Thanks for the info Irenicus.
After some more consideration I moved the discussion to a new topic anyway :
http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=93356 (in case you would like to re-post your response there)
You have a point about all anime being 'illegal' as a generalization - but there there are many exceptions. Some anime really are free to watch... but obviously they are only a small subset - so we can't say *everything* is illegal - because other cases and circumstances do exist.
A widespread view of things. 'we can't possibly be legal, because everything is illegal - unless you purchase everything - and heck, we definitely are not going to purchase everything'.
The idea about you deciding is exactly what I want to avoid though - In my opinion the ethical decision should be based on whether I am consciously *doing* right or wrong - and not deciding whether something is *right or wrong*.