[arty-fishL]

OK, I don't think piracy is acceptable, but this has gone too far.
PIPA/SOPA/ACTA, they don't even need to pass, the FBI have already succeeded.

After shutting down Megaupload the FBI has managed to scare almost every other file sharing website into either completely shutting down or deleting most of their files.

This is really annoying.

There have been many things I have wanted to download legitimately that, where I could have easily before, I cannot now due to the links now being invalid or unavailable. There has also been some things (movies mainly) that I have wanted to sample in low pirated quality (as it is), so as to judge whether or not they are worth buying to experience them fully. Unfortunately I have not been able to try them, so the result has been that I have just not bought them.

I think this is stupid.

The big corporations are complaining about lost profit due to pirated downloads. They then show vast figures of "lost" money that make pirating seem terrible. The fact is, though, that most of the people are pirating because they would not or could not otherwise pay for the item. So it obviously apparent here, that these lost profit figures are vastly incorrect. The figures are usually calculated by sticking the maximum possible price onto every measurable pirated download; this is ridiculous because most of those "pirates" would not have made purchases anyway, had the item been unavailable for pirating.

They also don't seem to show profits due to piracy. Many smaller companies/bands/groups (not big corporations) have accredited piracy to an increase in sales. Sometimes it isn't all negative.

Its a real shame that legitimate websites are being scared into blocking out innocent users, as they are scared that the FBI will shut them down or likewise.
This is a sad year for the internet.