I don't need to justify "stealing" because copying is legal in my country (Austria):
When buying harddisks or other types of storage (USB sticks) I have to pay a "private copying levy" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_copying_levy). This money goes to organisations that distribute it to the music industry and film industry. On the other hand, you get the right to make a "Privatkopie" (translated: private copy - see http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privatkopie), which means you can legally copy a film or music from a friend (and neither of you violates the law).
As the law changed recently, but (as far as I know) there practically haven't been any filesharing lawsuits in recent years, it's not 100% sure how this law applies to downloading over the Internet. Most lawyers seem to interpret the law as allowing downloading over P2P networks, but forbidding uploading over P2P networks. The film/movie industrie argues that also downloading is illegal, but there has not been a single person ever convicted for downloading (e.g., when using a patched filesharing client such as Bitthief that disables uploading).
Personally I would prefer not having to pay a "private copying levy" and paying for the content I consume. But it's not my decision and I'm not going to pay for the same content twice (private copying levy + purchasing the content).
"Es geht dabei um das Problem, ob der Download eine zulässige Privatkopie darstellt. Nach dem Gesetzeswortlaut fällt er unter die zulässige Privatkopie." (Google Translate: "It is about the problem of whether the download is a legitimate private copying. After the text of the law it falls under the permitted private copying.")
There is also some further discussion under point 10.2 on this site.
"internet4jurists.at" is operated by an Austrian judge, so I assume the statements there are quite accurate.
When buying harddisks or other types of storage (USB sticks) I have to pay a "private copying levy" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_copying_levy). This money goes to organisations that distribute it to the music industry and film industry. On the other hand, you get the right to make a "Privatkopie" (translated: private copy - see http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privatkopie), which means you can legally copy a film or music from a friend (and neither of you violates the law).
As the law changed recently, but (as far as I know) there practically haven't been any filesharing lawsuits in recent years, it's not 100% sure how this law applies to downloading over the Internet. Most lawyers seem to interpret the law as allowing downloading over P2P networks, but forbidding uploading over P2P networks. The film/movie industrie argues that also downloading is illegal, but there has not been a single person ever convicted for downloading (e.g., when using a patched filesharing client such as Bitthief that disables uploading).
Personally I would prefer not having to pay a "private copying levy" and paying for the content I consume. But it's not my decision and I'm not going to pay for the same content twice (private copying levy + purchasing the content).