brandonspikes, I don't see why so many people have a hard time getting what you're saying and understanding it. I side completely with your views on it, though.
So people, let me explain what he is saying (since the multiple times HE explained it obviously wasn't enough). Hell, I'll even give you guys an example.
There is very little in effect to
prevent us from committing crimes. The only way people are going to be prevented from committing a crime is by knowing about the consequences of committing it, and those with sense/fear/conscience will shy away from doing so. However, those more risky/stupid/without a conscience will do so.
Why? We all
damn well have the ability to do whatever the hell we please. Not saying it's right, but we can physically do whatever the hell we want. Nothing is stopping us from doing it. However, that doesn't mean we can't get punished after the fact.
Now, my glorious example - I downloaded a bunch of Wii and Gamecube games from my
source this past week. There is nothing in effect to effectively stop me from doing so, just fear tactics of the consequences of getting caught. So I downloaded them. Now the punishment I could suffer could be anywhere from a C&D email or letter from my ISP to my ISP shutting off my internet to getting fined to getting jailed.
The first two haven't happened yet, and since they haven't I don't have much belief that the last two will either. End result, I get my games, the internet isn't censored, and my crime goes unpunished. Is Nintendo out anything? Nothing on the GC games since they're not made anymore. The Wii games, that's more of a grey area, because I wouldn't have bought those games in the first place probably. You could say that they lost the potential for a sale, but in the end if I like the game a lot I'll go buy it.
Also -