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Just to sort of hit everything above that's directed to me (in other words, now that the barrage is over, I'll try to recover)...
There's still a lot of disagreement here of whether an e-book counts as a thing that can be stolen. This frankly amazes me. Maybe stealing, by strict legal definition, only covers physical objects... but an e-book is in fact a physical object, even if it is electronic, and easily duplicated or distributed. The fact that you can't hold it in your hand is not a justification for saying it's up for grabs, or that its illicit possession is okay. (I think I do need a quantum physicist to join in here...)
You can argue the differences between copyright infringement and stealing, but if someone makes a copy of my copywritten book without permission, and gives it to someone else, they are wrongfully duplicating a product of mine. Even if they give it away for free, in the eyes of the law, it is a violation of copyright, and it is considered the same as stealing from me. And if that copywritten work is an e-book, the result is the same as a printed book.
IP laws do not specifically state, but imply in their use, that ideas, concepts, patents, etc, are the secured property of the registered owner, for a finite amount of time, that the owner has a right to profit from that idea, and that he has the right to protection against someone taking and using that idea against his wishes. That includes unauthorized duplication and distribution of that idea. It's not intended to last forever, the way physical property laws are... it's designed to give an individual the right to benefit from the fruits of their mental labors comparable to the fruits of other men's physical labors. And it is not limited to the medium the idea is recorded upon... it transcends and includes all mediums.
Without these protections, how would you expect someone to profit off of any labor that did not produce a physical product? Why would you expect anyone to work at anything that did not make them a profit? If people did not care to produce, because there was no profit in it for them, how much literature, or any art, would we have?
Some of the greatest artists in the world had patrons supporting them. Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Rockwell, Wright... these people worked on commission. Without that, who knows if they would have given us any of the masterworks we have today?
Now, I'm no Da Vinci (don't say it...) but I deserve the same rights and respect as he, and any other artist, to benefit from their work. And illicitly copying and distributing my work does not benefit me.
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