Originally Posted by JesseFame

Total garbage. I didn't read the rest of the thread past the first few replies to see if someone already said this but:

1. This did not COST the studio over $4 Million, it represents a potential loss of $4 Million, on the assumption that everyone of those ~800k people would have gone to the theatre and paid full price for the movie. Additionally, unless they polled all of those people, they have no clue how much they actually lost, so in calculating the damages they basically used made up math, like they have since the beginning of charging piraters with crimes.

2. It has been proven time and time again that people who download things often do so as a preview and then will purchase, rent, and or go see the media live [music, movies, or TV.]

3. This was the sixth movie in a franchise, can you blame them for wanting to make sure it didn't suck before going to see it? How many movies can't even get a sequel right, let alone a sixth instalment.

4. It was a Cam version, those are horrific generally and I bet most of those ~800k people didn't even make it halfway through, but if they liked what they saw, they probably shelled out the $$ to go see it in theatres to get the true experience.

5. Let every one of you who hasn't recorded shows off the TV onto VHS back in the day, made mix tapes off the radio back in the day, or downloaded a single thing illegally cast the first stone.

Piracy is not the same as theft. Potential loss is not the same as true cost. Piracy does not always equal lost revenue, often it's a preview. Taking away six years of a person's life for wanting to share content which he's not making a dime off of and you being joyful about it in a forum, is pretty pathetic when most of you break other laws, download yourself, or have pirated content in the past through other mediums before the internet.