And yet here we are, watching prosecutorial discretion morph into putting someone's head on a platter over recovery disks any one of us  could download hundreds of times from Microsoft's website without a  single murmur about "lost sales" from the tech giant.

Just because something is available online without a fee does not mean it can be treated as public domain. The punishment may not appear to reasonably fit the crime, but this is what was laid out by lawmakers. I would hope a reasonable fine would be equivalent to what an OEM would profit from selling a disc.  I worked in anti-piracy a few years back, I should have given a lecture on licensing while I was in Hamilton. Microsoft is very smart in taking money.