Jan 5th 2012, 22:48:21
First off, let me say that I'm definitely an advocate for free stuff. I had pirated many things in my day, and bought physical copies of many pirated movies/albums/etc after doing so, if no other reason than to support something that was well-enjoyed.
I've always felt that one of the issues with piracy, or rather, anti-piracy, is in their incomprehensibly high fines they pass out to those they choose to catch. fluff like them finding some unemployed student in a dorm room, and try to slap him with what amounts to millions, if not tens or hundreds of millions of dollars worth of fines. To pretty much anyone, these numbers are just so unrealistic that they just don't care.
I was very closely involved with Napster when it was first produced, and helped as I could throughout the whole legal trouble. At one point, if I recall correctly, the RIAA tried suing the company for the equivalent of somewhere around a trillion dollars in fines. Who the fluff would even bat an eye when they're told that's their fine? Not me- it's completely unrealistic.
What I would suggest to the various companies "losing out" due to piracy, is to drop their fines. We catch you stealing an album? $15. An HD movie? $30. Et cetera.
If people started getting bills in the mail for $200 because they got caught torrenting a discography, they may actually reconsider their actions.