Piracy Is Back: Piracy Statistics for 2023

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Rising media piracy is widely seen as a backlash against fragmented, increasingly expensive streaming services and restrictive licensing practices. Commenters argue that early Netflix-style platforms once beat piracy on convenience, but region locks, content removals, lower quality streams, and account limits have made unauthorized copies easier and more attractive again. Many also question industry claims about “lost” billions and jobs, noting that much pirated content wouldn’t have been purchased anyway and that piracy often doubles as de facto archiving and a response to eroding digital ownership.

Fragmented Streaming and Convenience

  • Many argue piracy is rising because legal video is now fragmented across many services, with rising prices, regional locks, device limits, and confusing catalogs.
  • Users report paying for several platforms yet still unable to legally watch specific shows, older content, or original-language versions.
  • UX problems: mixed “included vs paid” listings, lack of 4K/HDR, inconsistent hardware support, blackout rules for sports, and titles disappearing mid-watch.
  • Several say it’s often faster and easier to find and watch something via torrents plus a personal media server than to locate the legal stream.

Service vs. Price

  • A recurring theme: piracy is mainly a “service problem,” not just a price problem.
  • For games, storefronts like Steam (sales, easy installs, refunds) are cited as having significantly reduced users’ desire to pirate, despite ongoing piracy.
  • For video, legal services rarely reach that level of convenience, especially compared to automation tools plus self-hosted libraries.

Music vs. Video

  • Music streaming is seen as more successful: near-universal catalogs, simple licensing, and instant availability make piracy less attractive.
  • However, multiple comments criticize low artist payouts and point out that paying for streaming may help labels more than musicians; some prefer buying on Bandcamp.
  • Niche or older genres can still be easier to get via piracy.

Ethics, Ownership, and Archiving

  • The article’s claim that piracy is not ethically justifiable is heavily contested.
  • Many argue it is ethical when:
    • “Purchased” digital content is later removed with no refund.
    • Content is unavailable or geofenced.
    • Companies repeatedly resell the same work while eroding ownership (DRM, no format-shifting).
  • Piracy is framed by some as consumer self-defense and as essential for cultural preservation (unaltered cuts, out-of-print or censored works).

Economic and Statistical Claims

  • Strong skepticism toward figures like “$29–71B lost” and “70,000 jobs lost.”
  • Points raised: most pirates wouldn’t have paid anyway; some later buy; money saved is spent elsewhere in the economy; hoarders never consume most downloads.
  • Several criticize bandwidth and piracy-percentage stats as poorly sourced or outdated; one cites an EU-commissioned study that found no robust evidence of sales displacement.

Broader Context

  • Debate over whether cost-of-living increases justify cutting subscriptions; conflicting interpretations of wage and income data, with no clear resolution.
  • Some warn against pirating software due to security risks, while seeing far lower risk in pirated media files.