Not a victim.

This wasn't some end-user downloading products he couldn't afford to purchase anyway. I don't think its theft if someone making 30 thousand a year downloads a 10thousand dollar application suite for home use because obviously he couldn't afford to purchase it legitimately. This guy was running numerous topsites and organizing the cracking of applications to distribute to hundreds of thousands of people. He should have been punished in this way. There is a distinction between organizers and home-users who download from torrents etc. The whole argument is void now anyway, the availability of broadband has made piracy completely ineradicable. Also i am a retired member of the scene once on sites such as xray, tuf, taf, aks, Monopoly, etc. if you're oldschool you'll know those names. I remember well the feelings after rounds of busts driving home having actual fear there would be police cars in front of my home. Its the life these people and others have chosen and they knew well the risks as I did when I started. I quit after a close friend of mine vanished, presumed busted, after the second round of eu busts a couple years after the whole DoD thing. Save your sympathy for someone who is a true victim all members of the scene know the risks and accept them.