I understand where you're coming from Swyne, I dislike pirates with a passion.
But it's not as you think, although big companies are trying to stop piracy, they are the ones distributing it, no, enticing people deliberately to download and "steal" their own products.
How can they be heathens if they are doing as they are told? Just look at CNET, they are telling you, even hotlinking you to top products that "pirate" CNETs own material. They're profiting from it, and they're calling the people who are using their own software criminals.
They're the pot calling the kettle black, you see?