Originally Posted by spadge101

I have three friends who all own dodgy boxes. By and large they are all good people but cannot seem to differentiate between obtaining services that they haven't paid for and more "mainstream" theft such as burglary. One of them recently had to console their mother who had been burgled for the second time. They copy DVD's and all their kids' game consoles are chipped so they don't buy films, CD's or game software. I tackled them over this when they said burglars should be strung up by pointing out they were committing acts of theft on a daily basis. Their response? They offered me a dodgy box to "cure" my "jealousy".

My point here is that activities such as these are so deeply entrenched in the mindset of many of the UK's population that getting serious on dodgy boxes can only ever work as part of a bigger drive to change people's attitudes. I seriously cannot think of anything in my possession that I have not paid for or have not been given as a legitimate gift. I'm not trying to sound holier than though, but i was brought up by good parents and taught not to steal so I don't.

These people just don't see what they do as theft and probably never will. I won't be shopping them to anybody because they have been bloody good friends to me; they know my thoughts on their activities and we agree to disagree on the subject.

This problem is not Virgin Media's and it's not publishers of music's problem - it's society's problem.