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With the DMCA and other laws in act, how does this kind of websites still continue to survive? Not only about the DMCA but I am assuming many (almost all) countries will take this as a serious offence on illegally streaming 3rd party contents online without appropriate permission from the content creators. And these online services are not just some small website but websites with millions of hits everyday. Comparing these to mediafire or thepiratebay these are smaller, but these are not just storing illegal contents but also directly streaming them causing millions of dollars in loss for the content creators such as hollywood/bollywood.
Albeit these service operators might use some kind of method to hide themselves, their servers, domains, contents are always visible to everyone and should be easy to take them. Google doesn't remove them from their search results, they get advertising network operating on their website. And they keep operating as just another "paid service" (but with a crappy UI).
How do they survive? What prevents original content creators to stop them?
I recently got an offer to work remotely for a friend on couple of his projects that is interesting, pays better and is at least going to keep me busy for another six months. And there is a also good possibility that as I finish these, I will be getting more work and I am likely to build a small business of my own here through this. So last week I quit my job and started working on this full-time. So far, my friend is happy and so am I.
But there is something odd going on here. Unlike my previous job where I had to work 9-6, 5 days a week, I don't really have a pretty good schedule here for myself. Now while working from home, sometime I work for a continuous 16 hours and then sometime I find myself I haven't looked at that project in the last two days as I spent it by browsing random projects on the internet, working on other things, watching multiple seasons of sitcoms or just brainstorming about product ideas that I can build in future!
I know that to make it as a self-employed person, one needs to have a good self-control. But, do any of you guys have been through this? How have you managed yourself? Does this gets better after a while? What should I do to make this better and be efficient?
From handling clients deadline to managing partners co-operation to employee and on going self projects with keeping an eye on the competitors statement to an argument going on Facebook about your last action and ensuring cash that's running out of your hand to the sleepless night and broken relationships and parents, all without any experience takes the soul out of your life just hoping for good days to come ahead.
Should your really start a business straight when you are out of college? How do you manage everything when there are no experience whatsoever of any business other than being born in a lower-mid-class business mans' family?
You know you are going to do business of your own and you can't imagine yourself working for some cocky boss who tells you what to do and what not to. You know you want to have your own startup and you know that it's super risky. You know it's going to be tough and high and lows.. but you can't say when it's going to be okay!!!
Would you consider spending time on HN, CouchSurfing or similar sites productive? I understand that from a boss's perspective, of course not! But, in the long run, and for your own personal growth, it of course is productive. You are learning something most of the time. May be something that one learns here won't be useful right now, but it does have some impact that changes how you act or think later when it comes to using it directly or indirectly.
So, I know that it doesn't counts much to be serious enough. But, would you mark HN or CouchSurfing or similar sites to be productive sites, for your own-self and your growth?
What similar productive/may-be-productive-later sites do you know? ;)