Also, I can understand the downvotes, but why the flagging? You can call them thieves, but not parasites? I feel that HN has become quite censorship-heavy lately.

To elaborate on that, people often claim it's not theft because the owner keeps the goods. That's why it's more appropriate to consider it parasitism (you are eating at someone else's table without paying).

this is obviously bull though.. how do you even make a study like that? you'd need to associate each illegal downloader to his/her real identity and then to each of their legal purchases... that's ridiculous, and even if academics had the means to do it, it would be illegal. piracy itself is illegal in most countries, so if you don't report them you are literally an accomplice.