Netflix Has Narcos Actors Threaten To Shoot The Families Of French People For Pirating The Show

from the bullets-for-you dept

First, let's all just take a moment to drink in that headline above. 2017, people: it's a weird time to be alive. In any case, you likely have heard of Netflix's hit original show, Narcos. The show follows the exploits of Pablo Escobar's drug organization and was once the subject of Escobar's brother demanding a billion dollars from Netflix over the portrayal. Netflix, of course, was the disruptive new streaming service for movies and television that has since decided to go the route of copyright protectionist now that it is producing its own original content. It's a strange look for a company that exploded on a model of convenience over piracy, raking in tons of legit dollars by simply being an option better than or comparable to pirating films and television. Rather than continuing to compete in that arena, the company has begun to go the way of Big Content, firing off all kinds of DMCA notices.

And now threatening to shoot people and their families for pirating Netflix content? Well, not really, of course. I'm sure the folks at Netflix thought it would be funny to have actors from Narcos do so in character in France. But watch the video Netflix put out for yourself.

If you cannot see the video, the TorrentFreak link above has a nice summary of it.

“Hey you, yes you, do you think you’re smart? Do you think we didn’t see you Googling ‘Narcos season 3 download’? Don’t be a fool. Narcos is a business,” Pepe begins.

“If you want your entertainment. If you want your show. You’re gonna pay the Cali Cartel, ‘hijo de puta’,” Pacho adds, using the strong language one expects from a cartel leader.

“Do you think we’re like Hadopi? Do you think we’re going to send you a nice and polite letter first? Please, sir / madam, could you please not illegally download Narcos? We don’t do courtesy letters.”

“There is no please, no por favor, no s’il vous plait,” Pepe adds.

“There’s bullets for you, your family, and all the people you send to watch Narcos on all those shitty websites full of questionable pop-ups,” Gilberto says.

“You know where to find us. Don’t mess around ‘hijo de puta’,” his brother adds.

It's just uncomfortable. Nobody is mistaking Netflix actors for actual hitmen, but it's worth putting this sort of thing in the context of the past decade, in which people really have had their lives ruined in retribution for copyright infringement. The threat letters from copyright trolls really do go out across Europe, looking for all the world like the legal arm of some extortion ring or mob organization. Threats to out people for their pornography of choice really have happened. Within that landscape, to joke around about shooting those who pirate a television show misses the mark on humor entirely, and coming from a company like Netflix it's downright creepy.

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Filed Under: advertisement, anti-piracy, france, narcos, threats
Companies: netflix


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  1. icon
    That Anonymous Coward (profile), 15 Sep 2017 @ 4:16am

    Say it with me class...

    Power causes a form of brain damage.

    Who ever green-lighted this is an idiot.
    The insanity of the copyright wars in Europe are not helped with this we'll kill your family thing.

    Imagine if they had the actors saying, we know you like Narcos and Netflix is only X Euros a month... and thats cheaper than getting your computer fixed from sketchy websites.
    Don't make us be like those other assholes sending you threats via the mail, we'd rather focus on making our shows even better. We want to treat you like customers should be treated, not like those other companies who want to turn you over and shake to make sure they got every penny.

    If you respect us, we'll respect you with the best shows.

    But then that makes to much sense so GEMA would claim it sounds like a song & they need to get paid...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 4:34am

    Well

    In America these days, laws are optional. Immigration laws go completely unenforced all over the land. So I'll just consider copyright law optional.

    If no one follows the rules for one thing, why should anyone follow the rules for anything....

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 4:39am

    I'm glad there is an authority on what is and isn't considered humorous.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 5:13am

    That was a bit harsh. I don't think anyone took this as anything but parody.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    Toom1275 (profile), 15 Sep 2017 @ 5:15am

    So the MAFIAA is dropping the pretense that they're not like any other cartel?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. icon
    TimK (profile), 15 Sep 2017 @ 6:00am

    Usually I agree with your analysis....

    But not this time. I thought it was a clever and humorous approach to addressing people illegally downloading a show on Netflix. I think you are overreacting to this.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    DONT BE STUPID BE EDUCATED, 15 Sep 2017 @ 6:01am

    well back to my games

    fuck hollywood

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. icon
    aerinai (profile), 15 Sep 2017 @ 6:09am

    Re: Usually I agree with your analysis....

    While maybe slightly tone deaf, I'd expect people to take it as light hearted advertisement for the show. Reading between the lines I heard 'we aren't going to send you threatening letters, so please watch it on Netflix'

    This is a much better approach than the 'You wouldn't steal a car... copyright theft is a crime' crap that we were inundated with 5+ years ago.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 6:15am

    Just a though but...

    Maybe, just maybe, if the French Netflix catalogue was not 1/3 the size of the American one for the same price, the value proposition would be strong enough that people would not look to alternative to watch their content.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 6:58am

    Comme on Timothy, apply the usual techdirt rule of thumb on what people should feel threatened/offended about.

    This is clearly one of those "borderline stupid, but not threatening/offending, learn to take a joke" case. (Coming from a European)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 7:03am

    funny except for one thing

    As a Netflix subscriber, they really do know where you live....
    Not so funny now, is it?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. icon
    MDT (profile), 15 Sep 2017 @ 7:19am

    Much ado about nothing

    This is really stretching. I'm no fan of the studios, but seriously? I sit through stuff like this at Alamo Drafthouse all the time.

    Heck, for Hardcore Henry, they made a profanity laced PSA that included physically assaulting a rude customer and dislocating his arm. I didn't take it as an actual threat, I took it as humor.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVCkI5C_qNI&index=18&list=PLpX5OvrhWl9I59CYEx_ZtXnSmpBQEDbWe

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. icon
    MDT (profile), 15 Sep 2017 @ 7:21am

    Re: funny except for one thing

    Common Sense Fail

    If you are a subscriber, yes they have your address.

    However, if you are a subscriber, you are not pirating it because you are watching it on Netflix, so even if this were a real threat, which it isn't, they wouldn't know where you are.

    facepalm

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. icon
    Ninja (profile), 15 Sep 2017 @ 8:03am

    So we went from "You wouldn't download a car" to "You WILL download a bullet".

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. icon
    Ninja (profile), 15 Sep 2017 @ 8:07am

    Re: Usually I agree with your analysis....

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 8:26am

    Can't say I agree with you this time, Tim. I think it's kind of clever in a way.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 8:53am

    Kind of like making bomb "jokes" in an airport?

    Not really clever or funny.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  18. icon
    R.H. (profile), 15 Sep 2017 @ 8:56am

    Connecting with Fans?

    Well, murder is one way to connect with your fans ^_^

    link to this | view in thread ]

  19. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 9:35am

    Re: Re: funny except for one thing

    Except you might not have access to everything Netflix offers depending on where you live, making it perfectly reasonable to simultaneously be a Netflix subscriber and pirate of their content.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  20. icon
    Pronounce (profile), 15 Sep 2017 @ 9:39am

    Netflix to Pablo Escobar's Brother

    "Instead of a billion dollars how about we hire you to stop people from stealing our material. We'll pay you in commissions?"

    link to this | view in thread ]

  21. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 10:58am

    Do you idiots comprehend how stupid you sound complaining about the fact that artists deserve their rights protected just like any other person?

    Seriously, what is your damage?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  22. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 11:41am

    Re: Well

    You think immigration is the worst transgression?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  23. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 11:43am

    Re:

    "Seriously, what is your damage?"

    Look in a mirror

    link to this | view in thread ]

  24. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 12:31pm

    Re: Well

    Agree. America is a mess, but don't be ranting on immigrants you fool, immigrants are not your enemy. People just like you. your only enemy is your elite who keeps feeding you bullshit, lies and fear but anyway keep raking in all the money. You don't want the jobs many immigrants are doing. Nobody is stealing no jobs and no opportunities from no one. If anything blame your own american companies for hiring all those immigrants to save a buck in work force.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  25. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 12:52pm

    I go with the "goat fucker" concept here....

    If you threaten to kill somebody to prove a larger point, you still threatened to kill somebody.

    ..... over copyright infringement.....

    link to this | view in thread ]

  26. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 12:55pm

    "shitty websites full of questionable pop-ups"

    I guess the copyright cartel has never heard of uBlock Origin and NoScript...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  27. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 1:19pm

    Re: funny except for one thing

    Can't you give Netflix a fake address?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  28. icon
    bluebearr (profile), 15 Sep 2017 @ 1:45pm

    Re:

    I was with you on that, until they mentioned bullets. I just felt that it took the parody a too far.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  29. icon
    Uriel-238 (profile), 15 Sep 2017 @ 1:53pm

    "Nobody is mistaking Netflix actors for actual hitmen"

    Maybe somebody intentionally should.

    Regardless there's the old argument: I'd have never gotten into Game of Thrones (the most recent season of which I purchased) without first pirating the crap out of it. And HBO knows that it is only through piracy that GoT is the cultural phenomenon it is.

    As for Narcos, I'm more than happy to not just ignore their show but actively avoid it on account of bad taste.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  30. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 2:13pm

    Re: Kind of like making bomb "jokes" in an airport?

    Wouldn't be a problem if America had not funded extremists groups then years later invade them when not useful anymore.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  31. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 2:14pm

    Re: Netflix to Pablo Escobar's Brother

    Too much work and little profit, fuck that.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  32. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 2:17pm

    Re:

    Yes, their rights. But there is no right to profit. That is called self entitlement, not a right. And my right to freely do with my time, my money and effort as I please, such as copying and sharing information? And my right to privacy?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  33. identicon
    Daydream, 15 Sep 2017 @ 2:18pm

    Re: "Nobody is mistaking Netflix actors for actual hitmen"

    I would. Mistake them for hitmen, I mean. If I got a link to that in an email or heard it over the phone then...yeah.

    On a side note, this is the first I've heard of Narcos. My first impression of it now is that it's a bad show that nobody bothers to buy, and the company producing it are psychopaths who ring up random people to threaten them.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  34. icon
    btr1701 (profile), 15 Sep 2017 @ 2:19pm

    Re: Well

    > In America these days, laws are optional. Immigration
    > laws go completely unenforced all over the land. So I'll
    > just consider copyright law optional.

    You're just watching undocumented TV shows.

    Just like some people have undocumented firearms.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  35. icon
    btr1701 (profile), 15 Sep 2017 @ 2:20pm

    Re: Re: Well

    > You think immigration is the worst transgression?

    So as long as a law isn't addressing "the worst transgression", it's okay to ignore it?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  36. icon
    btr1701 (profile), 15 Sep 2017 @ 2:23pm

    Re: Re: Well

    > America is a mess, but don't be ranting on immigrants you
    > fool, immigrants are not your enemy.

    Agreed. But he's not talking about immigrants. He's talking about illegal aliens. And he's not claiming they're an enemy. He's talking about how it's just an unspoken assumption these days that we're supposed to completely ignore our own border control laws. And if we can ignore those laws, why can't we ignore other laws that are inconvenient for us?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  37. icon
    btr1701 (profile), 15 Sep 2017 @ 2:27pm

    Re:

    > If you threaten to kill somebody to prove a larger point,
    > you still threatened to kill somebody.

    But threats require intent for them to actually *be* threats, and since there was no intent to kill anyone here, no one actually threatened to kill anyone.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  38. icon
    Uriel-238 (profile), 15 Sep 2017 @ 2:40pm

    Intent is hard to prove or disprove.

    I think a lot of threats are made with the full intention to carry them out, if in a moment of outrage.

    The person may think better of it in a moment later, but it's still a threat made with intent.

    Regardless, when it happens here on line, it's considered poor form. And the police will use it to justify locking you up if they dislike you enough.

    For our sake, we just want consistency. If kids get locked up for quoting threatening rap lyrics on social media, then we should also take actors threatening to shoot pirates seriously, as we should take Trump's fire and fury comments.

    There shouldn't be privilege for politicians and media companies.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  39. identicon
    Kronomex, 15 Sep 2017 @ 3:07pm

    What childish crap from Netflix.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  40. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 3:56pm

    Re:

    Yes, if they're not careful, the tech industry will get a horrible reputation and their con will cause a backlash.

    oh wait...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  41. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 6:00pm

    Re: funny except for one thing

    That's one of the reasons I don't use it. There is no collection of private data for data mining/monetization with torrents.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  42. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 6:03pm

    Fucking corporate execs in their bubble thinking that their greedy, money-grubbing bullshit concerns are shared by anyone outside. It's not funny. It's at best lame.

    The free alternatives to are superior to Netflix in many ways. Stop with the empty threats and offer a better service and I might listen.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  43. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 6:38pm

    Re:

    So you think copyright should be enforced with gunfire and bullets.

    Oh, right. You've been thinking that copyright infringement is worse than rape and murder for years. No wonder the instinctual reaction is, unsurprisingly, _not_ to think of this as a parody.

    Paul Hansmeier's motions just got rejected again. What a glorious development for copyright. I hope you've got an Indiegogo fund running for him...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  44. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 7:14pm

    Re: Re:

    > But threats require intent for them to actually *be* threats, and since there was no intent to kill anyone here, no one actually threatened to kill anyone.

    I bet if you were to go around talking about planning to assassinate the president the secret service would want to have a talk with you, even if you didn't "intend" to actually do it.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  45. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 7:26pm

    Re:

    > Power causes a form of brain damage.

    No. All power does is remove the normal social inhibitions that keep people in line. It insulates the powerful from consequences.

    Power does not corrupt, it reveals.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  46. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 7:37pm

    Re: Re: Re: Well

    Proportionality is key to any system of justice. The laws against illegal immigration are themselves reasonably proportionate: Illegal entry is a misdemeanor with max penalty of $250 and/or max 6 months in prison. Overstaying a visa (which is how 66% of recent illegal immigrants arrived in the country) isn't even criminal.

    The problem is with all the triggered people who think being an illegal immigrant is a crime on par with robbery, rape or murder.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  47. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2017 @ 8:54pm

    Re: Re:

    Two things:

    1) I do not know what horrible reputation or backlash your referring to (unless your referring to the one centered around Uber, which has nothing to do with this)

    2) Given you think the tech industry is purpertrating a "con", let's get some facts straight. It's only in the last two or so decades that copyright has gotten treated as extreme as it is now, and it's that which some (though not everyone, and certainly not Apple, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, etc) in the tech industry is rebelling against. Most of us complaining about over the top reactions to copyright infringement do not actually mind copyright existing (though there's an argument that it's unnecessary). As for why we tend to be based in the tech industry, perhaps that's because it's our tech which Big Media views as a threat (both in terms of copying and competition) and/or because we're more aware of the threat created by the DRM they push on us.

    Given viewing copyright as a "right" for artists that should last forever minus a day is so recent I'd say that is the con. Heck it's not even the artist's right as it is now, or Stargate SG1 wouldn't have been made as it was and musicians wouldn't be sued for sounding too much like themselves.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  48. icon
    Uriel-238 (profile), 15 Sep 2017 @ 10:24pm

    Everyone has antisocial thoughts.

    ...But we check our behavior due to social consequences.

    If power removes that check, it's a corruption, turning us into more primitive an animal than even our fellow mammals.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  49. icon
    Uriel-238 (profile), 15 Sep 2017 @ 10:26pm

    Proportionate laws

    Have you been tracking the methods of ICE and CPB? They've arranged it so that the ride is far, far worse than the rap.

    Sometimes deadly worse.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  50. identicon
    DONT MAKE ME LAUGH, 16 Sep 2017 @ 5:56am

    will kill actors and directors for pain medcine

    see cbc.ca for reasons why, anyhow of course im kidding but its a nice thought aint it

    link to this | view in thread ]

  51. icon
    btr1701 (profile), 17 Sep 2017 @ 11:53am

    Re: Re: Re:

    Perhaps, but they couldn't arrest for it without proof of intent.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  52. icon
    Nico (profile), 18 Sep 2017 @ 3:46am

    I think it's funny

    It's targeted and not as annoying as a letter from a lawyer. Netflix is spending a pretty penny on producing the show, fair enough if they hope to see a return. I doubt it will turn downloaders into subscribers, but it's a message I wouldn't argue with.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  53. identicon
    Wendy Cockcroft, 18 Sep 2017 @ 5:44am

    Re: I think it's funny

    The thing is, threatening people doesn't make them subscribe. Providing them with a service they want at a price they can afford to easily use on the platform of their choice generally does the trick.

    Studios tend to mess things up with overpriced bundles, windowed releases, DRM, and forced adverts.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  54. identicon
    michael, 18 Sep 2017 @ 1:15pm

    Not Escobar

    Okay, I'll be *that* guy ...

    The new season has nothing to do with Escobar. The Cali Cartel are the guys who took over after Escobar's death.

    So saying "the show follows the exploits of Pablo Escobar's drug organization" is only true of the first 2 seasons, not the current one.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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