I’m pretty sure ethical pirating is mostly just justifying it to oneself.

That said, these corporations regularly steal from their customers and employees in many ways they can and cannot see. In that respect, pirating is more of a way to fight back.

Stealing is not ethical, but these profiteers do much worse on a daily basis, including stealing from those who created their profit engines. See Bill Willingham’s recent release of Fables to the public domain for a common example.