Morganni Wrote:To ignore certain things for a moment, I'd say it makes plenty difference if they are in fact *not* making money.There are ads on the site. They are (or were) making money from them. That is indeed a distinction that makes a difference, which is exactly why it was pointed out.
But I'd argue that the long-term benefit to society of illegal sharing (as long as certain strictures are observed) far outweighs the costs. Which would make it... not morally bankrupt anyway.
(And from a practical standpoint, as someone who works in retail, I feel my store is less hurt by a hundred people downloading something we sell than by one person shoving a copy in their pants.)
Your experience of working in retail is rather irrelevant, since "your store" and "the entire industry" are not exactly the same entity, particularly if you do not work in a store that exclusively sells pirateable material. That's aside from the rather obvious fact that stores are generally insured against theft, but not against massive numbers of people not buying products because they downloaded them.