It doesn't send a message. For one, the music industry has ceased going after individual downloaders. Apparently, their business plan of "suing ourselves into profitability" wasn't working so well and created something of a backlash. For another, dowloading has become so ingrained that people look at the risks the same way they do driving. Everyone drives. Sometimes people get into accidents and get killed. It sucks to be those unlucky people but I'm not going to stop driving. It's the same for downloading. Sometimes people get caught. Sucks to be them.
My personal views on downloading go something like this. I bought Exile on Main Street on LP. I bought it again on CD. I bought it a second time on CD when my first CD got scratched (after the recording industry told us that CDs were unbreakable). Now I'm suddenly stealing if I download "Rip this Joint" off the internet? I'm taking food from the mouths of MIck Jagger's children? Screw 'em.
You are certainly entitled to your views which are shared by many. However if you are caught and taken to court your excuse will be meaningless because you have broken the law. You are not excused from the law because YOU don't agree with it. This is the problem, or one of them in this country. people have somehow gotten the idea a law does not need to be followed if it is a disagreeable one to an individual. Personally if i were an artist and my work was under license, I would go after you very hard and extract the maximum amount to send a message. Your claim it does no good could not be farther from the truth. news like this spreads like wildfire and thieves being the cowards they generally are will not look for a confrontation that will cost them a ton of money. Equating this to driving a car and having an accident is nonsense because driving a car is NOT illegal.