Sony Deletes More Movies From Accounts of People Who 'Bought' Them (techdirt.com)
- Reference: 0184482902
- News link: https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/26/07/16/1825241/sony-deletes-more-movies-from-accounts-of-people-who-bought-them
- Source link: https://www.techdirt.com/2026/07/15/sony-deletes-a-bunch-more-movies-from-the-accounts-of-people-who-bought-them/
> In 2022, due to "evolving licensing agreements" with distributor StudioCanal, German and Austrian users had hundreds of movies [1]disappear from their PS accounts, long after buying them through Sony. Then in 2023, it happened again in America, specifically when Sony ended its [2]licensing agreement with Discovery after the Warner Bros. merger, which, of course, has since been bought by Paramount Skydance. That resulted in customers having hundreds and hundreds of episodes of TV shows deleted from their accounts. Nowhere in any of this were there refunds, of course. No recompense at all, actually. Just a thing you thought you'd bought taken away from you by the very people you thought you bought it from.
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> And now it's happening again. Due to another licensing agreement fallout with StudioCanal, [3]hundreds of movies and TV shows are being ripped from the accounts of PS Store customers , and there appears to be fuck all that they can do about it.
[4]Kotaku reports :] "This news was brought to people's attention by X user somatyk, who posted the notification they had received from PlayStation this week. Along with the unapologetic news that the purchased movies would be deleted from their account on September 1, the message concluded with, 'Click here for a full list of affected titles that will no longer be supported. Thank you.' The same warning is now reproduced in full [5]on the PlayStation website , along with the list of 551 films and TV series that are being pulled from people's libraries."
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> As Kotaku notes later in their post, part of what is striking in all of this is the sheer mundanity of the announcement. Because there have been no consequences, or any action at all from the public or government, Sony treats this all as if it's perfectly normal and no big deal. You can tell me all you want about how the Ts and Cs in these purchases do in fact note that the nature of the purchase is a temporary licensing of the content for an undetermined time period... but I can promise you that the public in general doesn't understand that. They think they're buying a thing, not a license.
[1] https://games.slashdot.org/story/22/07/07/1847207/playstation-store-will-remove-customers-purchased-movies
[2] https://kotaku.com/sony-ps4-ps5-discovery-mythbusters-tv-1851066164
[3] https://www.techdirt.com/2026/07/15/sony-deletes-a-bunch-more-movies-from-the-accounts-of-people-who-bought-them/
[4] https://kotaku.com/playstation-store-movies-digital-studio-canal-terminator-2000711013
[5] https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/legal/psvideocontent/
Same answers as before: (Score:5, Insightful)
1. Sony should be forced to refund the original purchases, no matter how old they are. If the consumer was only "borrowing" the media, then Sony was only "borrowing" the money.
2. Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of Rum. IE Piracy.
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Mod points, where are my mod points when I need them!
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1. adjusted for inflation + interest + inconvenience fee (sufficient to allow the customer to purchase the media from another vendor).
Sony should feel a financial pressure (as well as political and social pressure) to do what is necessary to secure the license rights to what they previously promised their customers.
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I've been on the 'bottle of rum train' for a LONG while now. It's simply not worth it to either maintain a half dozen monthly subs or try to "buy" movies that still can only be watched in certain specific ways.
Especially when you can buy VPN per year for what netflix charges per month...and then watch nearly anything at any time on any device and share with anyone else who also wants to watch it.
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*Holds up my cat looking sad*
"If haz not own, why button sez 'Buy'?"
Slow learners (Score:5, Insightful)
> You can tell me all you want about how the Ts and Cs in these purchases do in fact note that the nature of the purchase is a temporary licensing of the content for an undetermined time period... but I can promise you that the public in general doesn't understand that. They think they're buying a thing, not a license.
People still don't realize if it's in the cloud, it can disappear anytime. Unless you have a playable copy in your hand, you have no permanent ownership. Games, movies, programs, any online service, it's all the same.
Yet another lesson...
Re: Slow learners (Score:2)
I used to feel the same but I've become more convinced over last 5 years that physical ownership is also precarious. It's highly likely that optical drives won't be generally available in the near future, and it's already an issue that physical media often has limited runs and isn't available at a reasonable price outside the release window
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Yes, bit rot and obsolete hardware is a real issue. What is interesting is how retro computing is dealing with old storage media. There are a lot of floppy disk drive emulators that use SD cards instead of spinning magnetic media. Same with tape drives and cartridges. Recently I brought an EPROM emulator that uses a RPi Pico and can be updated via USB, which is great because finding a working UV eraser and EPROM programmer that works with a modern OS is increasingly difficult to do.
The key is getting
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> I used to feel the same but I've become more convinced over last 5 years that physical ownership is also precarious. It's highly likely that optical drives won't be generally available in the near future, and it's already an issue that physical media often has limited runs and isn't available at a reasonable price outside the release window
I've honestly taken to purchasing extras of my physical players once I know they are quality and stashing the spare in a cool, dry place. Most of these last me a good long time, and there's no reason at all that one stored properly will break just sitting there. Don't ever attach them to the network, so they can't get over-the-wire update that intentionally break compatibility with various formats, and you should be set for at least a couple decades or more.
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> ... there's no reason at all that one stored properly will break just sitting there.
That's probably a little closer to being true than it once was; but any electronic device which contains electrolytic capacitors should be powered up every once in a while to keep the dielectrics formed and the oxide layers intact.
That's especially true of digital devices whose input voltage can't be raised slowly by using a Variac; theres's an (admittedly small) risk of damage or data corruption, as the different voltage rails may reach their spec'd voltages at different times.
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That's why i buy my games on GOG. For example. Unless computers and mass storage disappears, there will be backups for a long time. Music is also buyable. For the rest: The high seas.
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Even the physical copy in hand doesn't guarantee continued possession. Besides just needing to protect the disc from things like fire, physical abuse, and more, an awful lot of DVDs only last a decade or two.
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"an awful lot of DVDs only last a decade or two."
If only there was some way to take the data on a DVD and move it to a computer. Maybe "brute force it". We could use the term "rip"!
Then backups with redundancy would turn a decade or two in to a generation or ten. ...if only...
If you can't copy it... (Score:4, Insightful)
You don't own it.
You can extend this to hardware as well. If you're not allowed to repair or modify something... you don't own it.
This (Score:5, Insightful)
This is why piracy is on the rise. If buying isn't owning then ... well you know the rest. Corporate fucktards.
Re:This (Score:4, Insightful)
> "erm it's not akshually property"
> nothing actually gets owned --> nothing actually gets taken
So I'm not buying the movie, I'm buying the license. OK. I'm also not pirating the movie, I'm pirating the license. And if they don't care about taking a license away from me that I've paid for, I don't care about taking a license away from them that I have not. Feels quite comfortable being exactly as ethical as they are.
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You already purchased a license - you're just replacing a lost copy of the licensed data. What's left to complain about?
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Hmmmm... interesting approach. Is the license "permission" to watch it from sony during the duration of their contract, or do I "own" the movie, but not how it's presented through Sony, in this case.
If it's the latter, copy/rip the media.
A short aside:
I have a fairly large audible account. I noticed about 10 years ago, I still have books in my queue, but I'm unable to download/listen to them. Audible explained the licence to me, told me that it should appear back in my "library" eventually but might tak
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What's left to complain about? Morally nothing, legally everything. This is why I only buy physical books even though I prefer ebooks. I have physical books I have not read as I then download the DRM free version to actually read.
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> "erm it's not akshually property"
> nothing actually gets owned --> nothing actually gets taken
In the scenario described in TFS, the customer "actually gets owned" and "actually gets taken"...
After all, owning customers is the entire goal of corporations.
Altzheimers (Score:1)
I guess a customer with Altzheimers may want to watch a movie twice, but he won't remember that he already bought it.
Physical media (Score:3)
Unless it is a physical product, you do NOT own it.
And even then you only own it if you can resell it.
'
so if I go to an sony store and delete stuff off t (Score:2)
so if I go to an sony store and delete stuff off the shift it's not shoplifting?
This really shows that possession is 9/10ths (Score:2)
of the law.
The only true way to guard against this is to have the physical DVD's. (Sorry Blu-ray, you're not completely decryptable yet).
One day, those DVD's you find at the swap meet and on places like Craigslist are going to become valuable. This will happen once the general public has had enough of the shenanigans the movie industry is using against its customers.
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That's part of why I buy DVDs (and other physical media) still. The only real concern I have will be when my DVD/Bluray player dies - finding replacement hardware is getting more difficult. some of the major brands (samsung) have stopped selling that hardware, and most of what's left is either over-the-top expensive, or cheaply made, no-name tech.
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Never mind all those DVDs from the mid 2000s that rotted on the shelf. Good luck getting anyone to replace those..
Physical media does not provide any sort of certainty you'll be able to enjoy it a decade from now and don't say "but make backups" the value proposition of making a backup as in a real redundant copy to sit on self somewhere (or hardisk ... whatever) vs for piracy just isn't there. The time plus the cost of the media does not let that make sense for something you paid less than $20 for in the
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I back them up with all my other backups, if you compress them they aren't any more egregious to store than the vacation photos. It isn't much harder than backing up my CDs was.
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> The time plus the cost of the media does not let that make sense for something you paid less than $20 for in the first place.
I dunno. The twenty-bucks-plus-copying-time spent on something you value and care about - which may be MUCH more expensive or even simply unavailable a few years hence - sounds like the very definition of an appreciating asset.
That's bad, but so is the author. (Score:2)
You're not going to be taken seriously as a journalist by swearing in your articles. Not that I ever took Kotaku seriously, but this sort of thing is why.
That said, Sony owes people refunds. Even if they, the reseller, lost their license to resell, that shouldn't impact the consumer who purchased their own license. If Pax8 was suddenly unable to sell M365 licenses, I'd expect my tenants to keep working regardless.
I suspect this is the sort of thing that could garner bipartisan support if someone in
Disappointing (Score:2)
I thought it was more common to see survivorship clauses, where even if the licensing deal between the platform owner and the distributor ended, the platform was still authorized to service entitlements that were purchased on the platform (i.e. user who "bought" the content could still access it from their account, it just was no longer available for purchase).
Has this become the norm? Or is this mostly just Sony entering into shite agreements because "fuck the users"?
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> Has this become the norm? Or is this mostly just Sony entering into shite agreements because "fuck the users"?
It's the norm because it makes the licensing agreements slightly cheaper.
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I'm sure they don't want to pay the hosting on the streaming files if they can't offset it by selling more
Slippery Slope of Modernity's Rights Retractions (Score:1)
Can't wait for the near-term future when everything is under siege this way. "You didn't actually own the money in your back account, we just granted you the temporary privilege of accessing it occasionally so that we could confiscate later it at our convenience'. 'The name you were given at birth was just a loan under our trademarking umbrella. Your identity has been revoked." So much winning!
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There are already provisions for 'hair cuts' and similar theft.
Dodd-Frank gave the FDIC the ability to treat similar seniority creditors differently in resolutions, for 'systemic stability' which is not well defined. So if you have a bond in a failing bank and the current administration does not like you... to bad....
Temporary though it might be the pandemic legislation (cares act? I think it was) also created force majeure where if you'd owner financed a residence and the buy decided to just not pay, dea
Sony is committing piracy (Score:2)
Call it what it is. And they have drm on their disc drives so even physical media can be revoked by them.
It's just simple Big Data math (Score:2)
This shit goes all the way back to the opening of fight club. You figure out how many users have actually used content and therefore are likely to notice and Sue and you figure out how likely they are to be able to sue in the first place since it's very difficult to do any sort of class action lawsuits in America anymore thanks to lobbying from large corporations. Then you figure out a dollar amount on all that and a dollar amount to pay for the licensing and Bob's your uncle whichever one is bigger wins.
Meh! A merkins (Score:2)
you wont vote for consumer rights because that's socalist!
And now we know (Score:2)
Why more people are buying DVDs/blu-ray. They have the movie. They own it. It can't be taken from them. It won't change.
The same with books. No worrying that your digital copy will mysteriously disappear one night. You have the book. You bought it. It's yours. The words won't change.
It gets WORSE! (Score:2)
Right next to "buy" they have another option to rent it. Just FYI, if you're never seen their purchase page.
"If buying isn't owning..... (Score:2)
... then piracy isn't stealing."
Re:Upfront prices lower? (Score:5, Insightful)
Sony hates you. The rootkit incident of 2005 proves this. Stop giving Sony your money people. They hate you. They will continue to hate you. They will always hate you. They have hate in their heart and are willing to let it out.
Re:Upfront prices lower? (Score:4, Informative)
> Sony hates you. The rootkit incident of 2005 proves this. Stop giving Sony your money people. They hate you. They will continue to hate you. They will always hate you. They have hate in their heart and are willing to let it out.
Sony is a big company with many divisions that do their own things and operate with their customers in their own ways. That being said, there does seem to be some consistency here. Many years ago when i lived in San Diego, a guy I knew worked for Sony Online Entertainment and he worked on Star Wars Galaxies. I recall how at a party he gleefully told stories about how players would complain about certain things, and the mods would actively punish and ban them for complaining about imbalance and lack of features. He wasn't directly involved with the infamous [1]Teleport them into Space [penny-arcade.com] situation, but he knew people who were and laughed about it, and as a player when I said that seems kind of bad service to your customer his response was that "why should we care, we're Sony, we're the best and those players f*ing deserved it". The guy was a a total POS, and my admittedly long ago and minimal experience suggests they, at least at that time, hired that type.
[1] https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/08/25/this-is-an-allegory#
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2005 lol