

When engaging in criminal activity, you have no “legal” recourse for malicious behavior, so you work on the web of trust instead.
If you can’t trust the software, nor the publisher, nor the hash verified by however many seeders, then don’t download it in the first place. Me personally, considering I install indie porn games on the regular and never once gotten a virus that I know of, I think it’s worth it to trust others.
Of course you could always go into paranoid zero trust mode but sometimes being a social being means trusting the criminal serving you free shit isn’t ratfucking your data
Corporations would prefer to take away your right to public utilities than face a loss to their profit margin.