Pirated content is yours forever

Reject the temptations of short term convenience and adopt sustainable consumption.

Demand ownership of goods. Demand offline-first.

Buy CD’s and DvDs. Check if a game has DRM before buying it (or just buy from GoG where DRM is banned). Run some flavor of Linux.

Yes it's a pain ... but it's because your are considering a state compared to an ideal state, e.g feeling trapped with devices you don't trust versus running in an empty field. It's simplistic and it's not now versus then. Instead consider where you were, where you are now, and how it is a succession of decisions. Nobody forced you to buy a smartphone. Nobody forced you to install a chat app made by an ad company. Nobody forced you to have a free email.

Instead, for years, you made terrible decisions and now you are "waking up" to it and it sucks.

How do I know? Well, I did the same.

I even felt terrible about it and it felt impossible to change. I also discovered the concept of learned helplessness. How I was convinced that not only it was bad but I could do nothing about it.

Then I changed. I made a ProtonMail account (which I paid for, still am), moved my data from GMail. In fact I downloaded ALL my data from Google, and moved away from it, e.g from YouTube I installed on my own server PeerTube. I warned family, friends and colleagues I wasn't using WhatsApp anymore but they could reach me with email, SMS, phone, Signal, Telegram, Matrix, etc. I then deleted Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, etc.

I could go on but hopefully you get the idea : it sucked, I realized it sucks, I tried to change, it was hard requiring a lot of effort but, step by step, I removed a lot (not all!) of those terrible behaviors from my life.

TL;DR move away from learned helplessness by DOING things, taking a single step in the right direction makes a world of difference.

Many people probably won’t be bothered by these things, but I am. I don’t want to pay full price for something that I don’t truly own. I miss the familiarity. I miss the reliability. I miss feeling like it’s mine. Dependable. Trustworthy.

Picking my old guitar up again has never looked so appealing. I think I want to go back to investing more time, money, and energy into things that aren’t connected to the internet

Upvoted.

They're not gone, you just have to be more selective.

First, many of us have turned to piracy for this reason. I don't like piracy. I don't want to steal. But I will if they don't provide me with a legitimate and respectful purchase process.

I miss the days of VHS and DVD

You can still buy whatever you want on Blu-Ray.

I've turned off all auto-updates, and I didn't make that change or consent to it.

Bit of a double-edged sword there. Mac can make improvements and they can make things worse. The difference is often a matter of personal preference.

I have much bigger axes to grind with Apple, but I digress. Yes the overarching theme is "control" that Apple wants to maintain.

I clearly don't have 100% control over it.

Linux gives you all the control you could ever want.

replaced copies of Warcraft 3 that I and others had paid for in full and installed on our computers that we could play without connecting to the Internet

Pirate it. You have every right, far as I'm concerned.

I think I want to go back to investing more time, money, and energy into things that aren't connected to the internet

WHY DON'T YOU WANT PERSONALIZED ADVERTISEMENTS?

Hey Choom, privacy, security and the ability to be in control is worth fighting for.

I hate how short term profits ruin good things for everyone but stakeholders. But there are independent developers, musicians, creator in generel or those who sell their stuff DRM free. Those actual humans are worth supporting and following.

Also having a hobby, like learning and or playing guitar, besides computing seems like a really good ide.

If some piece of media is unavailable without DRM/Internet connection - feel free to pirate it.

Often times, this is the only way to restore control over your media. And it's a sign that we're only able to tolerate it so far.

Then, your pirated media can be placed wherever you like - and taken offline if you want to.

Also, Linux is your best friend. No, seriously. No one proposes to insert any form of DRM in there, and everyone is free to fork unwanted changes, so it never has to come. You decide what you want.

Well said!

"Many people probably won't be bothered by these things, but I am."

You are not alone! There are still many knowledgeable people who understand what you mentioned.

Thank you for bringing up this topic!

Enjoy playing the guitar! 🙂

I understand and relate to how you feel and I hope these changes feel positive to you and not forced. Please remember that these values do not have to be absolutist in their implementation and that there is a place for "hypocrisy". No human is perfect and it's okay to make concessions if you are struggling with a complete lifestyle transformation. Too often I see people start down this path of full on zealotry only to rubber-band weeks or months later because it was just too difficult for them to maintain that level of commitment to whatever their cause was. Instead of readjusting to find a better balance, they give up entirely and then feel really miserable about the experience because it seems like the things they valued in life were completely unattainable. This is all just a long way of saying take care of yourself on the journey.

For the Spotlight issue, was this certainly a local change without consent, or was it a change in the way the query is processed on Apple's servers?

There is functionally no difference but it's a big philosphical difference.

Just looked up some of the latest Movies. You can still get DVDs of that's what you want. Even in a store with cash.

Is that what you want?

How are you leaning guitar? YouTube, apps, enshitification sites full of ads? Or buying a book?

It's fine. Connectivity allows subscription services, but doesn't necessitate them. It's a power to connect your machine to those of other people in many parts of the world.

It's like starting to do your dishes in time because of the cockroach problem. Perfectly normal going "underground" when the cockroaches have occupied the kitchen and make laws there.

This same sentiment is what’s driven me to pirating all the movies and tv shows I own. I want total control over the things I’ve bought and paid for with my money. I also think this is crucial for the preservation of media.

GOG game releases are nice for that feeling I guess or they were in the past maybe it enshittificated too