Your analogy falls down because the act of taking a physical good deprives the current owner of that good without recompense. That is the definition of stealing

Your analogy falls down because the act of taking a physical good deprives the current owner of that good without recompense. That is the definition of stealing. Software and digital content piracy does not deprive any other owner of anything else, this is isn't stealing in the legal sense. It may be financial harm or copyright abuse but those are both separate crimes from theft. Piracy isn't legal, but it isn't theft either.