Sure, but then again, I use streaming torrents (via VPN) frequently and it's not to avoid paying for stuff. For various reasons we have a cable TV subscription

Sure, but then again, I use streaming torrents (via VPN) frequently and it's not to avoid paying for stuff. For various reasons we have a cable TV subscription in our house. Mostly it's because others in the house want cable TV but either way, it's like a $30 addon with internet service so it's relatively cheap and we pay for it. The down side is that even though I pay for cable TV, I have to use their shitty tuner/DVR and they've all but blocked the use of alternatives. So what I do is run Popcorn Time while connected through a VPN, bookmark all of my favorite shows, and when I want to watch TV, I just go to my favorites and click the latest episode that aired the previous night. It's seamless, I don't need to worry about their DVR failing to record for some reason I can't troubleshoot (unless you count driving to the cable company during work hours to swap the DVR for another equally shitty DVR), and the interface is much nicer. And while I'm aware that it's still in violation of copyright law, I don't feel I'm doing anything immoral because I pay for cable TV and could watch the same shows if I happened to be around or awake when they aired. The really screwy thing here is that I'd gladly pay even more for cable TV if they offered a legit version of this. Nice Netflix-like interface where I can browse titles or go to my favorites and see which episode I left off on. Click any one of them and within a minute it starts streaming in decent 1080p quality and there's no unresponsive 1990's interface to wrestle with. They could even set it up so you need to log in with your cable service account and all viewers would be "seeds" on the cable company's swarm. Instead I pay $30/yr for a VPN service that provides enough anonymity to avoid lawsuits and threats (even if I wouldn't necessarily count on it for anything truly sensitive) and go the "back channel" route. While I accept that I'm not owed a better experience and it may come off as entitled, in my case, it's not so much about wanting everything for free as it is about wanting something better and using the available tools to get it.