Brief news items of note for Lifehacker readers including: Foxtel’s open letter to Game of Thrones pirates, get 20 per cent off ASOS clothing, the 10 best houses of the year.
- Fashion store ASOS is offering an additional 20 per cent off all sale items when customers use the discount code ‘YES20’. The deal also includes free international delivery. Click here to see the full range. [Via OzBargain]
- It’s been nearly six months since the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 launched and the transitional period has been odd, to say the least. Kotaku editor Mark Serrels explains.
- Foxtel’s head of corporate affairs, Bruce Meagher, has come out swinging at internet pirates for illegally downloading Game of Thrones season four. The thrust of his argument is that Foxtel’s high prices aren’t an excuse to steal and the creators of the show deserve your money. Hmm. Read the full report here.
- Have you ever wondered what happens to your body after you die? This Scientific American video offers a slightly gross breakdown.
- The AIA 2014 Housing Awards has just named the 10 most stunning residential homes of the year. Click here if you want to feel jealous.
Comments
3 responses to “Briefly: Foxtel Blasts Game Of Thrones Pirates, Astounding Abodes, Decomposition Explanied”
Piracy is stealing. Stealing is wrong. Just because say a Ferrari is expensive this doesn’t justify stealing it because I can’t / won’t pay the asking price.
Except it’s not like stealing a Ferrari – nobody loses physical value when Game of Thrones is downloaded. Instead it’s like rather than buying a Ferrari, you just build your own that is an exact replica. They still have their Ferrari, but they’ve lost the potential profit. The problem is Foxtel has no reason to complain because it’s not their intellectual property.
You wouldn’t steal a Ferrari because it’s too expensive, but perhaps you would if you only got access to it once, and you had to pay for a whole bunch of other cars you neither want nor use when you buy it.
Sure, you can pay “just” $35 to watch GoT on Foxtel Play, but again, in this scenario, you can register your Ferrari for up to three occupants, two of which can use the car simultaneously – I didn’t even need to pirate to get a better deal than that, as Play and iTunes offered better options. [EDIT: Also, eventually, your Ferrari gets taken away from you.] (Actually, there are a number of two-seater Ferraris, so that metaphor works better than I’d hoped.)
Essentially, Bruce: you might be comfortable with a novated lease on your entertainment, but some prefer to own what they pay for. And thanks for the Ferrari metaphor, the straw man argument really worked for me this time.
Nice try Rupert
I’d print a Ferrari if I could download the model details.
(BTW piracy is NOT stealing, it’s copyright infringement)