Here's Eugene Kaspersky's blog about why he's withdrawing his company from the Business Software Alliance (BSA) also known as the Dreaded Software Police.
The points he raises are outstanding. In addition, I'd like to suggest that if you are interested in the reality of piracy, you should read Eric Flint's editorials at www.baen.com/library.
Pirates don't steal intellectual property because it is easy. They do it because some types are very lucrative (that does NOT include books, music, movies, software, etc.). They do it because they are good hackers and they can (a very small group) and because the intellectual property owners have made it incredibly difficult to get books, music, movies, etc. without jumping hoops through ones own Orbicularis Ani.
If you look at the results of Baen publishing everything they print in multiple ebook formats, with no DRM, and even giving away CDs full of frontlist titles once or twice a year, you will see that their sales have increased sharply, and that the titles in the Free Library have driven more readers to buy the ebook, the hardcover, or the paperback because they found an author they liked in the library.
This has been going on since 1998, so Baen has incredibly good data. This is not the behavior of organized thieves.
