Okay, so, I'm putting on my Author Hat for a second, because I keep seeing this take and like. It annoys me! Because "paying for it" was never, legally, owning it, even back in the ~halcyon days~ of hardback books and VHS tapes. To be clear, I am not saying this is a good thing-- but this take is bad enough to set my hair on fire.
Pretty much since copyright became a thing, when you buy a piece of media, you're not buying the media. The author and the publishing house (or the film studio, or the devs and the game studio, or the musician and the record company, or whoever) own the media. You're exchanging money for the right to use it under their specific terms.
Most of the time, when you buy a piece of media (whether it's a book, a DVD, a record, or a game), what you are buying is the right to consume that media for your personal use. You are buying the right to read or watch or play that thing as many times as you want, in your own home, by yourself or with a few friends.
Legally, you do not own the media. You own the right to use the media in specific ways. If you've ever lent a book to a friend and they didn't give it back, that friend is technically stealing. They don't have a license to read the book; you do.
When it's "two friends sharing a book", no one cares- it's not worth it to prosecute every time; it'd be a huge waste of money. But people get in trouble for this all the time, because they'll decide it's a good idea to play a DVD they bought at their school movie night or their church's daycare, and suddenly, they're Very Publically breaking the terms of their license. And an organization has more money than your average joe, and is worth suing. So the owners of that media come down on them like a ton of bricks.
The reason why ~digital media~ and streaming (video or music) is such a problem for people who want to Own Their Media is that, suddenly, who is consuming what becomes incredibly transparent. The people who own a particular piece of media can track who is sharing what with what account. They can tell if you're violating your license in more ways than they ever could before. And they can come down on you in ways that they never could, because you're easier to track. Combine that with the fact that media companies are more stuck in the WE HAVE TO GET BIGGER bubble more than anyone else except maybe tech startups? They're gonna use every tool they have to make sure everyone pays them.
tldr: You've never owned your media; you've always been leasing it from the people who do. If that pisses you off-- tbh, it probably should. But this is a bad take, legally, even if it's correct ethically.
