I don’t know who said it, she may have admitted to it before ever seeking legal council. Most people who aren’t familiar with the legal systems of the world rarely understand how and where being completely truthful and honest can bite them in the ass.

You appear to honestly believe that a new format, a digital format, can wipe clean thousands of years of history and more importantly, hundreds of years of near universally agreed upon values about business, fair play, the inherent human rights of the creator (codified by the United Nations, not incidentally.)

Civil Rights embraced an honor that nothing was in it for those who were not black and yet stood up for it. Pirates preach altruism but in the end, always evidence they are in this for free stuff, whether it takes a vpn or encryption, spoofing and blaming it on someone else, it’s always about avoiding payment and getting something free for THEM. There is no altruism in piracy because without the free entertainment, your cause withers.

You’d get a lot more respect if you ran the risk with nothing in it for yourself. THAT’s what civil rights were all about. Risk with no personal reward. THAT’s why it is so cheap for pirates to wrap themselves in that noble cause. The black man couldn’t do it on his own. It required non-blacks (who already HAD their rights) to stand up FOR him. That’s not what pirates do. If they don’t get free stuff one way, they will find (technically) another. THAT, Alyssa, is what pirates do. Getting stuff remains the point. Pirates take free stuff every second.

It’s cheap and disrespectful on so many levels of historical significance, respect for the creator and payment as evidence of that respect or just leave it alone and do without and let the market simply take the creator away. Thousands of years of barter is the basis for this. Piracy is piracy. Call it “sharing” and it’s still ripping off the one who actually did the work for you.

I feel for you in some ways. I remember when my ideals so clouded my eyes I struggled with reality until reality, as it always does and always will, won. Reality IS. It always prevails because it’s real. But this time is different. You’ve been given profound tools, trusted to you with no lawful right to them at all, just a global agreement that if you don’t abuse them to much, you can keep and use and enjoy them.

You are too young to understand this. You keep pushing as if your ideals might trump the truth of human nature. You, too, will be lost if you don’t mature and gain wisdom before it is too late.

We all lived where you do, Alyssa, but we didn’t have your technology. Silly you to believe that mere tech can change who we are. We’ve been here before. We’ll be here always because this is who we are. Storm the portals of your government or sit down, Alyssa. Your pointless support of unlawful infringement agitation only strips the rest of us of our rights and when you gain some vantage, you’ll see the damage you’ve done.