[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by spooky69

There are plenty of people who pirate media as a means of looking for things to spend their money on...

you need to develop a more realistic attitude about the type of people you're dealing with and recognize that you're dealing with somebody who's not only showing a marked interest in your product, but has sought it out and will probably distribute it to somebody else...

This group is going to be very active in purchasing legal versions of products that they've already pirated, and having that person obtain a pirated copy of a product you can sell them is a significant business lead...

the majority of transfers of pirated material actually have the effect of bringing increased awareness of a product to an interested individual, and this will often have the effect of turning somebody who had a very low chance of buying a product without that contact into somebody who is now much more likely to spend their money on it legally if given the right incentive...

piracy will always involve distribution to individuals willing to spend their money through legitimate channels.

All of these are points which have been brought up again and again, by many people... not just you, spooky... and which are all sheer conjecture, wishful thinking and supposition. You have no proof that any of these assertions actually happen, and neither does anyone else.

There is no data that backs up the idea that pirating works leads to the pirate's buying works by that artist later.

There is zero evidence that any author has gained hordes of fans thanks to their obtaining his pirated works.

There is no data that backs up the assertion that pirates go back and pay for the things they've pirated.

And there is no data that shows that people who download pirated works go out and buy other material based on those pirated works.

These are all maybes, conceivables, possibles... but not facts. So it's no good using them to justify piracy. And finally:

Originally Posted by spooky69

I haven't seen you yet acknowledge a fundamental point about digital piracy as compared to traditional theft, which is that each "theft" doesn't necessarily represent a loss of income for the seller since it's more than likely that the person would never have spent their money on that product anyway and downloaded it mostly because of the convenience of doing so...

the only place where you're losing sales is from a very specific group of people who will buy a certain type of media, but only if they can't obtain it illegally...

That's because stealing something you wouldn't have otherwise paid for doesn't justify stealing it in the first place. And since, by your logic, someone who couldn't obtain it illegally might therefore pay for it, every instance of stealing IS one lost potential sale.

You're right in that I will not consider any of these reasons for taking a digital work intended purely for entertainment, without paying for it, in direct violation of the owner's wishes and right to be duly compensated, to be justified. Easy does not justify. Cheap does not justify. Paranoia does not justify. Eye for an eye does not justify. Absence of malice does not justify. Ignorance does not justify. Blame does not justify. And phantom promotion does not justify.