Apple shows it can delete purchased movies from your iTunes library

[midian182]

WTF?! Since the advent of purchasing digital goods, be it books, movies, or games, there’s been a question over who is the legal owner of said content. One would imagine that it’s the person who bought the item(s), but that’s often not the case, as Apple just proved.

Canadian Twitter user Anders G da Silva took to the microblogging platform to reveal Apple’s response when three of the movies he bought vanished from his iTunes library. He posted a screenshot of his correspondence with an iTunes store customer representative, who explained that the videos’ content provider had removed the movies from the Canadian Store.

Me: Hey Apple, three movies I bought disappeared from my iTunes library.
Apple: Oh yes, those are not available anymore. Thank you for buying them. Here are two movie rentals on us!
Me: Wait... WHAT?? @tim_cook when did this become acceptable? pic.twitter.com/dHJ0wMSQH9

— Anders G da Silva (@drandersgs) 10 September 2018

The rep explains that as the iTunes/App Store is a store front that gives content providers a platform to sell their content, it can only offer what the studios or distributors have made available. The person added that Apple could not refund Silva as this can only happen within a certain time frame; instead, he was offered some movie rentals of his choice, “priced up to $5.99 USD,” as compensation. When he justifiably complained, they gave him two more free rentals.

Part 2:

Me: I am not really interested in the rentals. I want my movies back or my money back.

Apple: I totally get how you feel...

Me: Condescending, but go one...

Apple: You see, we are just a store front.

Me: Store front?

1/7 pic.twitter.com/U1D3Wj0zmZ

— Anders G da Silva (@drandersgs) 11 September 2018

Digital ownership is a complicated matter, and it’s not as if anyone combs through, or even glances, at the enormous and complex End User License Agreements.

We’ve seen similar confusion over digital ownership involving Amazon and Disney. Ultimately, users aren't really buying something in cases like these; they’re just allowed to access it indefinitely. At least until the licenses expire, which is when these incidents can happen.

Update: Apple has released a statement that says it won't delete any movies that have been downloaded to your iTunes library. It appears the situation could be related to Da Silva purchasing the movies in Australia before he moved to Canada nine months ago.

Any movies you've already downloaded can be enjoyed at any time and will not be deleted unless you've chosen to do so. If you change your country setting, some movies may not be available to re-download from the movie store if the version you purchased isn't also available in the new country. If needed, you can change your country setting back to your prior country to re-download those movies.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/76414-apple-shows-can-delete-purchased-movies-itunes-library.html

 

[Michael7]

Hmmm... so actually you don't buy the movie, you are only allowed to watch it ... until it is gone together with your money. This surely is one of the biggest scams of the tech world.

 

[wiyosaya]

crApple should have added, "and Oh, by the way, we have over $250bn in the bank and you don't! Wanna guess how we got that?"

Total bunch of crap from crApple. With that amount of money in the bank, they can afford to give customers refunds especially in cases like this.

As long as there is hard media available and if I choose to buy any content, I will buy it only on hard media.

crApple is drunk on their ego. Once a company is sufficiently drunk on their ego, if past experience is any indication, their customers stop paying asinine amounts of money for what can be had elsewhere for less.

 

[Lew Zealand]

1. Apple should have given a straight refund.
2. You don't own a damn thing permanently.

If you buy a Blu-Ray and scratch the crap out of it so it won't play, you need to buy it again. How many times did you wear out your Sgt. Pepper's Or LedZep IV LPs? The difference digitally is that the company can take it away from you whenever they want, but at least you have the option of ripping your Blu-Ray and putting it on your own server and storing that BD in a reasonable place.

The big question is: when will the media companies close that hard media loophole and make things digital-delivery only? In any case, I have utmost confidence in the creative output of people on this planet to liberate any of those digital copies from whatever lame-*** bondage the media companies try to wrap them in.

 

[havok585]

This thing wouldnt fly in Europe for one bit.

 

[cliffordcooley]

You don't actually own my money. You can use my money, so long as I have access to your movie.

 

[psycros]

This is why I stopped paying for digital-only media.

 

[Michael7]

1. Apple should have given a straight refund.
2. You don't own a damn thing permanently.

If you buy a Blu-Ray and scratch the crap out of it so it won't play, you need to buy it again. How many times did you wear out your Sgt. Pepper's Or LedZep IV LPs? The difference digitally is that the company can take it away from you whenever they want, but at least you have the option of ripping your Blu-Ray and putting it on your own server and storing that BD in a reasonable place.

The big question is: when will the media companies close that hard media loophole and make things digital-delivery only? In any case, I have utmost confidence in the creative output of people on this planet to liberate any of those digital copies from whatever lame-*** bondage the media companies try to wrap them in.

Very true, but as you pointed out, you can mitigate the situation by making a copy. If for example your Windows or Office DVD gets scratched or lost you are still fine as you have the license and key and can download the iso or make a copy beforehand. But here in the case of movies you cannot.

 

[indiferenc]

Yo ho yo ho a pirates life for meeeeeee

 

[c7p89]

1. Apple should have given a straight refund.
2. You don't own a damn thing permanently.

If you buy a Blu-Ray and scratch the crap out of it so it won't play, you need to buy it again. How many times did you wear out your Sgt. Pepper's Or LedZep IV LPs? The difference digitally is that the company can take it away from you whenever they want, but at least you have the option of ripping your Blu-Ray and putting it on your own server and storing that BD in a reasonable place.

The big question is: when will the media companies close that hard media loophole and make things digital-delivery only? In any case, I have utmost confidence in the creative output of people on this planet to liberate any of those digital copies from whatever lame-*** bondage the media companies try to wrap them in.

Very true, but as you pointed out, you can mitigate the situation by making a copy. If for example your Windows or Office DVD gets scratched or lost you are still fine as you have the license and key and can download the iso or make a copy beforehand. But here in the case of movies you cannot.

There are programs that I use which crack encryption and convert/copy iTunes tv shows/movies to standard format like mp4 which then can be played on any device
I personally don’t but much content like this because blu-ray is far superior quality but for the stuff that I do at least I’ve got the backup.

 

[Evernessince]

Hmmm... so actually you don't buy the movie, you are only allowed to watch it ... until it is gone together with your money. This surely is one of the biggest scams of the tech world.

It's not legally purchasing it then, it's renting

The way digital items work is you purchase a single copy of that item to do with as you please. You may move that copy to whatever you want or do with it as you please.

The problem with what Apple is doing is they took away another person's property (their copy of the software) without consent and without making the customer whole. Consumer protection laws state that a company must provide the customer with another of the original intended good or a total refund for the original purchase price. This is called "making the consumer whole". Failure to do so makes them liable in the court of law. Federal law overwrites their EULA and they should be taken to court.

If they are going after people in court for an imaginary number of pirated copies then people can most certainly sue them for taking away product they paid for.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Canadian Twitter user Anders G da Silva took to the microblogging platform to reveal Apple’s response when three of the movies he bought vanished from his iTunes library. He posted a screenshot of his correspondence with an iTunes store customer representative, who explained that the videos’ content provider had removed the movies from the Canadian Store.

Consumer protection laws state that a company must provide the customer with another of the original intended good or a total refund for the original purchase price. This is called "making the consumer whole". Failure to do so makes them liable in the court of law. Federal law overwrites their EULA and they should be taken to court.

And that is the case in Canada, or are you trying to impose US law on Canada?

 

[Evernessince]

And that is the case in Canada, or are you trying to impose US law on Canada?

Nope, because the laws in Canada are already pretty similar to the US

Here's the link since you're feeling confrontational
http://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/en/showdoc/cs/P-40.1

 

[Slappy McPhee]

This type of BS is why I procure my content via other methods. People can get on their soapbox all they want about the legality of things, but when I give a vendor my hard earned cash I expect when it is called a "purchase" I get to keep it....indefinitely regardless of whether a license agreement has expired, etc. That license agreement should ONLY be leveraged when it comes to being able to purchase once that agreement for example has expired. There is a reason that I have a 32TB server I built. My Kill A Watt shows me that it costs me around $3 a month to run it. I am fine with that.

 

[cliffordcooley]

My Kill A Watt shows me that it costs me around $3 a month to run it. I am fine with that.

That's way cheaper than online storage.

 

[Slappy McPhee]

It seems inherently obvious that if you buy something legally on the market, you will then own that something. If you buy a car, you can do what you want with that car. You can change the parts, paint it a different color, and, eventually, you can give it to a relative, turn it in as a trade, or even sell it yourself. You can even strip it down and sell the individual parts. If I buy/purchase a 2018 Chevy Silverado GM can't send me a letter telling me in 3 years that due to some agreement between GM and AC Delco that has expired for the head unit I can't access radio stations anymore or tell me that they are taking the truck back. This is all part of the issue that especially with digital distribution these tech giants have too much power over the consumer. This isn't like you are paying a monthly subscription to Amazon Prime or Netflix where you get X amount of content that they rotate in a library....this guy PAID for the content as a PURCHASE. These effers need to burn in hell.

 

[cliffordcooley]

What they need to do is return everyone's purchase and simply stop selling. That is what takes place when a court orders a cease of sales on cellphones. They don't go around collecting all cellphones, they only stop selling them.

 

[toooooot]

Hmmm... so actually you don't buy the movie, you are only allowed to watch it ... until it is gone together with your money. This surely is one of the biggest scams of the tech world.

More and more I get assured that digital piracy is a very good thing that stands against never ending greed of the companies that control these cloud services. Look, cloud services have this one main purpose: squeeze money out of buyers by rejecting them full control of what they purchase. Squeeze as much as possible for as little as possible. If you are able to see that, refuse to use any of their services.

 

[captaincranky]

Nope, because the laws in Canada are already pretty similar to the US...[ ]...

Mercifully, Canada, (AFAIK), doesn't have the "Mickey Mouse Copyright Extension legislation". I believe that artistic works will enter the public, the same time ours would have before Sonny Bono and Disney
Studios destroyed public domain almost completely.

To clarify, at one time a work published on date "X", would have entered public status on the same date in the US and Canada.. Now, I think we have to wait another 20 years or so, before gaining public access to the same material.

Here's the link explaining current US law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act

 

[Evernessince]

Mercifully, Canada, (AFAIK), doesn't have the "Mickey Mouse Copyright Extension legislation". I believe that artistic works will enter the public, the same time ours would have before Sonny Bono and Disney
Studios destroyed public domain almost completely.

To clarify, at one time a work published on date "X", would have entered public status on the same date in the US and Canada.. Now, I think we have to wait another 20 years or so, before gaining public access to the same material.

Here's the link explaining current US law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act

The extension of copyright is a huge issue in the US but unfortunately it doesn't get any attention. Stifling copyright too much can really slow down the pace of innovation.

 

[captaincranky]

And that is the case in Canada, or are you trying to impose US law on Canada?

Well Cliff, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Canadian copyright laws are LESS restrictive, than those of the US. If Canada's laws were "imposed on us", we would gain public access to artistic works round about 20 years sooner..

I linked the Wiki page on our, "Copyright Extension Act", above in post #19.

And again, I'm sorry to be a buzz kill. Would you like to discuss Elon Musk with me instead?

 

[Danny101]

I don't buy movies when one viewing is plenty for me. Movies always surface again in free ways so it's never a big deal.

 

[Burty117]

This is why I have an old Windows 8 Virtual Machine with an old version of iTunes on, there used to be software that can remove the DRM from the file without basically re-recording the file and losing quality.

Apple fixed this in newer versions of iTunes, I'm just waiting for them to stop access from older versions of iTunes.

I REALLY wish there was somewhere I could buy movies without DRM. Hell, being able to rip UHD's would be a start...