itWolverine, like pretty much everyone else) was leaked. Folks around the Interweb are pondering the significance. From what I can gather, it comes down to money and the question how this leak is a real-world experiment in the actual economic impact of piracy. And that will be interesting. But that's a big picture thing. Made up of a lot of little pictures on computer screens. Why would you download Wolverine? Be honest: to watch it as soon as possible. You can argue that you're resisting the mass market, exploitative ticket pricing, or an unfair movie industry. But you can do those things without watching a downloaded movie. Just sayin'.
I'm not saying that piracy is wrong, or that downloading a movie is stealing in the same way that purse-snatching is, but it's a little disingenuous to argue that by watching Wolverine before May 1 you're sticking it to the man.
I'm interested in this debate particularly because I vehemently oppose stealing music but watch TV online for free all the time -- and I justify it to myself through a complex argument about advertising and PVRs that I won't bore you with. I'm torn between thinking that piracy is the way of the future (sidenote: I'm making that into a tshirt) and thinking that we're all a bunch of crooks coming up with transparent excuses to steal stuff because we don't want to pay for it.
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