It's a shame that the "piracy is a matter of convenience" argument is dismissed so quickly. Living in the US you can easily get legal access to lots of creative content through the web, but for people outside of the US it's a different story.
Even in the US, with all the legal means to access content, I wouldn't say it is always convenient. Studios delay or prohibit sites from showing content, or require you already have a subscription to a participating cable company (which in many cases the consumer cannot control whether they are "participating"), before you can legally get access to much of the content.
Compare this to the ability to download a movie literally days after it is in the theater, or a show hours after it shows on TV, and then to play it in whatever manner you choose, instead of being tied to a specific medium by the company producing the content (for instance, Google TV is blocked by many "approved" content websites, you HAVE to watch on your computer.)
I'm not advocating the piracy, just showing how much more convenient it really is. And until the media companies start innovating in how the content is delivered and can be accessed, piracy will be appealing and more convenient.
One of the biggest problems with ProtectIP/SOPA is that they would stifle the need for the media companies to innovate, which is exactly what they want. The media companies do not want to innovate or find better ways, they want the status quo from 10 years ago.
I think the problem is the natural psychological reaction people have to price discrimination. For example, what if you could watch a movie online the day it's released, but it costs $50 per view? People would be upset about that, even though it's strictly in their interest by giving them an option they don't have today; it would also be enabling/creating competition in a "release-day download" market.
Amazon ran experiments like this in the past, offering products at different prices over short periods of time, according to the person or according to market factors (supply). There was a huge community backlash against the idea that price discrimination might be going on.
I don't know what the solution is, but I agree it would be vastly preferable to me if all content were available immediately and online at some price, even if it's a high price. It should never be arbitrarily unavailable.
I take the view that many aspects of human 'irrationality' have their basis in people trying to avoid being manipulated by others, though they certainly don't always work.
I don't know how to prove whether or not that's true, but it tends to explain things like our response to the Ultimatum Game. And that's essentially what we're dealing with here: people who make deals that are too one-sided (huge price discrimination, etc.) may trigger a backlash, even if the offer is an improvement on the status quo.
