Let me start by saying this: I am a pirate. In the years since I became Internet savvy, countless gigabytes, if not terabytes of music, movies and games have graced my hard drives. I have no problem downloading things I don’t want to pay for. I also find myself quoting the possibly fake study that says that people who illegally download media also spend more money on it, as if it justifies my theft.

I’ve noticed that justifying theft has become a growing trend among Internet pirates. Sometimes the argument is strong; when Electronic Arts decided to hide a rootkit (a malicious piece of software) to its 2008 game “Spore” to prevent piracy, people were rightfully pissed off, which led “Spore” to become the most pirated game of the year, despite its September release.

But sometime excuses aren’t so strong. Whether it’s a lamentation of, “They aren’t making it available legally over the Internet, so I have no choice,” or “None of the people involved in making it actually get any of the money,” these all come off as trying to shift the blame. A friend once told me that because a game was released with free downloadable content for people who pre-ordered it, she had no choice but to pirate it. No choice, as if the developers and publisher were forcing her hand by providing an incentive for people to pre-order their game.

That’s not to say that there are no benefits to Internet piracy. There are many instances of piracy bringing content from obscurity to the public eye, such as Jerome Bixby’s fantastic sci-fi film “The Man from Earth,” or using piracy power as an act of protest, like the “Spore” incident. But in stunning contrast to all of the benefits is a strong sense of undeserved entitlement that many pirates hold.

In 2010, independent developer Wolfire Games released the Humble Indie Bundle, a pay-what-you-want package of games with proceeds donated to several charities. It raised over $1 million. Despite having the ability to pay anything even as low as a penny, 25 percent of the traceable downloads of the original bundle were pirated. Where’s the justification there?

When I see things like that, I lose all drive to defend piracy. Wolfire took every step to appease its consumers. There’s no restrictive or invasive digital rights management, the entire process is quick and easy and consumers can even choose how much to donate to the charities, the developers or the Humble Bundle program itself.

Let’s all work to improve our image. We’re not better for our piracy habits; we choose to illegally download content. No one can make us; no one can force our hands. The decision is ours and ours alone, so stand behind it.