Hi Jack,

Thanks for the question.

I would echo what Mary Ann said in a similar question:

Your Confessor is the Judge; his decision is accepted by God.

You should follow the counsel of the first priest who heard your Confession. We always have to strive to make a firm purpose of amendment not to commit any sin again, but if one did commit the same sin again, one would follow the counsel of the Confessor that heard your second Confession, even if the counsel is different from what the first Confessor told you.

While not directly related to the questions you have asked, you may be interested in similar web postings which I have appended at the end of my answer.

You said:

• If I used programs that where pirated and produced work with those programs, do I need to destroy the work I did to fulfill the justice of the law?
  

Not necessarily but you would have to make the appropriate restitution to the person or company who you pirated the work from.

Due to the nuances of each situation, it's best to bring any unique issue like this to Confession and let the priest decide.

I hope this helps,

Mike