I used to be a programmer making computer games. I really enjoyed this job but it did bother me to see pirate copies of my games available for download. If you've spend at least 10 hours a day, 6 days a week for 18 months only to find the game on pirate bay before you even know it's gone gold master believe me you feel cheated!

This image has been around for quite a while.

When I see this I can't disagree. Despite feeling bad about my hard work being enjoyed without getting any reward I don't think those 'pirates' are criminals, stupid or unable to see right for wrong.

I've bought DVDs that do not play in any of my DVD players. I've bought computer games that constantly irritated me by requiring DVDs to be in the drive before I can play, I've watched many adverts for movies at the beginning of DVDs where I have no option to skip. All these things have driven me to deploy patches to make games boot with out a DVD or rip DVDs so I can watch them without pain.

According to F.A.C.T. I am a criminal. As far as I am concerned it's fair use. Anyway that's the end of that rant.