"OTOH, selling people on a movie that's utter dreck OTHER than the highlights shown in a trailer is a sort of theft as well: a "bait and switch"."
So, let me get this straight. A movie company makes a movie you don't like, so that justifies your stealing movies you DO like from other companies. The logic here escapes me.
So, if some car company implies in their ads that if you drive their car you'll get girls, and you buy the car, but you still can't get a date, it's OK to steal a car from any automobile company? Wierd logic, indeed.
Look, movies and music cost money. They're products, just as much as a car is. Stealing them is stealing. It's against the law. It's theft.
How hard is that to understand?
I don't really give a darn if you do steal them. But be aware: you may well get caught, and then you'll discover that stealing is frowned upon by the law.
And if you think, in any way, that your web browsing is somehow anonymous, I suggest you get a job at Charter.net or someplace like that and see just how private your web access really is. Feh!
Terrible metaphor.
When you steal a car, you inevitably steal it from an individual (unless you manage to take it from a car lot).
When you steal intellectual property, you are taking it from behemoth entertainment corporations that charge you $20+ for a thin peice of plastic that has a manufacturing cost of 4 cents.
Philosophically, I agree. Theft is theft. However, your attempt at moral equivalency has failed miserably.
Actually, I don't steal them. But I DO use BitTorrent for getting updated Linux distributions. And I'll admit that in the last few years, there's been a LOT more dreck than good stuff coming out of the studio, or the record companies. . .
That's why I rarely go to movies, and use Netflix. If, after viewing once on DVD, I like the flick, I buy a copy.
But other than Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, me and mine haven't been to a movie in the theaters for YEARS. . .