Ahoy, matey! Wish to sail the seven seas do ye? But not a single coin to yer' name, eh? Well, ye scallywag, ye came to the right place... A life of salty, swashbuckling adventures sailing on the seven seas awaits ye! A wee bit o' torrenting an' a seaworthy VPN, an' yer ready to earn yer sea legs!

An Intro to Piracy

(or, just gimme the goods)

OK... THAT'S enough of that... To clarify, this is a guide on piracy, yes, but not that kind of piracy. Today, you'll be learning how to pirate online content, as it's a very useful skill that a lot of people don't know much about beyond the basics, like TV and movie streaming. But, you may (probably not really) be saying, isn't that ILLEGAL??? Well, yes! Piracy is by all means illegal, but the law does not always dictate morality. Piracy is an excellent tool, and in many cases the only tool, to fight anti-competitive or anti-consumer practices by the companies who control so much of our entertainment today.

The Problem With Copyright

Copyright is flawed. Very flawed. It's been mangled by excessive lobbying from companies like Disney in order to extend the copyright term far beyond it's original scope, and can be abused easily. The full range of the issues plaguing copyright is far beyond the scope of this post, so we'll save that for another time, but the important part for this topic is exclusive licensing.

Due to the exclusive licensing rights that govern the distribution of much of the content we consume, most notably streaming media, many of the companies in charge of the distribution of this content are not directly competing with the others. By making exclusivity deals, companies become the only one authorized to use a piece of copyrighted content. In doing so, they remove the potential for any competing service to actually replace it.

In a pure competition, companies should be able to replace one another. One coffee shop carries almond milk, the rest do the same. This forces innovation and pricing to be the primary driving force of competition, causing new features, diverging design philosophies, and competitive prices. With exclusively licensed media, none of this ever happens. The core feature of most streaming services are their exclusive content and as no other service can replicate that content, they are not in competition. Instead, as content is pulled from competitors and made exclusive, consumers are just forced to pay more for the content they already had with a worse user experience. This is how streaming operates. The only way out of this hell is to pirate the content on these services. Piracy in order to circumvent unjust practices is known as Ethical Piracy and is morally just.

But What About the Creators?

It's easy to consider the creators of the content you're pirating to be collateral damage, but in reality most of the cast and crew of any show or movie are paid up front, either by lump sum or salary. The few who do get residuals are paid based on reruns and licensing to networks and streaming services. Of those that are even elligible, very few make significant money. ( Enough so that a bar gave free drinks to anyone with a check for less than $1.00) Those who do make a significant income from residuals are successful, popular actors who already have more than enough money to not be hurt by any sort of loss. As for the studio, they're paid up front when their show is licensed. In the end, the only one hurt in any significant way is the streaming service. As far as games and anime go, they follow a similar story. Game devs are paid by salary, with piracy only affecting the studio execs and distribution platform, and studios are paid when a game is licensed exclusively. Anime is primarily funded through merchandise and physical release sales, and again animators are paid on salary. Streaming subscriptions are primarily used to fund the service itself, not the studios making the anime.

So, How Do I Do It?

Piracy can seem a little intimidating at first, if you don't know where to look, but its really not very hard at all! The most important things to know about are torrenting and VPNs. Torrenting is a peer to peer file transfer protocol, meaning files are sent directly between users, and not through any kind of server.

Torrenting

While other forms of piracy exist, torrenting is in my opinion the best way to pirate content. Torrenting requires a VPN, a Torrent Client, and a Torrent Tracker. A VPN encrypts your internet traffic, so your ISP can't see what you're doing. Using one is essential when torrenting, as ISPs will throttle your connection or send you a DMCA notice for downloading copyrighted content otherwise. The second component, your Torrent Client, is what allows you to send and recieve files with other users. Finally, your Torrent Tracker lists torrent files and keeps track of the seed count. Each seed represents one user who is currently uploading pieces of the desired file to other users. The higher the seed count, the faster the download. It's courteous to seed your torrents after downloading, to at least a 1.0 upload/download ratio, in order to keep the download functional for others, as a torrent with no seeds cannot be downloaded.

Streaming

While torrenting is safe, stable, and provides high quality files, some people don't have a VPN or just prefer the convenience of streaming. Streaming pirated content is much the same as legal streaming, but free and with no exclusivity walls. Video quality is generally worse, as videos are compressed for streaming, and sites are often filled with fishy ads in order to cover hosting costs, so be sure to install an ad blocker if you choose to stream your content. Despite the annoyances, streaming is a very convenient option, as no download is required and it does not require a VPN for use, so it's still a popular choice.

Sites and Resources

General

Torrents

Streaming

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