Piracy is a very difficult term to define. In "Under the Pixelated Jolly Roger: A story of Online Pirates," Tunnel and Steinmetz give us the visualization of the term "pirate" used to describe a bunch of one-eyed swashbucklers, attacking ships and stealing gold.
As stated in your comments, the reasons for downloading content illegally because it is comfortable and convenient. Not only is the content inexpensive (and often free), but we are able to retrieve said content at fast rates without having to leave the comfort of our homes.While a majority of us do recognize online-piracy to be an illegal act, many of us simply do not care. We are apathetic to the fact that piracy is a crime, and that we are stealing from artists who typically make millions of dollars regardless of how much their content gets stolen.
While there are ways to counter-act piracy, through ways such as "inexpensive" downloads by Apple, or having artists promote digital downloads and exclusive content with the purchase of an album, the rate that pirated content is distributed will continue to grow. As we live in the information society, one that is based on the sharing of knowledge and information, we will continue to fight for our right for free access to information and content.
As the government continues to shut down downloading sites and increase copyright infringement laws, the only way to truly stop piracy would be to shut down the Internet -an impossibility in today's society.
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