TECHNOLOGY: You Don’t Own Digital Content! — That’s not fair

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

https://www.reviewgeek.com/137285/you-should-still-buy-blu-rays-and-dvds-heres-why/

You Should Still Buy Blu-Rays and DVDs, Here’s Why
Danny Chadwick @jdannychadwick
Nov 23, 2022, 10:18 am EST

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You Don’t Own Digital Content, Even if You “Buy” It

The digital movies you buy on VUDU, iTunes, or Amazon are subject to the same nonsense as streaming media. When you buy a digital copy of a movie, you don’t really own it. You’ve simply purchased a license to play a movie or show through a platform, whether it be Amazon, Apple, Google, or whoever. And if those platforms ever lose the right to provide the titles you’ve bought, they’ll disappear from your library. Maybe you’ll be notified, maybe not.

It may seem unbelievable for such prominent companies to lose distribution rights, but it happens. And in the coming years, it could happen more. Amazon can’t come into your home and snatch your copy of The Dark Knight from your shelf because they had a licensing dispute with Warner Brothers.

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Much like “not your key; not your coin, so to you don’t own “digital content”.

I have a ton of self-help cassette tapes (I still need a lot of help), that the publisher would be happy to sell me another copy on a CD.  But I already paid for a copy.  But it’s NOT “mine”. Argh!

My SO feels the same way about “her” music on iTunes.  (I still haven’t figured out how to recover her account.)

Seems like NFTs could be a “solution” to this problem.  I buy an NFT of a book and I get to treat it as mine … FOREVER.

Argh!

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CRYPTO: BITCOIN provides a “financial parachute”

Thursday, March 17, 2022

https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/surviving-off-crypto-when-cash-fails/?ftag=CAD-04-10aai6g&bhid=28093491592028715072518150828614&mid=13749287&cid=2046605583

Surviving Off Crypto When Cash Fails
Many Ukrainians and Russians lost access to their bank accounts in the days following Russia’s invasion.
Daniel Van Boom  
March 15, 2022 5:27 p.m. PT

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Fedosov is one of approximately 5.5 million Ukrainians who own cryptocurrency. His ability to live off bitcoin and ether is music to the ears of cryptocurrency proponents. They point out that situations like Fedosov’s, when the financial system stutters or fails, are the precise reason bitcoin was created. Using a cryptocurrency wallet — as opposed to going through an intermediary exchange like Binance — holders can access their cryptocurrency with nothing more than an internet connection and a 12-word seed phrase.

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I find this story is a warning to everyone.

It costs a little in opportunity costs, but it could be a life saver.

How about a “flat tire in a strange place” without a credit card machine?

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