Dish or Direct TV are services that you have paid for. That is a completely different situation.
I think it's a pretty safe bet that if you're going to a download site to obtain a movie or TV show, chances are pretty good that the origin is questionable, and you're very aware of what you're doing. You can claim ignorance of the fact all you want, but circumventing proper channels hints otherwise...
Downloading something that is copyrighted is most definitely theft. The argument that it isn't anything tangible just doesn't hold water. Does it take up space on your hard drive? Can you interact with it? Sure sounds like it's something to me! Digital content is still considered "goods" that the author/developer/whoever should have received money for. The fact that you have it without paying for it is what constitutes theft.
Many people are "paying" for Netflix, yet Netflix is hardly trustworthy. Netflix could easily put us all in a position to view material which has its copyrights infringed upon, and as I said before, Youtube is illegally hosting material all of the time whether they know it or not.
I can download just about any movie I want with three clicks if I choose to do so. How is that suspect? How does that make my intentions sinister, esp. when compared with others that are knowingly uploading and hosting illegal content which has had its copyrights infringed upon.
Those books I read at Barnes and Noble are copyright protected, and I don't pay for them, so what shall I charge myself with? Intent to read a book I did not pay for?????
Besides that, many things are not paid for by viewers or listener. That is why we have all the TV and Radio commercials. I watch movies on TV all the time that I do not pay for. I listen to nationally syndicated radio shows I do not pay for. I use freeware that I do not pay for. I listen to Pandora, which I DO NOT PAY FOR.
If you just want to go around saying "because it is illegal", fine. Just remember that it was "illegal" to be a Jew in Hitler's Germany, and it was illegal for millions of starving people to eat in Stalin's Russia. The Roman Catholic Church would burn you at the stake for reading or possessing certain books, thus making it illegal to possess such books. There were plenty of religo-political laws in medieval times under tyrannical Feudalist systems, and not much made sense then, did it?
I am looking at the big picture, not just the slop that Hollywood usually releases, and that some joker uploads and hosts so government can get MLB players off steroids just before they lock us all up on frivolous charges related to viewing a Tom Hanks movie online.
People are usually fined or arrested for disturbing the peace or doing actual harm to their peers/neighbors, not for watching a movie.
I can download a movie while sandboxed if it makes a Tzar feel better. That way it is quarantined in RAM and never burnt to the hard drive, so after I delete the contents of the sandbox what do I have?
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. And even if I had SOMETHING, only the uploader of copyrighted material, and (or) the administrator of the site hosting it knows what that "something" would have been (whether or not it is a legit upload based on copyright laws)
EDIT: Furthermore, if someone has complete text of the ACTUAL laws in the Contiguous Lower 48 and Europe that are designed to discourage or endict/prosecute a person that views a motion picture online, reads a non-purchased book at Barnes and Noble, or watches a TV show online, I would really be interested to read it. Any and all laws pertinent to that would be a fascinating read at this juncture, esp. when compared with actual copyright infringement.
This is from www.copyright.gov:
What is copyright infringement?
As a general matter, copyright infringement occurs when a copyrighted work is reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or made into a derivative work without the permission of the copyright owner.
HMMMM. I don't see "viewing", "watched", "listened to", or "reading" in that definition.
The gist: So if I send money to an uploader or website administrator that is hosting the movie I am watching; it is then legit??? lol
Sounds like Dish Network or Netflix to me.
playing devils advocate 666 here's another point of view...
LOLOL