Oh joy; this should be fun!
Applause to Jason for keeping it above the belt
I'm not trying to get into any legal or moral right-or-wrong. Everyone has their opinion on the matter. Factually, the only point I'm trying to make is that "stealing" and "copying" are two different things, and online piracy is the latter.
Theft of service; how is any service being stolen? I am performing this service myself, instead of going through a middle man because I have the knowledge and capability to do so. Isn't that the whole point? You're not being charged with "theft of service" from your mechanic every time you change your own oil.
Convoluted? Not quite. Let me simplify for you since you seem to be either unwilling or unable to understand.
When you replicate the outcome - it's a copy.
When you steal, you claim ownership. You replicate the process, the function, the principle, etc.
You can make a copy of a Picasso, and it's nothing special. But stealing the original painting done by Picasso, is a very different thing.
And I am not a thief, I have never stolen anything, from anyone, ever. You can ask (some of) the members in this club that if something has gone wrong, I did what I could to make it right. They might not own up to it publicly, in fear of angering the "HP sucks bandwagon," but they know who they are.
It's going well. I got accepted into both A&M and U of H. After spending a semester at U of H, I decided that my heart is at TAMU, and I'll be enrolling to finish in the fall. I've only got about 30 hours left. Glad to know you care so much!
Way to jump on the bandwagon, really, all your buddies must be so proud of you!
It's really funny because a lot of you guys are actually pretty cool dudes when I've talked to you in person, but you seem to have this collective hate-deuchebaggery that I can't quite describe or understand for the life of me. What the hell is wrong with all of you that you can't just be civil with one another?
Alright I'm done, let the HP flame continue