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The last few decades have seen enormous growth in piracy of copyrighted goods and, in particular, an enormous growth in piracy of creative works that employ a digital format. In this paper I discuss classic theory related to the piracy issue, provide a brief history of the growth of piracy over the last few decades, and then discuss issues concerning the present situation. I conclude with speculation about the future of piracy, where one of my main points is that, at least for the developed world, there are important reasons for believing that piracy is likely to continue to grow