Robbing authors $1.50 at a time! What can you do with a buck fifty???

Three hundred million Euros. Approximately $270 million.
Yes.
That is how much money piracy in Spain amounts to, according to a recent analysis there.
In the United States, currently the total reaches an astonishing $3 billion.  (See: http://venturebeat.com/2010/03/02/book-piracy-costs-u-s-publishers-3b-says-study/ )
Yes, B for billion.
But in my own pocket, or I should say out of it, I see an OUCH factor that amounts to THOUSANDS of dollars.
THOUSANDS.
I am not alone.
So many of my friends/colleagues have the same problem.  Whenever one person downloads one novel, they steal approximately $1.50+ from me. If they then email that book to someone else, the amount multiplies.
Now, I can say that I write for a living. My colleagues do too.
Recently, I saw that one book of my novels on one pirate site had been downloaded 496 times. (And I have sent take down notices to this site before, so they have robbed me multiple times!) So for that one book, I have been robbed of $744.00.
That is not chicken feed.
What could I do with that money?
Pay my grocery bill. Help pay my mortgage. Save it in my bank account for my old age.
What did the thief do with the $3.99 he/she "saved" by stealing form me?
Buy a bag of chips?
Buy a new mascara in the dime store?
GLOAT that they had gotten away with a crime while they robbed me of my property?
Reading a novel is one of the most inexpensive and long-lasting entertainments. For a very small sum, a reader gets to enjoy many hours of pleasure in a quiet, serene way. Is that not worth something more than being ripped off?????
This craziness has got to stop and the only way to do it is to write about it CONSTANTLY. To accused these criminals of suppressing the economy that I bet they are eager to see become more prosperous so that they can benefit!
To download an author's book for free is a crime. It is larceny. Theft.
I am out to catch thieves. EVERY DAY.