A small dose of reality
Pirating stuff is immoral, and actually I had a giggle from the guy who got whammied while visiting TPB. Kinda what he deserved.
But look at it from the other side, for the industry is more than happy to get the media spouting headlines like "illegal downloads" (which, uh, aren't) because it plays with the emotions, induces fear. They have lobbied themselves into a position to ask governments to implement totally unrealistic measures to protect their business model whilst totally disregarding the fact that existing measures exist - but hey, the existing ways are a hassle. It is far easier to induce fear (again) with a "you dick with us, we cut you off from your precious virtual world". And, to top it all, the secret talks regarding ACTA which was an anti-counterfeit thing has been hijacked to twist it around to be a weapon or the bidding of media companies and copyright holders. An industry that tried to foist DRM on music (and pretty much lost), is still trying DRM with video, doesn't give a toss about "fair use" legislation, and sees nothing wrong with region coding DVDs for no purpose that benefits the end-user.
Is it any wonder some people are so willing to point out the 'i's and 't's when there is so much FUD being thrown around? I'm not a legal expert either, but perhaps if you fired up Google and did some poking around, you would realise that the whole thing is a crock.
This doesn't mean you should feel sorry for pirates, far from it. But, by the same token, you shouldn't act as a proxy mouthpiece for the media companies either. Read, apply your brains, and draw your own conclusion. *Neither* side is right, and in trying to sort out the chaos, those with the most cash are stomping all over us in a way that, in the future, could prove to be extremely damaging. Are you really okay with that?