I'd rather not debate over whether or not (digital content) piracy is theft, but surely the matter is not "pure and simple". Free speech is absolutely an issue

I'd rather not debate over whether or not (digital content) piracy is theft, but surely the matter is not "pure and simple". Free speech is absolutely an issue here (maybe not the main issue). TPB hosts torrent files. "A torrent is data about a target file, though it contains no information about the content of the file. The only data that the torrent holds is information about the location of different pieces of the target file" [1] This is would be like Joe telling someone how to do something illegal, like how to sneak into a movie theater without paying. You could claim that this would make Joe an accomplice to the person who successfully uses his advice, but others will also claim that Joe still has the right to say it. You may argue that it is what is, and under US law, it means Joe is an accomplice, but others sympathize with Joe. That's why people are defending TPB here. It may perfectly legal what the gov't are doing, but we still don't like it. Even if we agree that TPB is mainly devoted to assisting the infringement of copyrights, the cost/benefit ratio favors "Big Media" way more than anyone else (even combined) and the costs are too Orwellian. The bigger issue to me though is that this interference is being pushed by companies (in fact, companies that I despise). Like Exxon pushing our gov't to push other countries to do things to maximize Exxon's profits. Or Halliburton. Or Monsanto, etc. I blame the US (and Sweden) for being weak (and somewhat corruptible) but the real blame is on the MPAA and friends. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torrent_file http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torrent_file