Internet Piracy and the Sixth Commandment

While watching Fr. Corapi the other night with my wife, he made an impression on me when talking about the sixth commandment, thou shalt not steal. Now I'm not a thief, I don't plan bank robberies or steal credit cards, that's no the case. But upon examination of conscience, I realized quickly that those songs I downloaded from the internet and some application programs, pretty much amount to stealing.

The thought vexed me so that the next day I didn't go to communion. I tried to rationalize the ideas in my head about the reasons why I did it: everyone else does it, the programs I'm downloading cost way too much money, the songs I've downloaded are ancient 80's hits, etc. A whole flood of excuses clouded my mind, but when I got down to the heart of it those actions were against the sixth commandment, no matter how much I could justify my claims.

If I had to make restitution for these downloads, I'm sure I'd end up broke. The next day, I went to confession and I wasn't sure if the priest I was confessing to would even know the ramifications for such actions, let alone the technology behind them. So I'm deleting all those songs and programs that I didn't pay for and will purchase the things I need in the future.

May God have mercy on me.