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Originally Posted by shalym
Harry, I think I just figured out why you and I see things so differently, and why we will probably never agree on this issue. I believe that the majority of people are basically honest, and therefore, don't "pirate" maliciously. You seem to think that if people can get something cheaper by being dishonest about it, they obviously will.
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Not at all. As I said on the previous page of this thread, I too believe that the majority of people are honest. It's the dishonest minority that we're discussing here, however.
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I believe that the ones who are downloading thousands of books, or songs, or movies, or software programs are ones who would never have bought all of that stuff. The ones who would have bought it, if they could afford to, are the ones downloading a few things that they really want to read/hear/watch/use...or in the case of books and software, it may be things that they have to have for a particular class, but can't afford.
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There I'm afraid I have to disagree. We've already agreed that most people are honest; the people we're talking about here are the minority we are not honest, and I see no reason to believe that someone who's dishonest isn't going to take something simply because they can (in fact we've had people say exactly that on MR, so there's proof that such people exist).
Not being able to afford something doesn't excuse taking it without paying. Nobody's going to starve if they can't watch a film or listen to a song. This is entertainment, not the essentials of life, and taking it without paying is pure greed.
That's the reason that heavy fines should be imposed for these offences; to send the message that it's not OK to be a freeloader.