Unfortunately not everyone has access to cheap storage so for us a few bucks a month is more cost effective than having to upgrade expensive storage regularly. 😓

Record labels (and the like) suing ISPs like this is such a weird fucking take. Like, imagine book publishers sending their agents to markets, libraries, book shops, etc. and noting down every single book sold and who bought them, then suing the local council/government/roading organisation if they discovered off brand books or even second hand books for allowing book pirates to drive those books along the roads.

Or how about suing the power companies for providing power to pirates, or computer hardware manufacturers, or farmers for growing the food that pirates eat…

Organized crime has negative consequences for consumers and society as a whole

Organised crime like Google, Meta, Microsoft, the entertainment and music industries, Microsoft, most politicians… right?

I think some amount of it is apathy, or modern-life time-poor induced apathy where people just want something to work and work quickly without much effort or time and so they just pony up. And with so many people not keeping a budget, $10 a month here and there or $30 once a month doesn’t seem like much if you’re not adding up all those subs combined over a month or a year or 5 years. Really, some subs could fall into the category of a dark pattern because $10 a month doesn’t seem like much compared to say $100 up front even though over the course of a year (or 2, 3, 5+ years) that sub costs you more than just buying software up front. (Think also Sam Vines Boot Theory).

I see some people are getting fed up (I’m one of them) but sadly plenty more who mindlessly keep paying more and more.

Good luck getting anywhere in this country’s judicial system. The Courts here have repeatedly shown they kiss government arse and the NZ government has shown they kiss corporate arse.

New Zealand is no longer the land of no. 8 wire and protesting to stand up for rights, the environment, etc. but I fast becoming another western country beholden to apathy and consumerism. 😔

Its been a while since I used a Kindle but AFAIK its still this - using Calibre + the deDRM plugin. I don’t know if linking directly to stuff here is OK so just do an internet search for github noDRM deDRM_tools and you should find the plugin you need for Calibre.

Yes, absolutely. I used to pirate almost everything because I was too poor to afford most things. Nowadays I can afford more (albeit still poor so some piracy is still out of necessity for monetary reasons). Sometimes I pirate as a try before I buy. Watching/reading reviews just doesn’t always cut it and the only way to know if something is useful/enjoyable if trying it out first. And some things I intentionally pirate even if I can afford because I have an ethical and moral objection to giving money to the company/creator (like Amazon, Disney, Adobe, etc.). And in those instances I also try to pay it forward as much as possible by direct supporting creators, donating to FOSS, charities, FSF, Internet Archive, etc.

Or Fit Girl