Truscape’s answer is pretty comprehensive but to recontextualize it: In some places there’s functionally zero risk, in fact degrading the US entertainment/media economy might actually be seen as a national benefit. In most western countries it actually is sticking their neck out, though how much depends largely on the location. I think Sweden (or Iceland?) actually had a political party called the Pirate Party which espoused it on some philosophical grounds.
Donations and ads sweeten the pot a lot. Also you don’t really need to buy media if someone else already made it available for download, and you don’t need to store it if you’re uploading to external hosts. So if you’re running a video game repacker site, and you get all your games from scene releases, you upload all your files to various external file hosts, and you run ads on your site + inject pay per click links, you could probably turn a profit from your hobby.
Yeah, but like why do these websites stick their neck out for us? Is it because their sense of sharing media is that strong?
Advertising revenue.
Truscape’s answer is pretty comprehensive but to recontextualize it: In some places there’s functionally zero risk, in fact degrading the US entertainment/media economy might actually be seen as a national benefit. In most western countries it actually is sticking their neck out, though how much depends largely on the location. I think Sweden (or Iceland?) actually had a political party called the Pirate Party which espoused it on some philosophical grounds.
Donations and ads sweeten the pot a lot. Also you don’t really need to buy media if someone else already made it available for download, and you don’t need to store it if you’re uploading to external hosts. So if you’re running a video game repacker site, and you get all your games from scene releases, you upload all your files to various external file hosts, and you run ads on your site + inject pay per click links, you could probably turn a profit from your hobby.