@Chris W
On reading.
@Roger Stenning: "I'd rather see murderers, child molesters, rapists, thieves, muggers, robbers and burglars, and all other violent offenders banged up."
Can you show the bit where that is taken to say the OP didnt ask for them to be banged up AS WELL as illegal downloaders?
No one as far as I can see has said what you are arguing against.
The OP is calling for an excessive punishment of illegal downloaders and from what I can see that is what Roger Stenning has said.
You then build a nice strawman about it being jailing one not the other, which it never was.
You @Chris W then state: "but that is no reason to suggest that the criminals you favour should be let off lightly."
Who said anything about letting off illegal downloaders lightly? Where have you got that idea from?
White Collar crime covers a gamut of activity, not all of it is economy shattering, and interestingly there is a significant body of work placing copyright infringement in the "White Collar Crime" category.
To imply that all white collar crime should result in jail sentences is as comical as saying all white collar crime is embezzlement or insider trading.
Finally you stated: "He/She merely expressed an opinion that those who break the law should be punished."
Actually no, the original AC said "As long as pirates go to prison, that's all that counts."
Unless it was you, and you now want to clarify what you meant, this can only be taken to mean that Pirates should go to prison. It may well have been meant ironically, but it has no bearing on what other law-breakers should suffer.
"go to prison" is not the same as "be punished"
Community orders and non-prison sentences are not "getting off lightly."