What should they limit it to, though? I, for example, share my libraries with 39 users. Of those 39 users, the most I’ve ever seen streaming simultaneously were perhaps 10.
If we’re gonna start limiting, it should probably be the amount of simultaneous streams, not the amount of users. Just MHO.
Actually I highly doubt that Plex is making any money on that given the fact that most tech news are reporting Plex is in financial dire straights and laying off people.
I like the idea of limiting simultaneous streams. Don’t know how hard that would be for the devs to do though. If not I would say somewhere in the 10-20 range.
oh, is that so? I hadn’t read this one anywhere yet. I can absolutely see it. A once off membership doesn’t pay the bills for years to come. So definitely makes sense.
According to Plex, you are incorrect.
Read the post @TeknoJunky linked.
They will probably ban / block other hosts as well. This is just the first major host they are blocking. The language in the one response from @chrisc tells us a lot about what Plex is planning with this move. They just don’t want to come out right away and say it just yet, but hetzner is first, followed by other larger hosting providers, and than they’ll put in more restrictions on how and where you can share your library. They are just slow walking the process to limit user backlash. tos will probably change soon to reflect it as well. (ie plex is intended for hosting at home, other use cases are not supported and violate the terms of service)
Any person with a brain already figured what happened here and what they need to do.
These are copyright holders tactics.
Hi,
Plex pass lifetime user.
I have a server running a bunch of applications on it, I use it for testing things, it takes backups from my home pc, laptop, photo’s, etc.
It also runs Plex which is great for when I’m away from home.
I’m not affected by this yet as the server is not on Hetzer, but will be dropping Plex and giving Jellyfin a try next weekend when I have time.
This is a very poor solution to the problem you’re trying to solve, and indiscriminately banning entire hosts is not something that any part of the community should be supporting.
Coupling this with the general annoyance of the community at the direction Plex is taking, I don’t think I’ll be alone seeing this as a tipping point to start exploring other options.
Some still believe that Plex has done everything possible to stop this blockage. Unfortunately, we have to tell you that this is a dream. We are in close contact with Hetzner and for Hetzner this announcement came as unprepared as for everyone else. It is therefore fair to say that not everything was done. Otherwise, we would have sent an e-mail to Hetzner and discussed the problem with them. We are not talking about a small hoster here, but one of the largest in Europe!
Just to clear up some myths here… in the whole EU there is a copyright law. You are NOT allowed to make a copy of your Blu-ray, because at that moment you are breaking the copy protection, which is illegal in the EU. In Germany, there is a right to make a private copy, as long as you own the original. But you are not allowed to bypass copy protection! But where the version comes from, where the copy protection has already been removed, is therefore not liable to prosecution. The person who has removed the copy protection has already done so.
It is therefore quite legal to own a private copy… even if it was recorded with a cell phone or a livestream of an audio file was copied.
There are no sources for this. Please google yourself, thank you 
There have been 291 replies from only 122 unique users; and 666 (how ominous!) likes given out.
Y’all are quickly achieving echo-chamber levels of commiseration! It’s only been a day, don’t peak prematurely.
And since we’re all friends here and just throwing out WAGs as to what happened, and why, I’ll throw my hat in the ring. Here we go…
Plex did their level best to positively identify those reprobates who violating their terms of service. Being the privacy-oriented folk they are, they weren’t comfortable with the idea of violating their users’ trust by digging through their private data; heck, they likely don’t even have the information to do so.
So, being that something they were able to positively identify is that a large number of these ToS disregarders utilized Hetzner’s platform for their illicit activity. Having determined that, they reached out to the good folks at Hetzner for additional help in narrowing down the suspect list. However, realizing that a good chunk of their monthly income was derived from these users, Hetzner declined to assist in any meaningful way.
Plex pleaded with them, letting them know that they (Plex) had to do something, as it was not good for their nicer, ToS-observing users; however, Hetzner steadfastly refused citing consumer protection laws and other equally convincing “reasons” for not assisting Plex in this endeavor. Finally, Plex had to act, resulting in the notifications received over the past twenty-four hours.
As much as it hurt Plex to do it, they knew that the only way to effect the required change was to take this step, hoping that it would finally convince Hetzner to act in their own self-interest. Plex knew that it would upset a portion of their user base, but were confident that positive change would result.
As I type this, there are multiple Plex decision-makers sitting in dark rooms with a drink in one hand and their head in the other, pained by the decision they were forced to make on their users’ behalf; wondering if, ultimately they had made the right decision. Only time will tell.
Of course, I don’t know any more than the rest of you do. But I feel the events outlined above are just as likely to have occurred, or be occurring, as some of the conspiracy theory-level of stuff I’ve seen in some of the comments above.
And I wish you all luck in obtaining refunds or some legal remedy for the harms that have resulted from this. There isn’t an attorney in the world who’d take on such a weak case. I’m not going to back that up with any sort of citing of law or legal precedent. Just go search for it on the Web; I’m sure you’ll find something. Or not, But that seems to be the order of the day.
And lest my snarky-ness above be perceived as having any amount of malevolence behind it, there is not. I feel bad for y’all. It’s never fun to get caught up in a “this is why we can’t have nice things” moment. But alas, here you are. I trust it will work out to everyone’s advantage, in the end. Except Hetzner’s, of course.
Or it took them some time after realizing that streaming was significantly more profitable than personal media, for example some time of not investing any resources such as development team into it, to realize that they were still not getting a return on it…
You do realize that by defending them you’re complicit? Shame you don’t even get paid for it…
PS - As far as hosting from home: I do it, and it sucks. I’ve got 10Mbps up and let’s be real, that’s not enough for even a single stream unless you want 480p. If I wanted to upgrade I could pay $50+/month more on my Internet connection, or… I could pay that much on a hosted server.
I stopped using Hetzner a while ago due to rising costs (and yes - it was for personal use only because my ISP will give me 1 Gbps down, but only a few Mbps up). Still, I find this kind of enforcement reprehensible, and I feel that Plex isn’t holding up the terms I purchased my original license under.
I wish I could refund or stop paying in some way, because I will not support this behavior.
I understand some people abuse the software, but hurting everyone in the process is not the way to go.
A thread about a specific topic is an “echo chamber” BY DESIGN. It’s a place for us to discuss a specific policy change, so of course everyone is discussing… that particular policy change.
3 posts per user doesn’t even seem that strange? “Only” 122 unique users? That seems like a lot for a thread that’s been around for 36 hours.
Anyway — you come in this thread, dismiss any valid criticism or frustration, and then write a thousand word fan fic narrative that paints plex in an insanely positive light.
And lest my snarky-ness above be perceived as having any amount of malevolence behind it,
Listen, it’s fine if you don’t think this is a bad thing. But you’re not affected, so please take your snarky, sycophantic musings elsewhere.
The notification that was sent out was so vague it’s impossible for users to know if they will be impacted or not.
My case is that I’ve used a Hetzner server to host Plex in the past but recently migrated this back home.
Plex Support: How can I confirm that I won’t be impacted?
Why would Plex ever need Hetzner’s help in “narrowing down the suspect list”?
They can just target the servers/accounts violating the TOS. Plex has control over plex accounts. Its that simple, no need to target an entire hosting provider.
Why is Plex being so selfless and willing to help Hetzner “act in their own self-interest”, at major reputational cost to themselves (Plex, not Hetzner)?
Sorry but that argument makes zero sense, not least because this will result in precisely zero required change, as the pirates that sell Plex access are already on another host by now.
So, conclusion: alleged purpose completely failed. Why continue with this farce?
What a bull ■■■■, I leave 1500 km from my sister, and 1000km from my mother, how do you think we share pictures and videos of their grand children?
Simple, a Plex dedicated server on one of the most affordable dedicated server provider Hetzner.
You now have to add to your TOS or what ever you call it, the fact that using Hetzner to host a server is forbidden, else it is an atteinte to my freedom to put my data where I want, and to use your product I bought legally the way I want.
Problably a class action would make you reconsider your laziness and stupid action?
Yea Plex. Please explain to me how I should host the Plex Server at home behind CarrierGradeNAT (so no public IPv4) with 6MBit Upstream.
It baffles me how some people here are able to defend this power move from plex inc. Plex putting server owners in collective punishment for doing nothing wrong is borderline evil. Getting happily thrown under the bus by other plex users irritates me.
122 unique users in this thread? What’s the threshold of collateral to make it a valid problem in their eyes? This “as long as it doesn’t affect me” mentality makes me wonder how those people treat others in more important aspects of life. Because, at the end of the day we’re still talking about a media server here.
Nontheless a media server which made my life more convenient. Didn’t think my problem with user-switching on sonos would be solved by abandoning plex as a whole but it seems that after over 13 years I’m not welcomed anymore and I have to teach my 77 year old mother how to watch videos of my niece and old digitized family videos on another system (thanks for that the most!).
I hope there’s a slight chance plex rethinks this change again, but not holding my breath. Owning up to their mistakes is not a core competence of companies…
