Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue and start ranting about digital ownership. John Walker, Kotaku:
Sony is contacting PlayStation Store users who bought movies from the platform that were distributed by StudioCanal—like Terminator 2, Total Recall, and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind—to say that “you will no longer be able to access your previously purchased content from Studio Canal, and it will be removed from your video library.” There’s no mention of any refunds or make-goods for the affected users. Sony simply says the films are going away “due to our content licensing agreements,” once again reaffirming the fact that you are never truly buying anything that’s digital, just temporarily renting it.
The first link in that quoted paragraph is to another Kotaku article from 2023, the previous time Sony deleted content customers “bought.” Notes Walker:
What’s really peculiar about the PlayStation message is that it’s entirely unapologetic, simply stating that “purchased content” will be “deleted” as if that’s perfectly normal.
Timothy Geigner at Techdirt follows up:
[…] 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.
If you ask 100 people if they think they “own” the digital downloads they paid money to buy, the vast majority will look at you like you’re an idiot before retorting, “Of course, ya dolt. That’s what buying means.”
We need laws that make that assumption fact. Ironically, the Sony PlayStation Terms of Service itself illuminates the path forward. Section 8.4 (emphasis added):
8.4. No Resale or Commercial Use.
You must be an end user to purchase from PlayStation Store. Resellers, as determined by us in our sole discretion, are prohibited. When you order or purchase a product from PlayStation Store, you buy a personal license to use that product for private, non-commercial use. That license is not transferable unless your local applicable laws say it must be. This means you can use a product in the ways described in the license, but do not own the product.
(Credit to John Siracusa for pointing this out in this week’s ATP members-only Overtime segment.)
The EFF article I linked to yesterday specifically calls for new laws:
Policymakers can and should work to restore our ownership rights for the digital age.
That starts with legal protections ensuring that the same rights that apply to physical media apply to digital media.
Most policymakers are technologically incompetent. One of their grandchildren will need to pressure them into introducing those protections.