It's astonishingly easy to convince yourself that you "wouldn't have bought the thing anyway". The best way to be sure that you aren't lying to yourself is to not pirate things.
I pirated Photoshop for nearly all of my young life, since the release of 1.0. The day my business made its first dollar from photoshopped images, we bought the entire Adobe Creative Suite.
Not have bought it anyway has a strange way of turning into bought the whole damn thing.
I have no trouble at all with people who pirate to dabble, but I do have trouble with people who pirate software and then use it to make money.
I did this exact same thing, and I'm an "information wants to be free" hippy at heart, so for a long time it was my favorite debate point in favor of piracy. But, Adobe really pushes the "Student" version of their products nowadays, and they are way more affordable as well as completely identical to the real thing. The only difference is the licensing.
However, I guess the argument still exists for anyone who still can't afford it, or who wants to learn but isn't a student.
We are inherently irrational creatures susceptible to dozens of cognitive biases. As a consequence, we are very good at rationalizing things we want to do but would otherwise judge wrong. That was the point neild was making - in that context, saying you will "just not lie to myself" does not address his point.
In the sense I meant it, it does, though I guess my comment was ambiguous. I believe I am sufficiently introspective and aware of my own biases to determine whether I'm making such a basic rationalization, especially when the question is made explicit. If I make the question to myself explicit before pirating something, I feel secure.
