It's more like a case-by-case case.
Most of them boil down to "don't take what's not given" on one side (funny, that) and "but it's not hurting anyone" on the other.Various arguments are being made on both sides.
They go out and work for the money and then pay. Just as they do when they can't afford food, although with far less sense of urgency.I agree we shouldn't download Photoshop or the latest series of Game of Thrones just because we don't want to pay (although what about if someone, e.g. a student, can't pay?)
These days it's possible to buy access to most shows in most countries. If you can't, the owner/s aren't selling it to you and illegal downloads are, again, stealing.Also, what about streaming TV shows that your local TV network doesn't broadcast? You have no control over which shows they broadcast.
This is legitimately a grey area.But what about if something isn't available in your country? These Thai books I mentioned (Learn to read with Manee) don't seem to be available in ebook form on the Internet, and they're definitely not available in print here in New Zealand. The lady running the site posted a video of an interview she did with the writer of the books, which seems to imply that the distribution is legit. Am I obsessing too much over this? If there were ebook versions for sale I would buy them.
If you're reasonably sure that the writer and publisher are happy with the idea, go for it.
If you're not, you could try to find out.
If you can't find out, you've done all you can reasonably do and again (IMO) can go for it with a clear conscience.
If you want to thank/pay the writer in some way, a donation to a literacy project in Thailand would be very appropriate.
Kim