[HOOT]

I agree with Itse on how this is all too similar to the War on Drugs. You are going to be punishing people for a harmless crime when there will be no way to stop it from continuing on and getting larger. People are just going to do more underground. Sure there won’t be PirateB or anything like that but there will always be something.

Personally I have no issue with illegal downloads because I have found a lot of good stuff to actually purchase because of it. Shows I would never watch, movies I would never normally rent/buy, music I would never listen to, etc.

The best example I can give is my favorite band became my favorite band because of illegal downloading. I had a friend with an extra ticket to one of their shows and I wanted to hear them before going over to Vancouver. Downloaded their latest album, liked them, went to their concert and since then have bought all their albums, been to every concert in the NW, bought their DVD bio, etc, etc, etc. So because of that one download I ended up actually paying for a ton of stuff I probably wouldn't have. And that isn’t a rare thing to happen. I do the same thing with movies where if I like it that much I’ll buy the real copy.

I wish movie companies would team up with iTunes or something of that sort where you can watch the first 20-30 minutes of a movie for free and if you want to continue you pay whatever the cost is. Personally for me I illegally download to preview stuff so I don't buy something I don’t want. The entertainment industry needs to stop taking advantage of its customers and maybe people wouldn't feel the need to "steal" their content to make sure it isn't garbage.