Sharing cable credentials/log-in

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

poofyhairguy

Lifer
Nov 20, 2005
14,612
318
126
Thanks for the intelligent response. Its a nice change in threads like these.

I just hate seeing people try to justify their infringement and blame it on single entities.

Just like major war in the middle east is way more caused by our needing to drive anywhere than religion or culture, the screwed up distribution system for most entertainment content is due to the fact that we can't stop consuming it. Just like the music industry these companies will change when they have an economic reason to change. Pirating or trading logins only re-enforces the current system and the cultural value of their content. It was the Spotify that demolished the concept of paying per song, and not Napster which didn't require paying at all, that modernized that industry.

The problem is that video content companies saw what happened with music and iTunes, or Amazon and eBooks, and have determined to not let the same happen to them. So they will fight back every way they can, and we will see more paywalls in the years between now and the day their business model fails and they have to move to a Spotify model. Stealing their shit doesn't help move them to that point, it helps their fight by giving it political power.

I mean, I am probably the biggest pirate on this forum but I don't try to justify what I do. It is stealing, is it selfish, and it doesn't help anyone but me (actually more my wife). The day I act like my infringement is some protest is the day I need to pull my head out of my ass.
 
Last edited:

slag

Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
10,473
81
101
My dad used to share my netflix account at his house about an hour away. One day I went to use it..... and it worked fine. I never had a problem with service issues or the netflix police coming to take it away. I finally told him it was time for him to get his own and he had no problem with that. He was trying it out over his low speed dsl line in BFE Kansas and ended up using it for 2 years. Glad he finally got his own though, as it is the right thing to do.
 

AznAnarchy99

Lifer
Dec 6, 2004
14,695
117
106
My dad used to share my netflix account at his house about an hour away. One day I went to use it..... and it worked fine. I never had a problem with service issues or the netflix police coming to take it away. I finally told him it was time for him to get his own and he had no problem with that. He was trying it out over his low speed dsl line in BFE Kansas and ended up using it for 2 years. Glad he finally got his own though, as it is the right thing to do.

Netflix lets you share accounts. There's a limit in device activations.
 

DCal430

Diamond Member
Feb 12, 2011
6,020
9
81
Cool stuff gets made when big companies invest their earned cash in further developments.

Time Warner has a 97% margin on Internet: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-kushnick/time-warner-cables-97-pro_b_6591916.html

And sits on profits.

That 97% number is nonsense and doesn't include any cost for real estate, computer, electronics, wire, or any equipment with any life. Basically it pretends TW has no cost for anything they purchase or any office space.

It obvious the person who wrote that article and you have no idea of the most basic accounting rules.
 

WHAMPOM

Diamond Member
Feb 28, 2006
7,628
183
106
So what is the thought on sharing cable credentials with other people? The cable co here allows people to watch all kinds of on demand videos with a login, most stuff is available a day after it airs, and with premium channel subscription you have access to almost every season of the biggest shows on HBO, Showtime, and Stars.

I know people share netflix logins, but what about this? Is it much different? Any legal issues? Should it be the companies job to restrict the number of logins? Should the people who get a login help pay for the bill? Is $5 a fair amount.

Giving it away for free is OK, charging for it is not.