By non-commercial file sharing I mean file sharing without making a monetary profit from it. This definition covers people using megaupload, but does not cover

By non-commercial file sharing I mean file sharing without making a monetary profit from it. This definition covers people using megaupload, but does not cover megaupload itself - who quite obviously made profit from distributing copyrighted works. There is a different discussion on whether closing it this way was the right thing, but I'm not interested in it right now. What I want to point is that the guy downloading and sharing the movie for home-viewing is definitely non commercial. And this is very much included in the common definition of piracy (along with commercial distribution like bootleg cds). Now, about how it's not ok to break the laws: I disagree. I view laws as a convenience for having a civilized society, not as sacred rules. I have enormous respect for them and I am perfectly aware that respecting just the laws you feel like when you feel like is a recipe for chaos. But I am also aware that not all laws are just. More to the point, I am aware that historically a huge number of laws were completely absurd, and from a modern point of view they were (also literally) medieval. I have absolutely no reason to believe we are now above having such absurd laws and I think drug and copyright laws are such modern examples, having no basis in fact and rationality. Therefore not only I have no respect for them, but also no compunction about breaking them (other then getting caught). Prostitution is a different matter btw - in principle I am for legalizing it, but in practice there are ways it could backfire. Human trafficking is real, and while I suspect having prostitution illegal only helps it I don't have the same degree of conviction. With copyright on the other hand there is no doubt in my mind that it's an absurd law - therefore I am morally free (and somehow obligated) to ignore it. Your main objection is that breaking the law doesn't help change it - this I do not think is true. Having millions, really having a majority of the population pirating movies and smoking pot - with no catastrophic consequences on either - only helps drive the point that the laws are absurd. If everybody respected the law just because it's the law we'd just have a world of sheep. It's enough we often get the circular reasoning that "all drugs are bad because they're illegal". I have no desire to see it applied to copyright.