The cause-effect relationship is exactly the point. IRL, I am an app developer. When I deliver a new app, I have two ways to monetize my development time: I can

The cause-effect relationship is exactly the point. IRL, I am an app developer. When I deliver a new app, I have two ways to monetize my development time: I can either charge money for the app (and call it the "Pro" version), or I can put ads in the app (and call it "Lite"). If someone ends up with a copy of the app that they did not pay money for (Pro) and does not show my ads (Lite), that is pirating. Whether you stole a copy of the "Pro" version or circumvented the trust I placed in the OS (to make the internet available for ad delivery whenever feasible) does not change the fact that you have broken our (admittedly loose) agreement and stolen my software from me. I agree that it is entirely possible for the user see no ads in the Lite version anyway, perhaps because they actually don't have an internet connection. Similarly, it is entirely possible for Paypal to make some mistake and fail to credit my account properly for a purchase of the Pro version. My advertisers might by paying by click-through rather than views, in which case I am operating on a statistical basis and not making any money off of many of my users. Those details do not change the ethics and do not cancel out the wrongness of pirating. (@chc suggests that I should say "morally wrong" instead of "pirating". I think that sounds kinda ad hominem, so I've stuck with "pirating".)