You are correct, it&#x27;s not theft.  It&#x27;s counterfeiting, which is worse.  If you steal a TV, it can be counted as a loss and the TV manufacturer can still sell TVs with little to no problems.<p>If enough people pirate, it changes the perceived value of a digital good to $0 or near $0 and will eventually put the person out of business.  The big businesses can handle it just fine.  The small companies are the ones you are hurting.<p>The app store, while not pirating, is a good example of this.  Apps are no 99 cents.  If you try to make an app more expensive than this, people generally will complain or not buy it at all.  Why? Because the perceived value of an app is 99 cents.<p>It&#x27;s very similar to the principals of currency.