my main computer, and can't the developer get information about me if I use just another device, albeit a virtual one? Or is a virtual machine and how it works somehow different from a notional regular computer, as if it were virtual instead of real?
• Why does the last-to-last link, in the comments, mention using a separate machine? How is that supposed to help? Wouldn't that machine be connected to the same network as the main machine? Or, if not connected to the network, how would a machine that is used for everyday needs, but notionally never goes online, be different from a new machine that is not used for any everyday needs, and also never goes online?
• I've heard of operating systems like Whonix, Tails, and Qubes. And about WineHQ, which allows you to run software written for Windows on Linux. I've only heard of them, and my understanding of them is no more than the word "anonymity", so I also want to ask, if I use one of these operating systems, and use software like Nuke from Foundry through the use of WineHQ, could that somehow prevent Foundry from sending information about me? I mean using only the raw operating system, one of the ones listed, without using a VPN and a virtual machine along with it. If the answer is no, would a scenario of using an operating system bundled with a VPN and virtual machine help in this situation? Is it even possible to use software like Foundry's Nuke on such operating systems? Or are they not designed for that, and they only support something more primitive like web browsers?

All I can think of right now is this:

• We have 2 different computers, - one for everyday use, the other for interacting with all the unlicensed software.
• On the computer for everyday use we use an operating system like Linux Mint or Zorin OS. On the computer for interacting with all unlicensed software, we also use the conventional Linux Mint or Zorin OS as the main operating system.
• The computer for everyday use is connected to the Internet, the computer for interaction with all unlicensed software is never connected to the Internet and never goes online.
• Using the computer for everyday use, download the required unlicensed software using a VPN.
• The downloaded software is transferred to an external hard disk or flash drive that is not used for any other needs. From the external hard disk or flash drive, then transfer the downloaded software to the computer to use the unlicensed software.
• Install the unlicensed software on the computer to use the unlicensed software, using a virtual machine with Whonix / Tails / Qubes as the operating system.
• Using the installed software.

My questions are about the above scenario:

• Would this scenario help in a similar situation?
• Does it make sense in the fourth step to not just download using a VPN, but to use a virtual machine as well? Is this even possible? Should I use Whonix / Tails / Qubes operating systems in this virtual machine, or can I just go with the usual Linux Mint / Zorin OS?
• Does it make sense to use a Whonix / Tails / Qubes virtual machine on the second computer if it never goes online? If it never goes online, can I get by with a virtual machine with a regular operating system like Linux Mint / Zorin OS? Or is that still a risk?
• I've heard that WineHQ is a kind of "emulation layer" and that software is more unstable when "going through" this emulation layer, is this true in 2024? Can all software be used on Linux operating systems using WineHQ?
• Similar to the question of whether it is possible to use such "heavy" software on operating systems like Whonix / Tails / Qubes, I also want to ask whether it is possible to use it inside a virtual machine? And wouldn't it be too unstable if a virtual machine is used in addition to WineHQ?
• Will all unlicensed software work without an internet connection?

I apologize if I've written some nonsense. I am weak in technical matters. And I also apologize for possible mistakes in the text, I'm using an online translator.

Thanks!

Not even most of those people lucky enough to have grown up along with the gaming industry (and associated software and hardware breakthroughs) often wonder, what happens to video game classics when they get – “put out to pasture?”

More importantly, how does that happen, why, who decides – and can anything be done to keep these “orphaned” (i.e., no longer actively developed, supported, and eventually, sold) pieces of software still around?

The Pirate Party, which is miraculously enough represented in the European Parliament (EP) from several member countries, is asking exactly that question.

Lately, the EP “Pirates” has been prominently involving itself in broader issues of internet privacy and security.

But with the latest initiative to get the EU Commission (of all things…) to provide “an opinion about the legality under EU consumer protection law” regarding Ubisoft deciding to “kill” the “The Crew 1” game as of this April – this political grouping seems to be revisiting its roots.

The gaming community is rallying against the increasing trend of publishers rendering video games unplayable by shutting down their servers, a practice exemplified by the recent closure of Ubisoft’s decade-old racing game.

In the end, it comes down to proprietary vs. open-source software. There would never be the need for the Pirate Parties, or the “Stop Killing Games” to bring up these issues if the code was open.

After all, the free and open source status is what allows for the longevity of the most important single piece of software that is the backbone of the entire global internet – the Linux kernel.

But back to “strictly gaming” – and German MEP Patrick Breyer writes, “the shutdown of ‘The Crew 1′ by Ubisoft is an alarming example of how gamers’ interests are being ignored. It is unacceptable and probably also illegal for companies to first sell popular games at a profit and then kill them at short notice.”

The video gaming industry has for some years now been bigger, in terms of revenue, than the film industry. Other than what this means to those collecting that revenue – there is also the cultural impact of an entertainment and art form that reaches so many people around the globe.

Technically, it’s comparing apples and oranges – but essentially, it isn’t. So how would you feel if “Citizen Kane” – or “Blade Runner” – suddenly disappeared off the face of the Earth?

Speaking of the latter – it took decades for the movie to gain its rightful status as a classic.

But what if it never had that time?

This is another issue that “killing off” games brings up.

And so, Breyer writes – “Pirates demand a legal framework that prevents orphaned software from simply disappearing. The community should have the opportunity to take orphaned software over and develop it further. This policy also promotes sustainability, for example by allowing control routines for hardware to be maintained and updated, which increases the service life of the devices.”

I am in search for a game but can only find it on Steam. I did find someone on CS who had the game build that could launch without Steam but the link is long expired... Do you guys know where it is possible to find Steam less games?? I really don't want to download Steam just to play 1 game on my laptop.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.eco.br/post/4492477

How to store digital files for posterity? (hundreds of years)

How to store digital files for posterity? (hundreds of years)

I have some family videos and audios and I want to physically save them for posterity so that it lasts for periods like 200 years and more. This allows great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren to have access.

From the research I did, I found that the longest-lasting way to physically store digital content is through CD-R gold discs, but it may only last 100 years. From what I researched, the average lifespan of HDs and SSDs is no more than 10 years.

I came to the conclusion that the only way to ensure that the files really pass from generation to generation is to record them on CDs and distribute them to the family, asking them to make copies from time to time.

It's crazy to think that if there were suddenly a mass extinction of the human species, intelligent beings arriving on Earth in 1000 years would probably not be able to access our digital content. While cave paintings would probably remain in the same place.

What is your opinion?

Wanted to ask if there was another premium (or free) surefire way to get movies and TV shows in high quality without much hassle? I had an emby shared server that pretty much had anything I wanted but it looks like it shut down completely. I also didn't notice that the reddits for plex/emby shares had been banned for a while cause I had this service for the past couple years. Any alternatives would be very much appreciated :)