Sony erases digital content from libraries; reminded we don't own what we buy

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https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/06/sony-erases-digital-content-from-libraries-were-reminded-we-dont-own-what-we-buy/

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Ever since the Sony BMG CD copy protection rootkit scandal, I haven’t bought any Sony product, and have advised that to as many people as possible. It’s not always easy, but they have proven my point quite often since then. QED once again.

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This scene did a lot for this movie.

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Comments in Technology@beehaw.org

If payment for a digital item doesn’t confer ownership then digital piracy isn’t theft.

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Theft is if you take something away and they lose it. This is more of a licensing issue.

All the company is deprived of is revenue, at least that’s what they think, assuming everyone downloading their content for free would otherwise pay for it.

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Funny, they’re still on my server. Oh, right, that’s because it’s MY server. Get fucked, Sony.

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Well… I’ve…

… never licked a spark plug

and I’ve never sniffed a stinkbug

and I’ve never painted daisies on a big red rubber ball

and I’ve never bathed in yogurt

and I don’t look good in leggings

and I’ve never been to Boston in the fall

I uh, don’t know what to tell you…

I don’t do anything.

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This is why you never buy a digital copy of anything unless it’s a DRM free download.

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I learned this lesson 25 years ago, and that’s when I stopped paying for any “content”. Rip it or lose it.

🏴‍☠️

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How many reminders are needed for people to get the picture?

Lately we have been getting a lot of reminders but people are still not waking up.

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21

Whoever chose that pic deserves some kind of award

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It came to me last night, how all this AI and the difficulties obtaining hardware. This is all them trying to end the idea of ownership, at least of your data. They want to control all the data, so everything you do, every picture you take, every game you play, every essay you write, will be only available in the cloud. We are getting close to the point where are must pay for every bit of our own data that we access.

This is the inevitable result. I’m very glad I’ve spent years building my own library of content. I just hope I can continue getting replacement hardware to keep it alive.

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There’s stores for downloadable drm free music. Still waiting for that for movies and series.

It’s certainly not a technical issue.

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Worth noting this is specifically ~200 movie titles purchased in the PlayStation store in the UK due to licencing changes. So still shit, but not as bad as the headline implies.

Personally I’ve given up purchasing movies or TV shows at all because they keep getting deleted from my libraries over time without warning. I agree with the article that the word “purchase” itself is misleading and it should be changed to something like “licence” or “rent forever” instead.

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~200

“551 titles” - 43 TV show seasons = 508 movies?

“Sony already pulled 314 StudioCanal titles from libraries in Germany and Austria in 2022. More recently, Sony deleted people’s Funimation digital libraries”

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Yes you’re right. The font on the website is really hard for me and I must have read the 5 as a 2. Thanks for the correction :)

Isn’t Funimation dead now? I remember something happening to them at least.

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