Is online piracy really "theft"?

[Dan]

If everyone stopped looking at the issue in purely black and white terms, we'd be able to actually do something about it.

The law is black and white. The topic under discussion is whether or not piracy is theft, and under our current law taking something that isn't yours constitutes theft.

pirates are just unserved customers

Rubbish. Pirates are cheapskates who think they're committing a victimless crime, not victims who are being forced to buy a product essential for life.

While I agree that many of the distribution models need revision, the fact is that video games are a luxury, not a necessity, and there's no excuse for taking something that isn't yours that someone else deserves to be paid for just because it's easy to do or because you dislike DRM and such.