Once difference though, Steve, is the attitude people have towards online content theft.

Online content is ethereal. Intangible. These people stealing video files, in many cases, have absolutely no concept of it being theft or even inappropriate in any way.

You bounce a check at Radio Shack and it's pretty much universally agreed that's a bad thing. Shoplift or steal from a brick and mortar business and everyone knows it's a crime and wrong.

Online, however, you can have entirely, fully, completely law abiding people - their only transgression being theft of music and video files. Because people don't view that as theft. The lack of a physical product has them thinking they're not really stealing anything from anybody at all.

So you're battling way more than just theft and piracy itself. You're battling a culture and belief system in which the theft and piracy is perfectly acceptable behavior. You're not just trying to fight the measurable monetary losses. You're fighting this mindset in which there is nothing wrong with the thieving.

Online, you can throw up a blog with blatantly stolen videos and distribute them openly, freely, and without hassle whatsoever. Your peers encourage it. Sites like Blogspot and flash video sites make it extremely easy to do so. There is no consequence, and that feeds in to the belief there's nothing wrong with it.

That guy passing bad checks at your Radio Shack couldn't park a van in the townsquare and sell all those hot items out the back of it without raising suspicion or getting in trouble. Bloggers distributing pirated content can.

Yes, fighting theft is a given. Anyone who has worked in retail has heard that speech many a time. But it goes way beyond just product theft in the case of online, creative materials. It's a belief system we're fighting against.