Well not to add any fuel to the fire as what follows can support either side.
In Canada photocopying copyrighted material was illegal even for educational purposes.
At the time it was expensive and when a big fuss was made about educational photocopying the government put a tax on photocopier paper as almost all mass photocopying of copyrighted material was by educational institutes.
Next it was cassette tapes, and a similar tax was imposed on the tapes although this was not generally an educational thing.
Then came DVDs. Same type of tax.
Now I can buy 1000 sheets of paper for $3.00 10 cheap cassettes for $1.00 or 100 DVDs for $15.00 so I can't see the tax as either a deterrent or an adequate source of compensation. With eBooks there is really nothing left to tax. Or everything to re-tax, plus phones and tablets and maybe gaming machines
But... until 2012 all copying was perfectly legal in Canada. Laws against media/content copying have been enacted I believe but are pretty murky. Possibly not enforceable and not widely understood. My cable company rep told me in all seriousness that it was illegal to move my PVR which they gave me as a bonus to the bedroom to watch a show I had recorded in the living room and vice versa even though it is the same cable hookup in both rooms.
And as in most countries it is the government/big company interaction that is basically at fault IMO. If recording things is illegal, then cassette recorders should never have been sold. Likewise DVD recorders and personal photocopiers etc.
And if it is illegal to watch a DVD in another region then I should not be able to buy the player outside that region.
I don't own a player from another region, but then again I have enough to watch and listen too and read etc. without. My life doesn't hinge around having exactly what I want when I want it fortunately as lots of things I can't afford
And I don't condemn anyone whose lifestyle and social interaction/friendship depends on having access to the latest and greatest or anyone else for that matter. I just see no reason for all of the explanations etc. or the active encouragement of others to do the same.
Helen