And I thought the "pirates" referred to armed people in boats capturing cargo ships, not copyright infringers.
The idea was to turn public opinion against copyright infringement by using terminology associated with violent crimes, such as piracy and robbery.
Ofc it backfired spectacularly, with the "pirating" community adopting the term and reveling in it. Who could have known that using a term that the general public immediately associates positively with countless novels, movies and other works of fiction, radiating a flair of adventure, swashbuckler charm and the freedom of the carribean seas, would fail to turn public opinion against something :D