I feel it will be a big mistake for me to wade into this thread, but I would like to try and clear up one misunderstanding regardless.
Piracy (of the software/music/film downloading variety) is not theft. It's copyright infringement, which while still being a crime is a different one.
Theft, or stealing is the act of taking something such that the previous owner is deprived of its use. And the only way Internet piracy could fall into this definition is if you consider the money that
might have changed hands for genuine product. I say might because it's reasonable, in my experience at least (and I believe there are independent studies to back this up too,) to consider that many people pirate that which they would not pay for at any price; you would have to prove that they would have paid had they not pirated for a theft conviction to reasonably stick, tricky even if true.
It's still wrong that people pirate, but industry attempts to paint it as theft are done so as to make the damage to their bottom line appear worse. Music piracy reached the levels it has not through an innate desire among a massive group of Internet users to rip off the music industry, but rather from a failure of music industry to correctly identify and exploit customer demand for a modern distribution system. I want to buy my music online, but will only do so when I can get it DRM free (and in MP3 form, sorry iTunes,) until then I generally choose to do without — but many others choose to punish the music industry. Big music is especially deserving of such punishment as it has for a long time put the screws to the creators, meaning only the biggest of big artists (or those with older contracts) make meaningful amounts of money off their album sales. Most get their best income from tours, and sales of other merchandising which can be dealt with by more reasonable distributors outside of what is best exemplified in the RIAA.
Jafo wrote:
Provided ONLY the guilty are punished...and there's no colateral damage then who really gives a rat's arse?...
Unfortunatly history (being the RIAA's litigation exploits in the USA) tells us this is unlikely.
