With the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act currently in a state of suspension, I would hope that the entertainment industry is asking one question: “Why do people pirate our content?”

Most would say that people pirate because it’s free. While that was definitely true when services like Napster and Limewire first came around (and it still remains partly true today), I feel like most people pirate now because it’s convenient.

We live in a world of wanting what we want when we want it.

This is why Netflix Instant Streaming became popular. We want no barriers to our information, music, movies, games, apps and videos of cats.

When corporations make it difficult for us to get what we want, we will find a different way to secure than content.

That’s why people rely on torrents to get their favorite shows or movies.

I’m sure everybody at some point had the sudden urge to watch a movie or TV show with the intent of paying for it, but ended up not being able to find it anywhere but on torrent sites.

So what are you left to do but torrent the latest episode?

Now I am in no way supporting the act of torrenting just because we’re impatient people.

I just want creators of the movies and shows that we all love to realize that we as consumers are more than willing to pay for what we want.

Just give us a way to easily do so that does not require waiting months for the DVD copy.

For example, I’m a huge fan of Showtime’s hit series “Californication” and “Shameless,” but I have no way to access the latest episodes legally. Netflix nor Hulu Plus, which are both services I pay for because of their convenient access to media, make them immediately accessible, either. I can only view those series online if I subscribe to a television provider and pay for the Showtime package.

This method is so inconvenient.

I would much rather pay for the Showtime channel to directly watch their shows. Sadly, that is not even an option. But if I do a quick search on popular torrent sites, I can quickly find an HD version of the latest episode for both of those series and starting watching in about an hour.

Why force the hand of the people who want to pay for your hard work?

I constantly wonder why Hollywood makes viewers wait so long for a physical copy of a film after it had its run in theaters.

Granted, the wait for physical copies have gotten a lot shorter. But we know there is a digital version out there that they can start selling right after the film is pulled from theaters. We see it all over torrent sites.

Once again, Hollywood leaves us fans left with this question: Do we wait for the legit digital or physical copy, or do we just torrent the film? We all know what the answer has been.

All they have to do is put up a digital copy of their newest movie after it’s pulled from theaters on one of the many different digital stores that offer streaming.

That could be instant profit. If the film was good, enough word-of-mouth will still be strong and all those who missed it in theaters will buy or rent it because now they have no excuse to not see it.

It could really be as simple as that. I’m sure there are some legal reasons as to why Hollywood studios can’t just do this, but if they can work out legislature that would ruin the Internet, I’m sure they can figure this out. SOPA and PIPA were not good ways to combat piracy, but giving consumers more convenient ways to pay for content is.

I know I’m not the only one to think about this issue. I’ve heard conversations about this problem ever since instant streaming took off. It’s just a matter of how long is it going to take for someone to fix it.