> You can currently download any copyright work from any pirate site and be free of all consequences, and this has always been so. No. By virtue of "download"

> You can currently download any copyright work from any pirate site and be free of all consequences, and this has always been so. No. By virtue of "download" of a file, you are making a copy of it which is in violation of US copyright (and lots of countries. You're unlikely to be sued or prosecuted for it, but that doesn't make it legal.