Android Piracy Sites Seized By US Government 184
Dupple writes with news that the DOJ took a few Android app piracy sites offline. From the release: "Seizure orders have been executed against three website domain names engaged in the illegal distribution of copies of copyrighted Android cell phone apps, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Department of Justice's Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates of the Northern District of Georgia and Special Agent in Charge Brian D. Lamkin of the FBI's Atlanta Field Office announced today. The department said that this is the first time website domains involving cell phone app marketplaces have been seized. The seizures are the result of a comprehensive enforcement action taken to prevent the infringement of copyrighted mobile device apps. The operation was coordinated with international law enforcement, including Dutch and French law enforcement officials."
WHAT !! THE F.B.I. SIEZED GOOGLE !!?? (Score:1, Funny)
It's about time !!
Trolls (Score:4, Insightful)
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Wow, should be easy to name some examples then, since there's only 52 comments in this story (so far). Where, exactly, are these shill/troll comments.....
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Ah, but the commie Linux users do understand the /. scoring system since they have already downloaded the Slashcode source and read it. They don't understand user interfaces though so they did not connect the source they read with the elements in the web page.
but how do i buy apps in Uganda? (Score:5, Insightful)
but most of the good apps and games aren't available in the uganda google play store
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What makes you think he wants to live somewhere other than Uganda?
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Apple (Score:2, Insightful)
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Thank god for the pirates... (Score:2)
I'm glad there's a thriving Android piracy scene out there. I don't have any problem shelling out money for Android apps, yet I've looked for pirated APKs on a few occasions.
Why would I do this??? After all, they're only $1-5usd, and the overwhelming majority of the apps are free anyhow, so a few paid apps is no big expense (contrast this with IOS, where you've gotta pay for EVERYTHING). Well, there's a few different scenarios at work.
One is device compatibility... I bought Sonic CD just days after it c
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Nope. The "compatibility" I mentioned earlier has to do with hardware... whether a given chipset can send the proper signals. It would be simpler with only 7 different sets of hardware, but "simpler" might just mean "doesn't work anywhere, ever, no matter what"... That's pretty simple, isn't it?
Companies not upgrading their ap
Interesting... (Score:2)
Of course they don't mention what apps were being illegally copied. In addition, they don't mention who requested the take down. Is this a case of true piracy, where people were circumventing paying for software? Or, is this a case where people were downloading free apps, but not through the google app store? If the latter, exactly what copyright was being infringed?
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Of course they don't mention what apps were being illegally copied. In addition, they don't mention who requested the take down.
My guess would be that if these were apps written by independent developers or small shops, the FBI wouldn't care.
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My guess would be that your guess is correct.
Band-aid fix (Score:2)
Another band-aid fix that will fail to work and comes at the cost of due process and Internet freedom.
This is what bittorrent is for (Score:2)
Geez, pirate properly guys....
Seized Domain Banners (Score:2)
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"Land of the Free" does not include allowing you to be "free" to break the law.
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"In most cases, the servers storing the apps sold by these alternative online markets were being hosted in other countries, and our international law enforcement partners assisted in obtaining or seizing evidence stored on these servers."
Besides, it shouldn't be law. In my opinion the law is immoral.
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It's immoral to allow some to determine the distribution of their work for a limited time?
You're an idiot, but what ever helps you sleep at night when you continue to rip people off,.
Re:In the Meantime (Score:4, Informative)
It's immoral to allow some to determine the distribution of their work for a limited time?
No, it is not immoral.
However, the current definition of "limited time" is immoral, thereby negating the intent of the US Constitution.
Re:In the Meantime (Score:5, Insightful)
It's immoral to allow some to determine the distribution of their work for a limited time?
Yes, it is. You don't do it by yourself, you know? You go to nanny State and papa Government and beg them to please, pretty please, violate the property rights of every single other human being on Earth for your own benefit, so that my computer isn't mine anymore, it's the government's, which now merely allows me to use it in the ways they deem right and legit. That's quite immoral, yes.
Which isn't to mean authors shouldn't be rewarded. But they should be rewards in whatever way the free market develops, not by way of employing the full force of the hugest apparatus of violence ever assembled in the History of mankind.
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Or even think about anything that is copyrighted!
Once you read your copy... you MUST erase it from your mind immediately. And your copy has only been licensed for one reading.
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Yes it does. It just does not allow you to be free of consequences of your actions.
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Its refreshing to not see Slashdot trying to justify breaking laws and demonizing the enforcement of them. Anarchy is not good, guys.
Re:In the Meantime (Score:5, Insightful)
Does this not make you scared: "In most cases, the servers storing the apps sold by these alternative online markets were being hosted in other countries, and our international law enforcement partners assisted in obtaining or seizing evidence stored on these servers."
I really hate the extent to which the US is exerting its thought crime laws in other sovereign nations. I guess not so sovereign any more.
Re:In the Meantime (Score:4, Insightful)
Does this not make you scared: "In most cases, the servers storing the apps sold by these alternative online markets were being hosted in other countries, and our international law enforcement partners assisted in obtaining or seizing evidence stored on these servers."
I really hate the extent to which the US is exerting its thought crime laws in other sovereign nations. I guess not so sovereign any more.
Hmmm ... labelling copyright violations as "thought crime laws" is what makes me more scared. Come on, people -- we're talking about apps that cost the same as a cup of coffee (if not less). If you've ever written software, you'd know how much work it is; why do people get so upset at having to occasionally pay to support an independent developer?
(disclaimer -- personally, I release all my software as free and open source, but I also believe that it's completely fair and reasonable if people want to charge for what they write.)
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They're still sovereign.
It's just that they have chosen to yield.
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It's an agreement between countries. The US didn't bomb the place. Those nation can choose not to participate.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
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One can imagine that people who make these statements are purposefully trying to get those who want copyright reform to be marginalized by saying exteremely stupid things.
Re:In the Meantime (Score:4, Insightful)
Does this not make you scared
Yes, your shrill, deliberate mis-use of the term "thought crime" and purposeful embrace of the practice of ripping off thousands of man-hours of work in order to save the cost of a cup of coffee - that is scary. Because it shows just how entrenched the entitlement-minded leech culture is.
Stop Global Whining.
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to merely accept that you have a difference of opinion
Guess what: not all opinions are equally valid. The opinion that ripping off the people who create the software you want is a good thing? That is an inferior opinion based on an irrational world view.
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It's just convenient for you to arbitrarily decide that your own opinions about subjective matters are somehow more correct?
Who said anything about subjective? Rationally derived opinions are always superior to irrationally derived ones. Opinions based on fantasy are always inferior to opinions based on facts and reality. People who say that all opinions have equal merit are just intellectually lazy, and can't be bothered to talk about substance because that will shine light on the mixed premises and irrationalities underlying their world view. They find that uncomfortable, so they attempt to cover it up by being moral relativi
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Think about it, the copyright and patent law make something that is supposed to be just a way to protect a business model into a criminal offence.
Really? You think this is what government should be doing?
Sure. It's a criminal offense to walk into a bank/store/shop and steal products/money. The only difference is that it's electronic media.
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1. Copyright infringement is not theft. It's a crime under the law, but it is not defined as theft, otherwise it wouldn't be a separate thing, called copyright infringement.
2. Why is it a criminal offence to steal? Why is the government involved in judging people criminally for theft? Why shouldn't it be a completely private matter between the 2 private sides? OK, when it is stolen from government or when government is doing the stealing, then it would make sense, but government being involved in theft ca
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I think the government's responsibility is to enforce laws. Whether someone is actually guilty of breaking a law is determined in court by a judge and/or jury which is independent from the government.
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So were these websites/owners given a fair trial in court?
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Given that the government represents the people, it does in fact concern the government itself. Unless you're into having private police forces, you're stuck with this.
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Just because the patent system is broken does not mean the concept of patents is wrong. Same with copyrights. One could easily argue that without some sort of IP protection, consumers wouldn't have more choice, but less. Theoretically, patents and copyrights protect the small guy from having their IP being stolen by the big corporations you list. Without patents and copyrights, I could create something and somebody else, with more money come along and just undersell me until I couldn't afford it any more
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I think the government's responsibility is to enforce laws.
- right, I said that government shouldn't be involved in this, what I mean obviously is that there shouldn't be government laws on things like copyright or actually theft if it doesn't concern the government itself.
So, if you pitch a screen play, I as the producer should be able to say no, and then take your idea and do my own screen play based on your work without you being compensated?
Or if you come up with a new device and show it to me, I should be able to take your device make a million of them and sell them to everyone and you get no benefit from it?
Isn't that how it was prior to the creation of patent and copyright laws?
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Christ, what idiot modded that "insightful"? It shows no insight, in fact shows the commenter lives in a fantasy world.
You do realise that 90% of all stolen items are never recovered and 90% of theives get away? And if you do catch the guy who stole your cow, how is he going to compensate you for it after he's eaten it? He wouldn't be stealing unless he was destitute or insane. He's not going to have anything to compensate you with. Also, I see you've never been burglarized or robbed. It's a traumatic exper
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That's one way to look at it. Here's another: when you copy and distribute software without authorization (which allegedly those sites did), you basically substitute the legitimate distribution channel (which pays the author) by another which doesn't pay the author. This can result in substantial losses for the author. Alternatively, when you shoplift, only the retailer is the only one losing and typically he has insurance to cover such loses. Hard to say which is worse...
Is selling a used copy stealing? (Score:2)
Here's another: when you copy and distribute software without authorization (which allegedly those sites did), you basically substitute the legitimate distribution channel (which pays the author) by another which doesn't pay the author.
For one thing, when I buy a lawfully made copy of a work distributed on a physical medium, use it, and then sell it used to someone else, that distribution channel doesn't pay the author either, but the law doesn't prohibit it. For another, what's "the legitimate distribution channel" for copies of the film Song of the South, the television series Spartakus and the Sun Beyond the Sea, or the video game Earthbound?
Alternatively, when you shoplift, only the retailer is the only one losing and typically he has insurance to cover such loses.
Watch for broken window fallacies here. If there were no shoplifting, insurance would be cheape
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You mean potential losses, or maybe no loss at all, or maybe even a gain... nobody really knows for sure. However, let's just call it "substantial losses" since that fits with your agenda better.
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Your projection is noted.
Pickpocketing is against the law - does that mean it's the same thing as rape because they both involve inappropriate touching? Or, maybe, we can make use of this "language" thingy and have different words for substantially different things....
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You still violated the law;
Wow, you are a genius. That's a nice response... if you're 15 and haven't developed the situational awareness to realize that ethics and legality are completely orthogonal concepts.
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Re:Criminal law (Score:5, Insightful)
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Unless done commercially, then the FBI gets involved.
Haven't you seen those warnings that play on movies?
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Copyright infringement is a civil matter.
Not when it is organized as a for-profit venture. That makes it criminal.
Disclaimer: IANAL
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Because they are a tool for capitalism, that's why. Ooo, lookie, another nickle and dime copyright infringer taken down while a single banker has yet to be investigated* or prosecuted.
*SEC "investigations" which result in a fine that take a small bite out of illegal profits don't count. [youtube.com]
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Because they are a tool for capitalism, that's why.
- what does capitalism have to do with it? This is merging of the government power with corporate interests, it's done in a way that benefits the politicians as well as some corporate interests.
OTOH it hurts other corporate interests (it hurts competition) and it hurts the consumer.
This is not about capitalism, this is simply corruption. Corruption is government stealing individual liberties from people and selling them to SOME people with money.
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IP addresses are less portable. One can easily point a domain name at a new IP address, but this is not as easily possible with just an IP address. They're also quite a bit less memorable.
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I am an indi developer. I worked for 1 1/2 years to create my game Block Story [blockstory.net]
I can see my game all over pirate sites, and their download count completely eclipse my sales. I could be working full time on my game by now if only 1/3 of those users legally purchased the game.
Every day I send takedown notices to multiple sites, which are a problem, because I have to disclose where I live in those notices. Not exactly something I enjoy doing, and I waste time doing this instead of developing more. Only to s
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I could be on a space tourist trip to Mars if even 10% of those people were prepared to spend 1c on an any Android software whatsoever. You live in cloud cuckoo land.
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I could be on a space tourist trip to Mars if even 10% of those people were prepared to spend 1c on an any Android software whatsoever. You live in cloud cuckoo land.
The expectation is actually quite realistic, given the fact that we have already reached top 20 paid game on amazon (just today, but changes by the hour), and we have not even hit apple store or pc yet.
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So you believe that stopping piracy is a realistic goal? Seriously?
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Piracy is a problem. Sending DMCA notices, while a decent band-aid, is not a solution. Also, piracy exists, and widely, on Windows Phone, iPhone, and every other device.
I don't know about you, but I rarely give money to people who fight me, threaten me, or give me ultimatums. I routinely give money to people who treat me like a decent human being. I'm the success story Steam has been looking for. In the mid to late nineties, and the early 2000s, I pirated everything. If I could pirate it, and I used the sof
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Why would anyone looking for a mobile version of minecraft prefer your knockoff over the original?
There is an entire team of
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I can sympathize with your feelings, and I can completely understand your reaction. I've considered Android development also, and this concern has made me hesitant. However, I think that you overlooking some things and overestimating the impact (just as many publishers do).
The simple truth is, the reason that so many people pirate your game is because they can. Trying to stop it from happening is like playing whack-a-mole. It will continue popping up elsewhere (or maybe even in the same place). You are
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Have you considered putting Block Story on RIM's PlayBook platform? Since version 2.0 of the PlayBook OS, they've supported Android executables (although you do have to repackage them). It seems to help with downloads [yahoo.com] and sales [fiercemobilecontent.com].
It's a trivial "port" if your app doesn't require native code, so it's not a huge investment on your part. BlackBerry 10 is going to support Android apps too, so you won't be limited to just the PlayBook for long.
Disclosure: I work for RIM.
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WTF are you talking about? What Apple hate? I have been working for the past month to port to IPhone.
The only reason I did not do it before is that I had to pay out of my pocket around $7000 in hardware and software in order to do it.
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The only reason I did not do it before is that I had to pay out of my pocket around $7000 in hardware and software in order to do it.
Really? $7000? A Mac Mini + iPad + iPhone + Developer Program runs less than a 1/3 of that! Kudos on the game though, look forward to trying the iOS version.
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I need Mac book pro for working because I am on the go a lot of the time, and a fast one because I compile 20 times a day. Between $2000-$3000
I need Unity 3d professional for iphone and android which is about $4500.
I need an ipad and iphone to test the app in them.
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make your apps worth not pirating
so basically, your logic is that if developers make something crappy, then they deserve to have it stolen?
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All that said the developers and publishers themselves are to blame for their problems: make your apps worth not pirating, and either develop only for walled-garden platforms or accept piracy as a fact of life and ignore it as long as you're still generating profits.
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if you don't believe that making copies of paid software and installing them and using them our your device without paying isn't stealing, then why are you even participating in this conversation?
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The moment you used the word "copies" you implicitly denied is is stealing. Stealing is taking something from someone - note the "from" part as in they no longer have it - and while unlicensed copying is also illegal, it is not theft any more than it is rape (another illegal act).
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It's perfectly reasonable to expect to be paid when someone makes use of your work.
It's perfectly unreasonable to expect everyone to agree with you.
Some players in the game poke fun at pirates in a variety of ways. You could put pirate hats on all of the game characters if you detect a possibly illegal copy. You could put a "please, if you like this game, pay for it" message before the game starts with a check box that says "Check this box if you have already paid." and then never show it again.
Show kindn
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Show kindness and generosity to people and they will be more likely to return it.
simply not true; people, including myself have experimented with donate-ware. it simply doesn't work.
i have a relatively popular (hundreds of thousands of downloads) android application. it's free and open source with no ads. i also have the exact same app published for a price of $1 and i make it clear to folks that the donate app and the free app are exactly the same so there's no catches.
couldn't be more honest and generous than that i'd say. however, last year, i made about $30 donations.
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If you're not 100% incorrect, then why did you make that comment?
iOS piracy (Score:2)
I am actually quite amazed that iOS piracy is so unchecked and that no servers have been seized. Once jailbroken, any app is available malware free off one site that self-polices and pretty much everyone trusts.
What's happening is that 1) in general apple users are willing to pay for stuff; 2) jailbreaking is a greater hurdle to overcome than sideloading; and as a result there is a lower iOS piracy rate and more profit for developers.
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the only reason people pirate on android is because we have shitty developers like the guy who decries piracy as the reason for him making a shitty app.
see how this circle works?
make apps that aren't openly hostile to your customers and/or basically stupid, and guess what? people are more than happy to pay for them, especially if they are well made.
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Or perhaps when a company like Sony comes and forces google to remove an app from their store because it will compete with a future product they're planning on launching.
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Most of our customers disagree with your assessment of "shitty app" given the fact that we score 4.4/5 in google play. Go ahead, read the reviews, or god forbid try the free version (not even ads), before jumping to the default conclusion that the app is shitty because I complain about piracy.
Also, pick whatever you consider to be the best app for android, And I will show you 5-10 sites where it is being pirated, so your argument does not hold any water. If anything, the higher the quality of the app, the
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google play ratings are as reliable as my own imagination is as an authoritative source. Most people will rate an app as follows, and you can replace "game" with "app" if needed.
"this game is awesome!" 5 stars
"this game is awesome!" 1 star
"this game crashes my phone! minus one star until it's fixed!" 4 stars
"this game crashes my phone!" 1 star
"this game crashes my phone!" 5 stars.
Ratings on google play are not only gamed (and yes, we know when they're being gamed), but have probably the most useless rating
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I think the bigger problem is that the government is wasting their time (and everyone's tax dollars) with this nonsense.
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The real problem is that your product wasn't worth paying the amount you were asking.
You can't count copies as expected sales (Score:2)
$1 app - why even risk a virus or jailbreak or download hassle
$10 app not valued at $10 - it still might not be worth the effort; but those greedy app developers can motivate somebody to put in more than $10 of their time just out of spite.
If you are going out of business anyway you may as well lower the price before you go under. Stop blaming everybody else except yourself. You don't set your value it doesn't matter what you think your work is worth; the consumers decide that and maybe there is no middle
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side loading an apk costs $0.00. it is not very difficult to produce something worth $0.00 to 250k people.
what is (marginally) difficult is to create something that
A - is worth paying anything for to a large number of users, and
B - actually gets you paid
you apparently failed to achieve one or more of these requirements.
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Yes. I'll have to rethink my dreams of supporting an extravagant lifestyle by posting on Slashdot.
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That's the only thing keeping me from even thinking of purchasing anything from them. I don't have a credit card, nor I want one, and I am not willing to give Google all my real identity data by binding a bank account to them.
Google being as it is, I can't trust them to not display my real name in my account or invalidate my account because my real name and given google name do not match.
Not to mention, there are many things I can't purchase even if I paid money for them. Because the point of digital distri