Need to know
- Many of the digital goods you thought you owned can be snatched away at any time, as customers of Telstra Box Office recently found out
- In some cases, terms and conditions make it clear that the company is not letting you own the digital goods you paid for, itβs merely licensing you to use them
- 'In a sense, you are paying rent to be allowed to have access to the platform,' one digital platforms expert says
When you buy a piece of digital content like a movie or a video game, you can be forgiven for thinking you own it. After all, you paid for it, and it sits right there in your digital library.
But many of the digital goods you thought you owned can be snatched away at any time, as customers of Telstra Box Office recently found out.
Telstra Box Office customers left in the lurch
Telstra announced earlier this year that the service would be shut down on 30 June 2024 and be replaced by Fetch, which Telstra has acquired.
If you've paid for movies over the years through Telstra Box Office and built up your own personalised catalogue, you may be able to move some of it to Fetch.
But that'll only work if you join the Telstra-hosted version of Fetch, which is delivered through a set-top box. If you've paid for Fetch through another service provider you're out of luck. And if you're aiming to move your treasure trove of movies to a service provider other than Fetch, that's a no-go as well.
If you're aiming to move your treasure trove of movies to a service provider other than Fetch, that's a no-go as well
But the real kicker for those wanting to hold on to their Telstra Box Office collection is that you'll now have to pay either $396 upfront to buy the Fetch box or a minimum of $16.50 per month to access the movies you already paid for. (These are the prices for the Fetch 'Mighty' option.)
This has come as a rude shock to customers of the soon-to-be-no-more Telstra Box Office, which doesn't charge any subscription fees.
A common issue: Other examples of disappearing access
Telstra is far from the only offender when it comes to shutting off access to content you thought you owned, and it's not the only telecom to have made a deal with Fetch TV.
One CHOICE Community member, for instance, was taken by surprise in 2022 when they discovered their Fetch TV subscription was locked to their Optus account.
When Optus started raising prices, they wanted to move on to a new internet service provider (ISP) and planned on buying Fetch TV off the shelf. Then they learned that the Fetch content they had paid Optus for could not be transferred over.
"I never would have bought any content if I had known it was locked to the ISP. It's certainly not a normal expectation that this is how it would work," they said.
People have also expressed outrage at losing access to films on UltraViolet (which shut down in 2019).
I never would have bought any content if I had known it was locked to the ISP
Earlier this year, another victim of digital disappearance laid out the issue in stark terms.
"I have been a subscriber to Gourmet Traveler for over a decade. All my magazines are in one place. They have released a new update. It only holds two years. All my [back] issues are gone."
Sony PlayStation owners must have felt a similar sense of helplessness when the company announced that its deal with Warner TV was kaput and Warner's Discovery channel content would be vaporised from the platform at the end of 2023.
In the end, that didn't happen, but the threat that the axe could fall at any time still hangs in the air.
In many cases, the digital media you paid for is never really yours to own.
Video game T&Cs even worse
Video game platforms are another example of creeping non-ownership. Their terms and conditions can read like a contract drawn up by a tyrant.
Microsoft T&Cs covering Xbox and Minecraft, for instance, make it clear that the company is not letting you own the digital goods you paid for, it's merely licensing you to use them.
What these platforms giveth, they can summarily taketh away
In keeping with other digital goods providers, there's a certain hubris in the way the company expresses its all-encompassing powers: "Microsoft may stop distributing any digital good, or add to or reduce the capabilities for any digital goods, at any time".
It's a rule that applies "even if the price or payment due for a digital good is zero".
The popular US-based video game platform Steam makes a similar claim, saying its content and services "are licensed, not sold. Your license confers no title or ownership in the content and services".
What these platforms giveth, they can summarily taketh away.
'The internet of landlords': Renting access to digital media
Dr Christopher O'Neill, a research fellow at Deakin University and an expert on digital media, says the concept of digital ownership has never been more tenuous. Denying access to the content you paid for appears to be the way forward for the tech titans.
"This is becoming a very common practice, as we move into an era of what is termed 'rentier capitalism' or what a colleague of mine calls 'the internet of landlords'," O'Neil says. (A rentier in this context would be a business that generates ongoing income from the unilateral ownership and control of assets.)
Denying access to the content you paid for appears to be the way forward for the tech titans
"Increasingly, users of digital platforms such as Netflix, Steam, Telstra Box Office and others are paying not for actual goods, but only access to the platform itself. In a sense, you are paying rent to be allowed to have access to the platform, rather than paying to personally own individual items. This access is completely at the discretion of the provider, and the conditions of this access can change at any time."
If you sign up to Netflix looking to watch a certain series and the next season moves to another streaming service, for instance, you'll have to sign up to the new service to continue watching.
In a sense, you are paying rent to be allowed to have access to the platform, rather than paying to personally own individual items
Dr Christopher O'Neill, Deakin University
"The rentier model puts much more control in the hands of platforms than was the case in previous models of entertainment distribution," O'Neil says. "Consumers no longer own copies of entertainment media, but the permission to access these copies β and this permission can be revoked essentially at the platform's discretion."
The ACCC says consumers must be clearly notified beforehand if the digital goods they buy may one day disappear.
Is taking your digital goods away even legal?
The ACCC 's five-year digital platform services inquiry is set to end in 2025 and so far has looked into competition among digital platform providers and how it affects consumers as well as issues around social media providers and online retailers.
While the inquiry is also considering market trends "that may affect the nature and characteristics of digital platform services", the regulator is not currently considering the issue of consumers losing access to digital goods.
Nevertheless, we asked the ACCC whether this growing phenomenon could amount to a contravention of consumer law.
Contracts that allow a business "to unilaterally change the arrangements that consumers have entered into" may raise unfair contract term issues
ACCC spokesperson
A spokesperson told us that would depend on how clearly the terms and conditions were communicated.
When goods or services are offered under a licensing arrangement, "businesses should be transparent and upfront prior to purchase about any restrictions or conditions on the licence, particularly those that impact consumers' continued use of the relevant product or service," the spokesperson says, adding that it "may be misleading where a business omits key information that impacts on consumers' decisions to buy the business's goods or services".
Of course, any upfront transparency is often buried in the fine print. But the contracts we blindly agree to may themselves be subject to legal challenge.
Contracts that allow a business "to unilaterally change the arrangements that consumers have entered into" may raise unfair contract term issues, especially if you have to pay more to keep what you already paid for, the ACCC spokesperson says.
Taking your business elsewhere
At the moment, these are legal hypotheticals that won't reunite you with your digital goods. In the meantime, customers always have the right β and the power β to take their business elsewhere.
Whether or not your content suddenly disappears one day can depend on the provider
Dr Verity Trott, a lecturer at Monash University's School of Media, Film and Journalism tells CHOICE that whether or not your content suddenly disappears one day can depend on the provider.
"There are models around that don't suffer from these issues. Companies such as Apple, for instance, offer more stability in their services."
"If one makes a purchase they are often able to retain access even if they end their subscription.
"A similar model exists with Audible. I don't think losing access to purchased digital goods or being asked to repeatedly pay for the same goods is something people are happy to accept."
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