Alright, time to voice my opinion. First of all, a little background. I download songs off of Napster all the time and burn them to CD's. Do I think it is wrong? A little bit. The problem I have with the anti-piracy contingent is their argument that "theft is theft", plain and simple, end of story. No it isn't, you can't just equate all crimes. Do you equate murder with pulling into a parking space with a meter and not putting change in? The fact is, the public perception is that breaking copyright laws for personal use is not that big of a deal. If you have a stake in the business, a band losing money because of Napster, or a software designer, obviously, it is a much bigger deal. Do you ever drive above the speed limit? Well you're nothing more than a common criminal. The thing is, I consistently drive at least 10 miles above the speed limit and pass highway patrolmen and they do nothing about it. That tells me that the very people who enforce the law don't feel like I'm doing anything wrong. The same as when I download song after song and make CD's and no one does anything about it. Another thing about calling piracy theft, is that there is a fundamental difference between what most of us consider theft and copying software. At some point someone paid for the software. When a criminal shoplifts, it is totally different. More importantly than all of this is looking at the big picture. The average Joe doesn't know a damn thing about cracking software or even how to burn a CD for that matter. Sure they might learn but by that time there will be greater security measures that they know nothing about. Technology will continue to advance and people will continue to find ways to break copyright laws but only a limited few who are much more advanced technologically than your average person. Which means 95% of the business will still be there. For a company who sells huge volumes, a 5% loss is a tremendous amount of money but they're still doing alright financially. Basically, I think people who know how to get free copies of software, music, etc. are just taking advantage of the fact that they are smart enough to do it. I also think that the general public agrees with that and in some cases, what the majority believes to be true, is true as a result. Now if someone uses their ability to make copies and sell them for profits, that is a differnt story altogether and a much more serious offence. As a result, they are much more likely to be penalized for it than the guy who has a borrowed copy of MS Office. That's pretty much all I have to say on the subject. I know the anti-piracy camp is just going to say that I am trying to justify my crimes and they would be right but I think my argument is pretty solid.
