I think I’m not strictly a thief; I don’t have the right mindset for it. So why do I steal programs?

In response to that, I’d say that I don’t steal programs, but rather the right to use them. The program isn’t a physical thing; it’s information, a kind of information, just as one of my novels is a kind of information. It doesn’t bother me if one person lends another a book I’ve written, and if that borrowed book is passed around many more people; on the contrary, it’s a practice I approve of and try to encourage. In the same way, it doesn’t bother me if people make photocopies of my books. I’m even tempted to publish my books online, so they can be downloaded for free. It bothers me if a publisher steals from me, and they do, often, as they do from all writers, one way or another.