Driving off with the rental car is a fine analogy if we were comparing this to not returning a DVD you rented.
But this is not that. And that is kind of the point.
Piracy is a breach of contract for sure. The point the author is trying to make is that our current licensing contracts around media are out of touch with the social contract (you pay for something, you get it).
Hence the moral hazard. So companies will flaunt the social contract (like in the case of Sony) with impunity but will get rightous as soon as people flaunt the legal contract. It's a double standard, where all the power is in the hands of those with the biggest legal department.
You can't define "theft" untill you first define justice. And if consumers and media holders can't even agree to a just system, then why bother categorizing anything as theft at all?
If we don't learn, then WTF are we doing with ourselves. The human existence is the pursuit of knowledge. The only depressing thing here, IMO, is the idea that living out a life as grazing cattle, concerned with nothing more than gorging oneself with the next meal is the only reason to live.
Comfortable? Sure. Self-actualized? Not a chance. There's more to life than living out only the most basic biological needs.