By pirating, you mean running modified binaries from unknown sources? Morals aside, how is that safe, secure, or even convenient?
That you know of. For all you know you could be infected and part of a botnet. Viruses don't open a big popup saying "haha you've been hacked!".
This line of thinking is extremely common and absolutely nonsensical. The point of a virus is to remain undetected.
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
Most malware these days does things like demand bitcoin, popup ads, or upload your files to the cloud without your consent.
If I've actually unknowingly downloaded a virus, it's honestly less malevolent than the paid version.
This is a remarkable observation on the sad state of paid software. It's so sad because it's so true.
I don't mind buying software, but I do mind pretty much all DRM implementations. Even simple license checks have bitten me in the past when I had no internet access and the software just decided that time was up and it needed to verify me. Nothing fills me with rage more than software that I paid for refusing to run while I'm camping or on a plane or somewhere else without internet, for software that doesn't need any networt functionality whatsoever to operate.
Back before Steam, when I bought a game on disc I downloaded the no-cd crack before opening the box to install it...
>"Google wants to know your location"
>fuck off you already know it anyway
>"Do you want to allow this app from an unknown publisher to make changes to your device? PiratedGameFromRussianTorrents.exe"
>ok
The biggest problem with piracy is the entry barrier. You need to know what sites are safe, what aren't. Also, Google hides results from torrent sites, so yeah, it's kind of an underground club. If you're a newbie you're going to get ransomware, if you know the basics it's trivial. Piracy isn't as popular as 10 years ago, but it's still there, mostly powered by poor countries.