The original post: /r/piracy by /u/Cute-Adhesiveness645 on 2025-02-24 13:59:23.

I’ve heard that in the United States and Europe, using VPNs is mandatory in some places. Is that true, or is it just marketing from VPN companies?

In my country, some time ago, the owners of one piracy website were jailed for a while. But considering the money they made and how little time they actually spent in jail, I doubt it made their lives much harder.

Overall, I think this is a pretty minor issue when it comes to the priorities of the police, judicial systems, and so on.

I remember a case from over ten years ago where a woman was fined a large amount for downloading around ten songs. It seemed like they wanted to set an example to discourage others from doing the same. But in the end, it didn’t seem to matter much, since nothing similar happened afterward.

Usually, when cases like this come up, there are personal reasons behind them. For example, with those website owners, maybe someone they knew had a falling-out with them and decided to file a complaint just to stir things up. But generally, it’s not something that gets much attention.

Personally, I think making access to certain things more democratic is a good thing. Whether an artist makes a few million more or less because of it doesn’t seem like a big deal to me. In fact, just as the internet and piracy have supposedly “harmed” them, these same factors have also helped them become more well-known and benefited them.