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Let me add my two cents to this discussion. Piracy defenders do a poor job of defending what they should be defending, and that is one reason why there is scarcely any good sense in these debates (I do not mean this particular forum). When those who are partially right get the arguments wrong those who are partially wrong never get the chance to correct what is wrong about their views.
First, the issue is purely economical.
Second, there is no second issue.
What is at stake is how are we going to pay creative people. Yes, I mean those who write books and songs and play the piano —authors. This is the issue. Pirates want the money just for themselves, either because they do not want to pay authors and want that money to buy hardware or because they want donations to keep their servers going — they are evil. Distributers and publishers want some money for themselves but also want to pay authors because they know that is where their business is coming from. So they are less evil.
Dreamy free-for-all piracy defenders argue that people are very nice and pay voluntarily if given the chance; publishers know this is bullshit, economists know that also. That is why we have security in supermarkets and bookstores. Sure, not all people will steal. But if stealing is easy and a few people do it without consequences, most people will feel cheated for paying and will stop paying and start stealing. Only a few morons like me will keep on paying.
Solutions? Google; open TV. Fake that you give everything for free to people, when in fact you are just using whatever medium (TV, the internet) to sell ads. This solution sucks. But it is the only one that works. See how Firefox finances itself.
Soon, videos, music and books will be full of ads — and free. You do not like that? Neither do I. But there is no other solution I can think of. DRM is doomed to fail. Taking people to court gives authors and publishers bad publicity. Does anyone really have an alternative? Remember: there is only one issue, and that is how to pay the authors. All else is beside the point. For instance: why is it that it is legal to sell second-hand physical books, but not e-books? Well, because second-hand bookshops dent the authors and publishers a little, but do not put them at risk.
However, notice how expensive USA textbooks are. That is because authors and publishers have to make money before used textbooks get into the second-hand market; once there, publishers and authors stop making money. Also, notice how every USA textbook needs second, third, fourth editions. This is to force students into not buying a second-hand artificially outdated edition.
So, remember: this is just economics. Find a way to pay authors and publishers, without DRM and without Google-style ad bullshit, and I am with you. Otherwise, you are singing the wrong tune.
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