omg pirates

I really hate it when I put a DVD into my DVD player, and before I can actually get to the fucking movie I paid to watch, I have to sit through a big bunch of stupid, time-consuming, not-the-movie bullshit.

I can skip those stupid trailers for movies that will be out of date in six months easily enough, but I can't get past that insulting and annoying series of anti-piracy warnings they make me watch on every. single. dvd. I. watch. Okay, guys. I get it. In fact, I got it about forty thousand fucking DVDs ago.

To illustrate how stupid this is: can you imagine having to listen to some stupid lecture on not stealing music every single time you tried to start up a CD? How about a "the more you know" style admonishment at the beginning of every television show? Do these idiots actually think that if they take this warning off the DVD, piracy will suddenly explode? Do they actually think that someone, seconds before they hit the big red "PIRATE" button in their secret underground lab, will see that warning and have a sudden change of heart?

Apparently, I'm not the only person who is fed up with the RIAA and MPAA treating its customers like we're criminals. Check out this brilliant "anti-piracy" poster:

(via boingboing)

Comments

[Joel]

ahhahaaa that's fucking brilliant. I'm totally printing that out and putting it on my wall. Every time I see one of those "don't pirate!" ads I think to myself "goddamn if that doesn't make me want to go download a movie."

[davelog]

Right there with ya Wil, in our little home theater, the piracy notice is known as Shout At The Screen time.

They know we get it, they do it to further engrain the concept that infringement == theft into the public groupthink. It's a campaign to redefine terms.

[Dewar]

I have a friend who buys DVDs all the time and the first thing he does is rip them so he can pull out all the lousy previews and such. We shouldn't have to do that. I wonder if and when the MPAA will clue into that.

[Arcxjo]

And don't forget also, you have to sit through it IN FRENCH, too, just in case the English warning isn't effective enough.

[Wolf of Spoo]

I've been using XBMC (Xbox Media Center) recently over my regular DVD player. Full DVD support is quite new, but I was pleased to find out that the warning screens skip by automatically :)

Presumably they automatically skip anything where the "no controller" bit is set.

[girlpoet]

i'm a pirate and usually download the movies from torrents. however i am also a netflix freak, so i TOTALLY know what you mean...bastards

[MJBUtah]

I haven't seen it yet, but supposedly the anti-piracy message on the new "Borat" DVD is in "Borat Speak". I don't know if that is in addition to the usual one or not, but it would be a great idea to tailor it to each movie.

Maybe when you rule the world Wil, you can take care of that for us?

[Plainsong]

Preach it Brother Wil!

The ironic thing is, with that really nice interface, cool, driving music, and really quick download speeds, ... and the fact that you don't have to WATCH these farking adverts as punishment for buying the dvd...

They make piracy look really really attractive.

"I guess irony can be pretty ironic sometimes."

[JeromeJohn]

Wil, I dont know if that's really you in that poster but the guy in the poster looks awfully like you (not to be rude or anything but it's true!!) LOL

P.S. sorry for any rudeness that you may *think* you encounter.

[ClunkClunk]

Anyone have this poster in a higher quality format? I'd love to print it on an 8x10.

[jcklsgk]

I couldn't agree more. I hate those things.

Try this:

Before you play the movie, hit Stop, stop, play on the remote.

It doesn't always work, but many times it will skip all that shit at the beginning of a flick and go straight to the movie.

I love the poster.

[Drev]

Totally ass-backwards that you see those warnings on legit DVDs, but you don't on movies you download.

If you think those DVD/Piracy things are bad... check this out...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hpv6_6pCpY8

[Drev]

Or just click here if you're lazy....

[Soo]

More than the anti-piracy buloney, I cannot stand the unskippable previews of upcoming straight-to-video movies for kids.

I've still got some youngsters at home and have to watch a lot of crap with them. Awhile back I tried to skip to the root menu during the previews and the player tells me I can't. I thought it was a fluke, but now I know it's the trend.

I thought the whole point of the DVD was to be able to skip around the disk? If the Powers That Be can program in blocks to prevent us from skipping the damn commercials, then I want off the boat.

Is there a guide to piracy? This seems like something I could get on board. These jerks think it's okay to waste my time; I think I need to stop wasting my money.

[Drev]

www.isohunt.com
www.utorrent.com

That's all you need.

Or so I here.... O_o

[Drev]

I mean "hear"

I suck so much. I'll stop posting now.... >_<

[wolfger]

Brilliant!
Yeah, I think the rest of my family refers to those ads as "shout at the screen time" because I always start yelling as soon as they start playing. Really makes me wish I'd downloaded the movie for free rather than paying good money to rent it.

Piracy means: No scratched disks.
Piracy means: No late fees.
Piracy means: No anti-piracy ads.
Piracy means: No annoying previews.
Piracy means: Being able to play the movie on the device of your choice, in any region of the world.
Why on Earth do we keep paying for the increasing amounts of crap they try to feed us?

[inga]

I just bought a whole bunch of pirated dvds and even THOSE had the stupid 'don't pirate' ad in them. I mean, it's kinda late to tell me that, isn't it? :D

[andy]

"...seconds before they hit the big red "PIRATE" button in their secret underground lab..."

You know too much, Mr. Wheaton. You must be... "eliminated."

:)

[VeronicaRobinson]

"You wouldn't steal a car..."

No, I probably wouldn't and as the two are hardly similar, I don't see the point in mentioning grand theft.

Netflicks and a DVD burner babe. That'll fix that problem.

[Mewfymewf]

I would BUY that poster full-sized.

We do exactly what Dewar suggests. Rip and strip. And I hate the menus even more than the anti-piracy warnings to honest. The menus are such total spoilers...

This blog entry of yours pretty much sums up the rants my hubbers and I have every times we're forced to go through a menu, warnings and all. It's funny, but as real a serious problem as anything else I can think of.

[Jynical]

Nanny nanny booboo.
As someone who watches Disney movies every freakin' day (complete with anti-piracy warnings) I've found that pushing the fast forward works on my DVD player to get through them. So. Ha!

Ok...I actually feel your pain. Sorry about all the laughing. :D

[kitlerm]

It's so good to know I'm not the only one who is pissed off by this.

[rackfocus]

I have no sympathy. I work at Blockbuster, and they run promotional DVDs that have trailers and music videos, etc... And it has that anti-piracy commercial thing. It repeats every, oh, hour or so, so I hear it at least 8 times a day.

[jadeddo]

My favorite so far is the loud, rock-style, flashy enough to induce seizures warning about movie piracy on my daughter's Strawberry Shortcake DVD's... I mean... what the fuck? Are there that many 4 year olds cruzin the internet for bootleg Shortcake?!?