Personally, I don't make any excuse for my piracy. Yes, I pirate. Mostly, I download games that I've already bought but that I either can't find the discs for or said discs are screwed beyond any hope of repair.
As a gamer, I find the draconian DRM companies implement to be so idiotically over-the-top as to be insulting. I legitimately buy several games, and I don't like the thought of being fucked because my computer's configured a certain way, or I have certain software, re Daemon Tools, installed. Its my fucking choice how I configure my computer, and its my fucking choice if I have Daemon Tools installed. If you don't want to deal with that, too fucking bad, I'll get a crack for your fucking game in a heartbeat. If I've paid for your product, I refuse to be treated like a god damned criminal, you pieces of shit already have my money, I'll be damned if I'm letting you tell me how I should build my computer, what software I should have installed, or let you report on my computer's hardware specs and activities to your company.
You know what that's called, cocksuckers? MALWARE. Its a fucking virus, and I'm treating it like one.
I'm also a prospective game developer, and you know what? I'm not using that fucking malware and treating my end users like criminals. The only restriction I'll ever implement is an activation code you plug into the game when you install. No disc checks, no requiring constant internet access, no fucking malware. I don't need state-of-the-art anti-piracy malware, because I don't have my fucking head up my ass.