Warning email from Amazon

DQ1

I think StreamFab should start exploring implementing something like Requiem.

For the youngins that are not OG like some of us, the whole concept of WEB-DL for the masses started with Requiem. It was an app that would decrypt your downloads from iTunes.

So you would download things through iTunes, legit, and then run the app to remove the FairPlay DRM. I believe DVDFab had a program that did the same thing.

If SF can figure out a way to do this for things downloaded with the built-in function of PrimeVideo, we would at least have that.
jpp72

I mean that's essentially doing the same thing as now is it not? Just maybe in a different order. You still move a file from a cloud resource to your device and decrypt it at some point. Still requires the download regardless of what app it is through and I personally believe it's the action of download whether in speed or cumulative number that is the signal.

But it's maybe a window into history that could repeat. Look how Napster and others were stomped out. A small number of people got hosed but the overall effect was the industry radically changed and now we have Spotify with access to anything and 99 cent songs where prior you were forced to buy a CD for $20. It could be argued though the CD was better because you physically possessed it. So less choice but it was yours.

Stan001

This has become more widespread. It does not matter what Amazon site you use.
The verified message is in Amazon messages if you have received a warning.
You may also see it in the email you use for Amazon.
Looking at the Reddit alternative to streamfab forum, much more info is becoming clear about what users are having happen.

They have now also banned/blocked/suspended accounts, that to me is a bit extreme. To me, they could just block offenders for 30 days from the movies/shows. Although even that can be harsh, but I am sure in Amazon's mind they are losing too much by people posting the movies to torrents and other means. Just like their poor selves needing to add ads even after raising prime membership several times.

And I hate to say it, but most posting for torrents or other means, I highly doubt using streamfab to gather the movies/shows, as I have seen 4K, which can't be done with StreamFab for most sites; only a few can be supported for 4K with StreamFab.

IronicMan

i guess i will go back to playing the show on my computer and recording the screen....don't think Amazon will protest about that...i don't have a movie theatre setup with several speakers, etc...i just watch on a tv using the tv speakers so i don't think I'll notice much difference...and all my stuff is 1080p at most, some 720p or even less...also i watch a lot of older shows like the three stooges...i find the emotional satisfaction i get from watching a screen recorded show is about the same as when i watch a show with better properties-details numbers. i remember watching a screen recorded show and thought "it looks really good, is this a screen recorded show or was it downloaded?"...however, occassionally, with a scene that involves panning the camera, there can be a bit of stuttering, i guess because there is a bit too much data for the screen recorder to take in to make it smooth... the only other thing is that it will take longer because i will want to run the recording thru handbrake to reduce file size, but i think handbrake has a batch option so i could let more than one show run at night while sleeping

MrMayor

i guess i will go back to playing the show on my computer and recording the screen....don't think Amazon will protest about that...i don't have a movie theatre setup with several speakers, etc...i just watch on a tv using the tv speakers so i don't think I'll notice much difference...and all my stuff is 1080p at most, some 720p or even less...also i watch a lot of older shows like the three stooges...i find the emotional satisfaction i get from watching a screen recorded show is about the same as when i watch a show with better properties-details numbers. i remember watching a screen recorded show and thought "it looks really good, is this a screen recorded show or was it downloaded?"...however, occassionally, with a scene that involves panning the camera, there can be a bit of stuttering, i guess because there is a bit too much data for the screen recorder to take in to make it smooth... the only other thing is that it will take longer because i will want to run the recording thru handbrake to reduce file size, but i think handbrake has a batch option so i could let more than one show run at night while sleeping
IronicMan

There is always Play on or something similar

Fogue

To confirm, you received the warning email/message prior to this one? If so, when did you get the warning email and when did you get this one? What were your download habits (number per day/concurrently, etc) since the first mesage?
MrMayor

No warning, I simply received this email and my account was deactivated immediately. Currently, I only download two series per week, 720p and 1080p of the same episodes, meaning four downloads per week. I’ve been avoiding downloading anything unnecessary as much as possible to prevent this, and even so, one month after managing to recover my account, it happened again. Now, I’ll just send the information they’re asking for and try to “recover” the account. Since I live in a country where copyright laws are less strict compared to first-world countries, I’ll try to appeal. Otherwise, I would never download anything from Amazon again; I’d just get it from private sites.

Stan001

There is always Play on or something similar

Playon has been around a long time, but at the same time, so has streamfab. (And this problem has just now started with streamfab.)
YES, Playon itself admits it records. ($39.99/year using the home version)
Downside: I hate them because, since Windows 11, they stopped the lifetime support, as well as not being easily streamed, as it has to be cast from a computer.

Cast to your
Roku, Chromecast,
Fire TV and more.

Sebastian001

I haven't downloaded anything from Amazon for a while, so no series. The last time was April/May. But I had about 200 downloads per day... try entering Microsoft Copilot to see how Amazon sees it. It talks about license requests without playback. I haven't tested it on Amazon yet. But on RTL+, every episode plays before downloading. By the way, it must also affect MusicFab. Maybe Google is too stupid to create a new Widevine :-)

IronicMan

There is always Play on or something similar
MrMayor

maybe i will look into that thanks.

jpp72

I mean that's essentially doing the same thing as now is it not? Just maybe in a different order. You still move a file from a cloud resource to your device and decrypt it at some point. Still requires the download regardless of what app it is through and I personally believe it's the action of download whether in speed or cumulative number that is the signal.

But it's maybe a window into history that could repeat. Look how Napster and others were stomped out. A small number of people got hosed but the overall effect was the industry radically changed and now we have Spotify with access to anything and 99 cent songs where prior you were forced to buy a CD for $20. It could be argued though the CD was better because you physically possessed it. So less choice but it was yours.
DQ1

No, it is not. Downloading with the Amazon app is allowed. Then you decrypt the movie OFFLINE. They don't know you removed the DRM and can play it outside of the app. It's completely different.

Sebastian001

No, it is not. Downloading with the Amazon app is allowed. Then you decrypt the movie OFFLINE. They don't know you removed the DRM and can play it outside of the app. It's completely different.
jpp72

Streamfab android ;):rolleyes:

2.0.2.0 2024-09-20

Notice: The download feature of Amazon, Netflix and other streaming services has been temporarily removed in this version.
New: Some improvements for the video download engine.

DQ1

No, it is not. Downloading with the Amazon app is allowed. Then you decrypt the movie OFFLINE. They don't know you removed the DRM and can play it outside of the app. It's completely different.
jpp72

I don't think you read my entire explanation. It's doing the same things (in general) just in a different order. But in either case you still send up the same flares of frequent downloads, possibly pulling them down faster than typical and possibly not watching them. Whether you rip the DRM off prior to download or post download it's the download.

Yes I get the app allows you to do it but the current paradigm technically allows us to do what we are getting emails now for. I get what you are saying, you are trying to figure out how to circumvent their noticing. But you won't. If they REALLY wanna stop all of it, they can, they have the resources. The only question is how much is it worth to them to do it. They knew the whole time what Fab was doing. They have just now decided to spend the resources to do something about it. This is actually a light handed way of just letting everyone to "stop, we know". In the case of the music stuff years ago they sued the hell out of some folks and financially tortured them as an example.

From here this probably goes 1 of 2 ways. They either just tamp it down with this and let it be less mainstream, or this is just a warning shot and they come hard after this.

theresay

I have a question, for the people who received the warning, what version of SF are you on? I'm asking because, this seem to pop up after the last (or the one before) update. I've been downloading from Amazon once a day for the past few days, each time from 12 to 22 episodes, and the most I did was more than 50 downloads in a day, but so far I haven't receive any email or message on the warning. I'm still on version 6.2.3.7.

Cats4U

I'd really like to see the header of the Amazon warning message that someone has received. So as not to reveal personal information, it'd be best to zip up the entire message including header and upload as an attachment. Only the few Trusted Members would be able to read the information.

Is it me or does it seem that it is primarily New and Junior Members on the SF forum are receiving these warning messages from Amazon. Basically, what I mean is that the member has about 20 posts or fewer on the forum. Go back and check the previous posts in this topic. Besides being new to the forum, they are probably new to StreamFab. Despite what they say, those new to SF are exactly the ones that are most likely to download 100 files for several days in a row.

And finally, just for information, when it comes to torrenting, Amazon and other providers don't check for piracy themselves. They hire third party security companies to handle that job. There really is no reason why they wouldn't do the same for direct downloads from the provider site. That might be the reason why the email seem a little less than real to some. Again, seeing the email header would be helpful.
Some have put down torrenting as unsafe. That is only true if using a public tracker. Third party security companies scour all public trackers for violators of DMCA so they can turn them in and be compensated for it. Private trackers vet their member thoroughly, and I've never read of anyone receiving a DMCA on a private tracker. I've been torrenting on private trackers for well over a decade and have never received a DMCA, even without using a VPN. I used to use newsgroups. They are very safe, as well. I just prefer private torrenting better.

Eureeka1989

Yesterday, I have received the warning message as well. I've been a member with StreamFab for nearly two years, and now all of a sudden I've received this warning from Amazon. Last week, I only downloaded at least 25 episodes of a show on Prime in a day. Here is the attachment.

MrMayor

I have a question, for the people who received the warning, what version of SF are you on? I'm asking because, this seem to pop up after the last (or the one before) update. I've been downloading from Amazon once a day for the past few days, each time from 12 to 22 episodes, and the most I did was more than 50 downloads in a day, but so far I haven't receive any email or message on the warning. I'm still on version 6.2.3.7.
theresay

I was kind of wondering if a version or newer could contribute towards the message.

Cats4U

Yesterday, I have received the warning message as well. I've been a member with StreamFab for nearly two years, and now all of a sudden I've received this warning from Amazon. Last week, I only downloaded at least 25 episodes of a show on Prime in a day. Here is the attachment.
Eureeka1989

Were you responding to my request? If so, you didn't include the email header. See here as to how to view an email's header using your particular email reader: https://www.hostknox.com/tutorials/email/headers

0xFeedBeef

the way to check if it's a genuine communication from Amazon or not is to check it in your amazon messages under:

[code]
www.amazon.{whatever the domain the message came from is}/messages
[/code]

if it's there, it's genuine

Sebastian001

I thought the issue of the emails being authentic had been resolved. So why all this work?

Sebastian001

Can you narrow down what you have downloaded, everything or just Amazon's own productions?

Stan001

I thought the issue of the emails being authentic had been resolved. So why all this work?

I still don't know about the emails, but those who got the message to Amazon's message center have to be legitimate, or someone mass brute hacked Amazon, whether it's prime, and/or com, and/or uk.
Or a possible breakdown in Amazon's system, but you think it would be fixed by now if that happened.

Now, yes, it's suspicious that some claim 1 download triggered it; that within 15 minutes or less of a download, they got a warning message and/or email.

It was shown here how to check your messages on Amazon. >here

It does seem very unusual as there are still those saying they do at least 50 to 100 and have not received a notice.
Now, maybe it is one of the last few updated versions of SF, and many lately tend to hold off updating.
I am letting it ride out, at last this week, maybe longer, as the show I usually get from Amazon, a previously FreeVee show, is on summer break.
And can be found via other means.

And yes, don't worry if you decide to go to torrents. I don't say much for private torrent sites, but it’s very easy in the US to get a proxy or VPN and download your a$$ off.
As both hide your IP so the DMCA who spends the whole day every day sending out notices to your ISP if you don't hide your IP/ISP.
For those who found very good private sites and have not been reported, go for it. I still feel safer behind either a socks5 proxy or VPN.

Right now, I am not in the position to risk my Amazon account, as some have had their accounts suspended. I order most everything I get from Amazon. With an occasional shift to other sites.

Let's hope things calm down soon, but if it is a new way for Amazon to track downloads versus watching, it could be some time before SF can even figure out how to hide it.
SF needs to query Amazon for the files and keys in order to download the files. And there may even be more to it.
It was pretty quick for SF to get past DRM lately, so anything is possible.

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