>it also shows criminal intent.

Hard disagree, unless you have some citations to back this up.

> Also- the secret about torrents is that nobody really gives a shit.

That’s not true in some places like Germany. Just a few seconds of uploading a somewhat popular movie or porn without a VPN will get you a C&D + fees letter.

do you have to actually pay anything? in the us you also get a scare letter from your ISP but nothing happens if you ignore it and continue

Yeah, because it's lawyers working for the rightholders sending them, not ISPs. You can sometimes get out, but only by replying properly, ignoring then will end in court.

Can confirm. I slipped up for a few seconds once while torrenting. My cease-and-desist letter from Sony was personally delivered to my door by the Hausmeister.

My crime showed criminal intent. Nothing new there.