They do risk that! People exceed speed limits in their cars too, with greater potential consequences. I wasn't recommending behaviour, merely describing it.

If I had to pay a "piracy tax" on equipment that may incentivise me to do some piracy. Being in the UK I'm already supposed to pay the BBC for a TV license if I watch any kind of commercial live internet stream (NHK World, Apple WWDC!) which isn't any less crazy.

Exceeding a speed limit by a few mph will not land you in jail or cost you thousands of dollars in fines in most parts of the world. Using torrents is some kind of reverse lottery: download an illegally shared movie (or for that matter: use a photo you grabbed from a random site on your own website) and get the chance to lose an annual income.

yes, let's all just do what ever we want with out respect for other people's work by grabbing their assets and using them on our websites because we have no skills to make the thing ourselves which naturally means stealing it is okay???? it never ceases to amaze me the entitlement people have. "this thing exists, so it therefore is totally reasonable for me to have it at no cost, and then make money from it without anything going back to the person that actually made it." go pound sand with that logic